Skyliner: Virtual Tours of Manchester

We’ve been fans of Skyliner’s thoroughly researched and thoughtfully constructed anti-tours for years. While usual touring can’t happen, the awesome brain behind Skyliner, Hayley Flynn, has been keeping up to date with the ongoing developments in the city and producing bespoke content for online patrons. For as little as £1 a month you can access her virtual tours.

giving voice to those who might not have been on the conventional side of history

Manchester’s city centre has gone through so much change in such a short space of time, and its evolution is ongoing to this day. There are countless stories, artworks, buildings and streets that have been fundamental to the structure of the city, yet without passionate researchers, such as Hayley, would go unnoticed by the general public. As with her walking tours, these online local art history gems explore social and political movements in the north through the gaze of the commissioned and noncommissioned street art. You’ll often hear from the perspective of marginalised artists and communities in Hayley’s work. She does a brilliant job of giving voice to those who might not have been on the conventional side of history.

Spanning decades and miles, the online tours manage to condense wide areas and artistic movements into bite sized tours. You can hear of the lasting impact from slum clearances and artistic responses to social change. You’ll discover names which aren’t traditionally included in the canon of street arts as well as seeing familiar sights in an entirely new light. Each short video separates and examines layers of the city’s cultural make-up, combining multiple perspectives on topics such as women in art, social impacts of civic development and political progression.

Join Skyliner for a thought-provoking and introspective look into the city, even if you’re yet to step back into it in person.