Ryhope Walk


Salford Museum and Art Gallery
2000

Ryhope Walk was the result of a residency working with four local families to explore real and virtual cities. The gallery was re-decorated with a new colour scheme and laminate flooring installed in the manner of a make-over as the museum prepared to re-think its identity when the Lowry collection moved from Salford Museum and Art gallery to the new Lowry Centre.

Carpet was inlaid into the laminate in a formal pattern echo-ing the formal gardens outside in Peel Park. Each carpet was printed with an aerial photograph of the neighbourhood of the participating families connecting the large victorian gallery with the living spaces of local audience. Each family made virtual cities for themselves using the 'Sim City' game. Images of their cities were printed onto canvas and made into seating cubes. Visitors to the space were invited to explore the carpets for familiar sights from the new perspective of the aerial photograph and to make themselves at home in the gallery.