Thursday 22 January 2026

The Visibility of Possibility

Peader Kirk

6pm—6.35pm

a performance lecture

greenroom (1987-2011) was a key venue for the development of Manchester artists and for live art in the UK and beyond - as artist Martin Gent pointed out ‘greenroom was a catalyst for performance art to thrive in the UK’. Yet many now have not even heard of greenroom.

In an act of performance/archaeology Kirk attempts to resurrect the ethos (and vibe) of greenroom by interweaving performance re-enactment, audio testimonies for greenroom’s digital archive, dance music that played at greenroom club nights in the ‘80s and some highfalutin theory. Drawing on Foucault’s ‘Des Espace Autres’(1984), and Pearson and Shanks envisaging of performance heterotopias (2001), Kirk argues for the importance of audiences from diverse and economically challenged backgrounds seeing people like themselves in performance work.

Dancing optional.

Credits: Text and performance – Kirk. Live mixing – Will Dickie.

Additional performers from Manchester Met’s MA/MFA in Performance.

Thanks to everyone who ever walked thorough greenroom’s doors and to hAb for keeping the spirit alive.

Presented as part the 2026 Future Flares Festival