British Culture Archive
British Culture Archive
Manchester · December 2023

British Culture Archive
× Chanel

2023/24 Métiers d’art

British Culture Archive was invited to curate a pop-up exhibition for the launch event surrounding Chanel’s 2023/24 Métiers d’art show in Manchester. The exhibition brought together photographs of the city’s club and rave scenes in the 1980s and 1990s, connecting the archive with the music and nightlife that helped shape Manchester’s cultural identity.

At O! Peste Destroyed, Chanel ambassadors, models and invited guests gathered among the photographs for a live performance by John Cooper Clarke.

Guests at Chanel’s 2023/24 Métiers d’art launch event, with framed photographs from the British Culture Archive exhibition on the wall.
Guests at the BCA exhibition, O! Peste Destroyed.

The launch exhibition

O! Peste Destroyed · Manchester

John Cooper Clarke performing into a microphone in front of the BCA photography exhibition at O! Peste Destroyed, Manchester.
John Cooper Clarke performing at the launch event.
Guests applauding John Cooper Clarke’s performance at Chanel’s launch event at O! Peste Destroyed, with a BCA photograph displayed behind them.
Guests at O! Peste Destroyed.
Guests gathered beside photographs from the British Culture Archive exhibition at Chanel’s Manchester launch event.
Guests viewing the BCA exhibition.
Photographer Peter J Walsh at Chanel’s launch event at O! Peste Destroyed, Manchester.
BCA photographer Peter J Walsh.
A framed photograph from the British Culture Archive exhibition on a brick wall at O! Peste Destroyed, Manchester.
Photography from the BCA collection on display.
The exhibition introduction panel describing British Culture Archive and its photography collection at Chanel’s Manchester launch event.
The exhibition introduction.
The exterior of O! Peste Destroyed in Ancoats, Manchester, the venue for the BCA launch exhibition.
O! Peste Destroyed, Ancoats.
A framed photograph from the British Culture Archive collection displayed inside O! Peste Destroyed for Chanel’s Manchester launch event.
A photograph from the BCA collection.

The afterparty

Victoria Baths · Manchester

Primal Scream performing for guests at Chanel’s 2023/24 Métiers d’art afterparty at Victoria Baths, Manchester.
Primal Scream at Victoria Baths.
Primal Scream on stage at Chanel’s Métiers d’art afterparty at Victoria Baths, Manchester.
Live performance at the afterparty.
The pool hall and balconies of Victoria Baths illuminated for Chanel’s Métiers d’art afterparty in Manchester.
Victoria Baths, Manchester.
Victoria Baths during Chanel’s 2023/24 Métiers d’art afterparty in Manchester.
The afterparty at Victoria Baths.
The illuminated interior of Victoria Baths during Chanel’s Métiers d’art afterparty in Manchester.
Inside Victoria Baths.
BCA photographers Peter J Walsh and Jon Shard photographed together at Chanel’s Métiers d’art afterparty in Manchester.
BCA photographers Peter J Walsh and Jon Shard.

Photography © Paul Wright / British Culture Archive.

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