Whose Knowledge Matters

Whose knowledge matters when we represent the city? Who decides what land to protect or destroy, whose heritage to celebrate, whose stories to tell and who gets ‘seen’ in the visual and spatial record of the city? This exhibition presents a series of counter-maps to explore different histories and residents’ knowledge from across Greater Manchester. Maps are only one way of seeing the city, just as statues and plaques represent a mere fraction of our history and heritage in our diverse and divergent urban spaces. Counter-maps trouble and disrupt formal representations of the city which map physical locations but blank residents’ memories, hopes and ideas.

This exhibition will present different kinds of maps to show what matters to residents of Greater Manchester, produced as part of a collaborative research process with local groups. We aim to provoke reflection on whose knowledge matters in the context of a vast and rapidly changing urban landscape.

You can take part by interacting with the exhibition to tell us what histories, heritage, protests and people matter to you and how these can be better valued, or coming to one of our events #KnowledgeMattersGM

Free – please drop in