Thanks to Bruce for the following write up:

DO NOT MISS THIS MARVELLOUS EXPERIENCE!!

Today, friends from Out In The City visited the magnificent Aviva Studios to see the exhibition, David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away). With huge state-of-the-art projections and a revolutionary sound system you are invited to experience the world through David Hockney’s eyes.

After opening at Lightroom in London to rave reviews, this is the first time the show has travelled outside of the capital. Get an insight into the legendary artist’s process as you journey through six different chapters of his work, seeing the room around you light up and change.

With a unique personal commentary by David himself and an original score by composer Nico Muhly, the show, directed by Mark Grimmer of 59 Productions, offers a holistic artistic narrative. The rousing music brought a tear to my eye at one point, I was so moved by the experience, being a big fan of his work.

Hockney’s lifelong fascination with media and technology takes centre stage. The exhibition showcases his experimental approach, from innovative photography techniques to iPad drawings, revealing how he continually pushes artistic boundaries.

The experience is divided into six themed chapters, each offering a window into his creative process. From his Los Angeles period to recent works in Normandy, visitors will witness the artist’s journey through landscapes, perspectives and artistic mediums.

What truly sets this show apart is its immersive nature. The four towering walls are just the beginning—the floor becomes part of the canvas, making it a full sensory feast. Each segment surprised and delighted me in equal measure, combining Hockney’s work with his narration in a way that was both playful and profound. I often laughed out loud or marvelled at his boundless creativity and childlike wonder.

More photos can be seen here.

A Snapshot of HIV Through a ‘Mancunian’ Gay Lens

As paramedics treated a man in a car crash, a spotlight was shone on a need for change.

In 1986, two ambulance workers in Oldham were embroiled in a so-called ‘Aids scare’ after treating a man involved in a car crash.

Emergency measures were put into place for the paramedics after the man was confirmed to be living with HIV – with the vehicle locked away and withdrawn from duty, equipment quarantined and the two men undergoing ‘safety checks’.

It was later reported in the Manchester Evening News that the scare was ‘over’, with the staff members’ chances of catching the disease described as ‘remote’. But that coverage lingered on in the minds of many Mancunians. And it lingered alongside more-extreme examples like the John Hurt-narrated advert featuring toppling oversized tombstones warning people not to die of ignorance.

Some eight years earlier, Paul Fairweather, a prominent LGBT+ and HIV activist, had just moved to Manchester to work for the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE), which was the main gay rights organisation in the city at the time.

Paul, who awarded an MBE in the King’s New Year Honours List in 2023, was also at the forefront of the local response to the growing HIV pandemic in Manchester and across the North West helping to organise meetings, writing articles in the gay press, like Mancunian Gay magazine, and lobbying for much-needed support services for those diagnosed.

Paul was one of the six people who founded the Manchester AIDSLine in 1985 – one of only a handful of services across the entire country at the time that provided peer support, advice and mentorship.

“In those early days, it was very unclear how HIV was transmitted,” Paul, now 68, explains. “There was quite a lot of ignorance and fear, and a lot of people wrongly thought in the mid-80s that it only affected gay men.”

Data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) found that 6,008 people were diagnosed with HIV across England in 2023. Nearly half (49%) of all new diagnoses first made in England were among people exposed through heterosexual contact.

In 1990, five years later after its foundation, the AIDSline was renamed as the George House Trust – a name that remains today. The charity has continued its efforts to help those living with HIV and to help shift narratives ever since. It will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2025.

To mark its landmark year, an exhibition is currently being held at the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel’s The Refuge – A Snapshot of HIV Through a ‘Mancunian’ Gay Lens. The exhibition features a number of articles, posters and documents from the mid-80s from within Paul’s personal archive – including that story of the ambulance workers.

The exhibition also features sensationalised mainstream media coverage, community responses from the Mancunian Gay magazine of the mid-1980s, and posters promoting the charity’s vital services and support. There is also the 2009 Manchester Evening News article from when Paul, then a councillor for Harpurhey, revealed his own HIV diagnosis on stage at a vigil.

