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IN THE WINDOWS

Platt Hall’s windows are its key architectural feature. There are 38 in total, designed in the 1760s to fill the house with light, provide the Worsley family with views out over their estate lands, and convey their high social status to a wider world.  

detail of the upper left part of the platt hall building with the georgian windows with inside poster of the exhibition with portraits of people

In the Windows is our 21st century take on this. The windows are where inside and outside meet. They are our exhibition space while the Hall is closed to general visitors, a showcase for what goes on inside the building, and a share space for things happening in the wider neighbourhood. They are a message board in the park, for sparking the curiosity and interest of regular park users and occasional passersby. And, we hope, a way of sympathetically disrupting the histories of power and privilege embodied in the building’s architecture by shifting the direction and ownership of the gaze that passes through them, as well as the stories they frame. 

Past exhibitions

detail of the upper left part of the platt hall building with the georgian windows with inside poster of the exhibition with portraits of people

SEEN IN THE WINDOWS

articles and photographs from the first issue of global majority and marginalised communities music magazine SEEN, co-produced with SEEN founders Tunde Adekoya, Kamila Rymajdo and Balraj Samrai, with photography by Daniel Oyegade.

detail of a piece of fabric with a patchwork hexagonal honeycomb structure

Embroidery is a Universal Language

Work by Longsight-based Women’s Voices sewing group alongside a selection of images from Platt Hall’s textile collection.

detail of some draw ad write notes that show handtext and pieces of the collegction like google ascollage

Opening the Box

Images from our Platt Hall Collections exploration project, with artwork by Abi Lake.

detail of a red metal trolley with wicker baskets containing objects in the background a red brick building

Museum on My Street

A celebration of personal possessions and collections in the neighbourhood, led by artist duo Interference Art 

Message to the Neighbourhood: a space for supportive messages and ideas for keeping busy in lockdown.

detail of a drawing stuck from a window with a doll in a night dress and some other dolls

TSAP@PlattHall2020

Responses to the building and collections by The Terrace Square Artists Project, a group of artists from the streets around Platt Lane.

Current exhibitions

TOP TIPS FOR KEEPING WELL is our current exhibition, showcasing aspects of the Health & Wellbeing programme, with space for local residents to submit handy hints for improving health and keeping well. These could be recipes, poems, gardening ideas, photographs, affirmations, information about what’s going on in the community or anything else to help with wellbeing.

For more information or to submit things for display, please email Arthur Simon, Platt Hall art and well-being coach.

“This afternoon I was not running past Platt Hall with hundreds of Park Runners, but having a leisurely walk. Gave me the (rare) opportunity to marvel at the latest display in your windows. Big thankyou to all the team responsible. New Year's Resolution: slow down when passing Platt Hall and check out the windows regularly.” 

Future exhibitions

If you have enjoyed the changing programme of exhibitions IN THE WINDOWS, or have ideas about what you’d like to see here, we’d love to hear about it. Please fill out the form below. 

Do you live locally?
Rusholme
Fallowfield
Longsight
Moss Side
Somewhere else

MORE PROJECTS

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776 PIECES OF CLOTH

Rethinking structures of value and significance through collaborative research into Platt Hall’s West African and Manchester textile archive   

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IN THE WINDOW

A project transforming Platt Hall's windows into a public art display showcases local artwork, keeping the community connected even when the Hall is closed.

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