Ancoats Peeps

I am still waiting on photos from when I searched and discovered the peepholes.. They will be uploaded soon!

Peepholes

"We are in a strange part of town: unknown space stretches ahead of us. In time we know a few landmarks and the routes connecting them. Eventually what was a strange town and unknown space becomes a familiar place. Abstract space becomes concrete place, filled with meaning."

This quote really sums up my three visits to Ancoats. When I first visited I got lost, had no idea where to go and only stumbled by it with no idea what I was really looking for. The second time I was focused and knew exactly what I was looking for and was a bit more familiar with the area. The third time I knew where the main places were withing the area, where to take my friends and how to get there, as the quote reads.
When I re-visited Ancoats for the third time I managed to find 5 more peepholes that I had not already discovered, making that 15 in total! One of which had been removed, we were slightly confused as to why this may have been or what we could have viewed through it until... A man in overalls came over to us. He was very friendly and started asking us if we knew what was meant to be there, I instantly explained I was actually researching into Dan's work and hunting for peepholes. He then went on to explain to me that he in fact had worked for Dan whilst installing these peepholes as he could not manage to drill all the holes himself. This one in particular that was missing originally showed a view into the church that stood before us but unfortunately the road leading between the two had been dug up a few times and each time the cables had been cut and it was proving too costly to replace each time. He recommended viewing the church as it was beautiful inside so suggested to us to go knock on the doors of the church and said that security there were very friendly and would let us have a look inside. Unfortunately there was no reply when we knocked. I did ask the man if he would possibly let me ask him a few questions about the peepholes whilst my friend videoed it so I could include it on my blog but his response was only if he'd have had a shave and wasn't in his overalls.. bless!

I found this blog quite helpful in informing me about the peeps: http://theshriekingviolets.blogspot.com/2011/07/ancoats-peeps-dan-dubowitz-and-presence.html

Ancoats Peeps

My second visit to Ancoats meant I was much more focused on what I was looking for. I managed to find 10 peeps in total around the area and felt this was quite good as when I was researching on the internet I found comments from people who could only find 5 or 6 in total. They were quite easy to find once you knew what you were looking for. Peeping through some you could see parts of machinery, into old mills, brick walls and some were just completely black. I found it quite fun and a bit like a treasure hunt trying to find these mysterious peepholes and began to consider how I could present this information.

Ancoats Peeps

After re-researching I came across the website: http://ancoatspeeps.com/

After my first visit I had never even noticed these brass portholes attached to buildings, they actually looked like parts of the buildings. The peepholes allow you to look into another world, a scene or piece of history. It is not known exactly how many peep holes there are or their exact whereabouts.

I found this 'Map of the Peeps' on the website 

The story behind the creation of the 'Peeps' is that as Ancoats industries moved out of the area and buildings were being bought for regeneration, the Ancoats Urban Village Company held a nationwide competition to create a public sculpture as part of the regeneration. Artist and architect, Dan Dubowitz won the commission but when arriving in Ancoats stated that the area did not need a sculpture as "the whole area is a sculpture in a way, a visual beast” and that "Ancoats needed something subtle you would stumble across. It needed something about the whole area and the identity of the area that people could be involved in." This is how the idea of the peeps was formed. Dan was particularly interested in the existing derelict buildings and wastelands opposed to the new developments. Each peep was installed on a building site and became 'features' of Ancoats.