“I kept all of the stuff going back to the 70s when I moved here,” Paul said. “It’s fascinating looking back at things, it reminds me of the times that were there and that were happening really.

“I’d forgotten how, even with the health service, how people were so ignorant and scared. Even health care professionals didn’t realise the extent of the situation and were part of some of the mass concerns.

“The story about the ambulance workers – they were taking someone living with HIV to hospital and they found out he had AIDS. They quarantined the ambulance because they thought the ambulance would somehow give people AIDS.”

The exhibition, which runs until the end of January, has been in place at the Oxford Road hotel since December and has already received a good response. Paul said: “People have been wandering past to stop and look at it – it’s a chance for us to share the work we do with people who might not be aware.”

Three years ago, the government launched its first ever HIV Action Plan for England which set an ambition between 2019 and 2025 to reduce the number of HIV diagnoses – including an 80% reduction in new HIV infections in England.

Considering that the figure of those first diagnosed in England in 2023 was 2,810, a figure nearly the same as in 2019, we are clearly off-track to achieve the 2025 goal, and therefore the 2030 goal.

Whilst Professor Susan Hopkins, the Chief Medical Advisor at the UK Health Security Agency, said its target is unlikely to be reached next year, the 2030 target of zero new HIV transmissions was still achievable.

Speaking about what still needs to be done, Paul said: “We do a lot of work with young people in school. They’re much more aware of the LGBTQ+ community and HIV to the point that sometimes they know more than their parents or grandparents do.

“I still think we need to raise more general awareness around the messaging of U=U, which means that anybody on effective HIV treatment with an undetectable viral load cannot pass HIV on. There are also people out there who might be benefitting from getting PrEP, which reduces the risk of getting HIV, who aren’t aware of it.”

And Paul says there are plenty more things in the works to celebrate the 40th anniversary of George House Trust in 2025, as well as campaigns to continue the important work they do. “I still can’t believe it’s 40 years,” he says of its foundations.

“40 years isn’t that long really, it isn’t a massive amount of time and there is still lots of work to be done.”

You can find more information about HIV and the work that George House Trust does here. ‘A Snapshot of HIV Through a ‘Mancunian’ Gay Lens’ is at Kimpton Clocktower Hotel until the end of January.

“With Love, Mr Gay” – Written and performed by Josh Val Martin – Part Of “Fringe Highlights”

Monday, 20 January – 7.30pm – 9.30pm and Tuesday 21 January – 7.30pm – 9.30pm

The Kings Arms, 11 Bloom Street, Salford M3 6AN

Pay What You Can from £4 to £20 + fees

“Dear Mr. Gay, if you move my bin again, I will get an ex-mercenary to destroy you … from flat 2.”

This (real) letter was blue-tacked to my flat’s front door, and thus sparked a neighbourhood feud over both my sexuality, and the placement of the blue bins.

Determined to find peace, and not let the conflict consume me, I sought advice and interviewed experts: a dog trainer, a historian, a Middle East peace negotiator and, of course, my Auntie Clare.

With Love, Mr Gay is my true story, featuring cabaret, comedy, interviews and showtunes, as I’m accompanied by the personification of a laughing Buddha statue from B&M, who acts as my unlikely spiritual guide.

Join us on our heartfelt and hilarious mission to find fabulous ways of end deeply personal battles – even when the idea of peace seems impossible.

Buy tickets here.

Can You Help?

My name is Jason D’Suvio and I am a 48 year old gay man studying a Bsc in Psychology at Arden University in Manchester.

I am undertaking my final major researching project and will be completing it on Gay Men and their use of Gay Dating Apps with a focus on the experience of users and the pros and cons they may have identified.

Part of my project involves recruiting participants that are aged over 55 for a brief interview about their experience with face to face or online. The project will have full ethical approval from the university and a Participant information sheet, consent form and debrief form will all be provided.

The aim of the study is to help identify the benefits an drawbacks of these apps and the importance of having social opportunities for older gay men in the community.

If you think you could enquire amongst your members if any one would be happy to participate it would be a great help. Thanks, Jason
Contact us here and we will forward information.