i-D Magazine Send Kamila To Interview Us.

Don't we look rather posh and wonderful in our Whitworth Gallery home. Like a Channel 4 art programme. Fab photo by Karen Rangeley.

The is who i-D magazine are. I only just had time to look searching for their twitter handle. Mentally cool. https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk 

Kamila: 'At 2 0'clock town would close and people would come from town . . . how would that change the atmosphere of the Reno?'

Me: 'I don't think you'd just come to the Reno, I think you'd come invited.'

Phil: 'It was raw because they'd come from a black ghetto even though the majority of them had white mothers. It was the music really drew everybody to their besides having people who looked the same as you. You wouldn't get your average white guy thinking they'd come have a few pints . . . '

Stevie:' That was a big problem for mixed race. When we would go to town 'black this, black that'. Then when we'd go to Moss Side Jamaican people are going 'you mixed race this, two nations, no country,' so we are fighting the two.' 

This is currently showing on the Whitworth Gallery upcoming exhibition page.

The Reno at the Whitworth
For a period of one year Linda Brogan and a group of local residents, who went to the Reno nightclub in the 1970s and 80s, will occupy the Whitworth.
The Reno, located in Moss Side, was known as a space for young mixed-race Mancunians. The project stems from Brogan's recordings of Reno regulars reminiscing about their experiences of the club, and the subsequent archaeological excavation of the site led by Salford University Applied Archaeological unit. This work was celebrated on November 23rd 2017 at the Whitworth, when the idea for a sustained relationship between the Reno and the Whitworth was born.


Artefacts, video, works from the Whitworth's collection, music and other materials developed over the residency will be on display in the gallery which will also be used as a space for developing further ideas. The Reno @ the Whitworth is led by playwright Linda Brogan, with the Reno Regulars Barrie George, Brian Thorn, Carmen Jones, David Trigg, Dionne Richardson, Ivan Smith, Jeff Bassey, Myra Trigg, Persian, Philip Collins SNR, Steve Cottier, Susie Prouse, Suzy Mousah, and includes the photography of Karen Rangeley, films by John Lloyd, digital support by Sean Clarke, curatorial support by Nikita Gill, and a forthcoming publication by Bound Books.
15 March 2019 – March 2020

 

The Reno @ the Whitworth

The bridge between the ghetto and the arts has to be two-way traffic.


1970s, The Reno was a soul & funk, cellar club in Moss Side. Stronghold for us half-caste teens born in 1950s no blacks, no Irish, no dogs, stigmatised by the 1930s Fletcher Report: 'offspring of interracial relationships are born with mental and physical defects.' Demolished 1987.


2016 we filmed Reno memoirs. October 2017 we excavated the Reno. November 2017 we colonised the Whitworth obliterating their art with our memoirs. Our teen photos walked up their stairs. Excavation footage played on their huge exterior screen. Our artifacts lay in museum cases,while we danced to Reno DJs in their main hall.


March 2019 to March 2020 the Reno and the Whitworth will collaborate as a living exhibition to tell the Reno story through its generated materials and Whitworth art.

 

The link if you want to see our introduction in situ on Whitworth website.

http://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/upcomingexhibitions/therenoatthewhitworth/ 

So since October 26th 2018, after a meer 12 x 2 hours session on Thursdays 6-30 to 8-30 with the Reno 12; and 4 x 2 hours group feedback sessions with the artists, all individuals are named below; 6 meetings with Whitworth curator Sam, and head of learning Ed; 2 meetings with their technicians Paul, Mark, Sarah, and Emma; and one meeting with their director Alistair Hudson, between us all we have come up with the genius plan detailed in our press release below. That has been sent out now. Again the Whitworth go first. 

 

The Reno at the Whitworth

 

Residency: 15 March 2019 – March 2020

Remaking the Reno: August 2019

 

For a period of one year playwright Linda Brogan and a group of local residents, who all went to the Reno nightclub in the 1970s and 80s, will occupy the Whitworth.

The Reno, located in Moss Side, was known as a space for young mixed-race Mancunians. The project stems from Brogan's recordings of Reno regulars reminiscing about their experiences of the club, and the subsequent archaeological excavation of the site led by Salford University Applied Archaeological unit. This work was celebrated on November 23rd 2017 at the Whitworth, when the idea for a sustained relationship between the Reno and the Whitworth was born. 

Artefacts, video, works from the Whitworth's collection, music and other materials developed over the residency will be on display in the gallery from March, which will also be used as a space for developing further ideas.

In August 2019 a reconstituted Reno will reopen at the Whitworth. 

The project aims to examine how institutions, such as the Whitworth, work with local people to co-produce projects that respond to urgencies and create change. As the residency unfolds this collaborative project will explore the current needs of the Reno Regulars and challenge the workings of the gallery, opening up the operations of the art institution to the users, including exhibition design, interpretation, marketing, policy and press.

