Forty years ago, Manchester City Centre was hit by tragedy as ten people perished in a fire at the Woolworth’s store in Piccadilly Gardens.

Now for the first time Artist Elizabeth Price has brought her moving and powerful film The Woolworths Choir of 1979 to Manchester in a special exhibition opening this weekend at the Whitworth Museum.

The work brings together old music, photographs, video footage and text to depict a tragic fire which the artist says is a way to remember the tragedy.

The film comprises three distinct sections,the first examines the choral architecture of churches, the second concentrates on coordinated dance routines performed by pop groups and backing singers,while the third focuses on archive footage from a fire.

The physical gestures recur throughout the film, and parallels are drawn between the movements of hands waving to fire services for help and those of the dancers and singers, twisting and moving their arms for musical emphasis.

When combined with the recurring sounds, music and graphics, the effect is that of a dissonant chorus, which floats somewhere between social history and fantasy.

The fire broke out in the furniture department on the second floor of the building.There were around 500 customers and staff inside the store at the time.

Firefighters fought for two-and-a-half hours to bring the fire under control, helping people out of the building via doors, windows and the roof.The fire started after a damaged electrical cable ignited furniture made of polyurethane foam, which produced large amounts of thick toxic smoke and spread so quickly that most of those that died found that the smoke was so thick, they could not find their way to the exits.

The investigation into the cause of the fire found the foam used to fill the budget furniture was to blame for the smoke, Fire Officer Bob Graham decided something had to be done to ensure that such a tragedy could not happen again andled the investigation and after it, he joined with other campaigners to persuade the government to change the law and oblige furniture makers to use flame-resistant foam.

Nine years later The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations came into effect, forcing manufacturers to make furniture fillings and covers from safer materials.

Elizabeth’s film forms part of a wider exhibition at the Whitworth, The Long Memory which bringsg together many new and acclaimed works and engages with Price’s pre-occupations of technology, history,politics and pop music.

It runs until the 20th March 2020

 

 

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