The Preston Park Exhibition Centre and the 'We

 are Parmo' View of Culture



Scott Hunter

18 June 2021

Were an exhibition centre to be built, it would, by rights, immediately become a major cultural institution for the region. It’s not quite the thing to hide major cultural institutions behind a clump of bushes in the corner of a park. In Glasgow and Manchester the buildings themselves are statements. As is the Hepworth in Wakefield. But that point is entirely lost on Vickers.

But Tories are very prickly about culture. Hence the government taking sledgehammer to the BBC. The TVCA, meanwhile has done its bit by building a shoe box on stilts to house the Northern School of Art in Middlesbrough.

Houchen, Jacob Young and their associates can’t understand how the core of the Redcar Blast Furnace can be turned into a piece of public art.

They are putting extra windows into Steel House and calling it ‘iconic’. Fortunately that is hidden behind a clump of bushes where it belongs.

One thing is for certain, if the Matt Vickers Exhibition Centre ever does get built, we are certain it will be proper class.



Or possibly, mint.