The Reno @ the Whitworth is led by playwright Linda Brogan, with the Reno Regulars Barrie George, Brian Thorn, Carmen Jones, David Trigg, Dionne Richardson, Ivan Smith, Jeff Bassey, Myra Trigg, Persian, Philip Collins SNR, Steve Cottier, Susie Prouse, Suzy Mousah, and includes the photography of Karen Rangeley, films by John Lloyd, digital support by Sean Clarke, curatorial support by Nikita Gill, and a forthcoming publication by Bound Books.


The Reno @ the Whitworth

History From The Mouths Who Lived It, Not A History Book

Hearing the first beat of Reno classics I am awash with internal light that makes my flesh tingle, and creates an opera in my veins. I know other Reno Regulars share that feeling. The Reno was a cellar club in Moss Side MCR. Heyday 1971 to 1981. Soundtrack, imported soul and funk. Predominantly populated by 50s born ‘half-caste’ stigmatised by the 1930 Fletcher Report: Offspring of interracial alliances suffer inherent physical and mental defects.’ Born in 1950s England of No Black; No Irish; No Dogs. We were special. Elite. In the Reno we were majority not the minority. The nod of acknowledgment was a total thrill. 

Demolished 1987. Crossing the poppy-filled empty site, I sat to remember our civilisation, black market, social structure, king and queen, all frustrated artists.  I am a multi-award winning playwright, but a play couldn’t capture the nuances.  

Instead, 2016 I filmed Reno memoirs. ‘Tell me about your first night down the Reno.’ spiralled into: people spat in our prams; our white mums being ostracised from her family; being divided by our mum’s roast and dad’s yam; finding our family in the Reno of wall-to-wall half-caste. Memoirs are on www.thereno.live. 

Word of mouth 45,000 interacted. Since PC the word half-caste was deemed the same as nigger, we had become black. So now not only was our mum ostracised from her family and society now she was also ostracised from us. Like the gradations of slavery, we could never live in the white camp. A strange thought when our mums were our main caregivers and our main reference points were white. Like stardust, we gravitated, reclaiming who we had been, our rightful place within the Reno society. To form a star our project could orbit.  Annette Ileke, who never went to the Reno commented: ‘Made me realise I am not mad and many of my age group experienced the same. Ha I feel to tell my GP I don't need their counseling I get to understand a lot more listening to these stories at least I can relate.’

2017, we actually excavated the Reno with Salford University Archaeology.  2018 we are finalist in 8 awards. 2019 March to August in our Whitworth ‘studio’, we will plan how to recycle South African William Kentridge's installation as the Reno exterior, use our artefacts, photos and footage to delineate its interior then reconstruct the Reno in our space. Where September to March 2020 we will excavate below the Reno in a truth and reconciliation to contextualise our 'half-caste' experience by filming new memoirs, concentrating on a subject a month.  

  1. English people born before 1937 tell of an England before blacks.
  2. African and West Indians born before 1937 tell of their birth country. 
  3. 1947 the British anticipating the African and West Indian’s arrival/ the African and West Indian’s sea voyage towards this land.
  4. Those first few months of working together; shopping together; getting on a bus together, going in a pub together.
  5. Love: black women arriving to ‘half-caste’ step children/ white women being ostracised by their family. 

Weekdays, on www.thereno.livewe post our video diary of our research & development to plan why, what, and how to achieve all this.


Linda Brogan


Memoirs and excavation are available on http://thereno.live
Instagram: @ExcavatingtheReno
Twitter: @Excavatingreno

Reno @ the Whitworth is supported by Arts Council England, Manchester Age Friendly Neighbourhood Team, One Manchester Housing Association, Manchester History Festival, Manchester International Festival, Royal Exchange Theatre, Battersea Arts Centre, Contact Theatre, Niamos, Bluemoose Books, Bound Books and Salford University Applied Archeology.

It's looking like The Observer is our next interviewer folks.

Laughing.

The Observer

Get on that.

There is another element I want to add. Memoirs of our club contemporaries. People who went to other Mancunian clubs the same time as we went to the Reno. I'm thinking that might work in the first half: March to September before the Reno is build. And the pre 1947 might happen inside the Reno. We'll see. 

So much more to tell. We've sorted out our budget. Everything is gonna look slicker than slick thanks to the generosity of the Whitworth. More about that next week.  You must be sick of me by now. One last thing. 

Barrie George, Carmen Jones, and Philip Collins Senior were pulled out of the hat to represent us at the City Life Awards on Monday where we are finalist in the Best Exhibition Of The Year. 7 till late. Booze a flowing. Gonna get some good stories back. Can't wait to hear. The 7th of our 8 awards finals I'm forced to add. Laughing. 

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