Fac51: The Hacienda at Art Vinyl Gallery
Published 30 months ago
A celebration of the aesthetics of the Manchester club, curated by Peter Hook.
Last night the Art Vinyl Gallery at London's Broadway Market hosted the opening of Fac51: The Hacienda, a celebration of the Ben Kelly-designed Hacienda club (Factory Records catalogue number Fac51), curated by Peter Hook.
The space was decked out with various items of décor from the club in its distinctive yellow and black, but the main focus fell on three decades-worth of flip-framed Hacienda and Hacienda-related band T-shirts. With many of these from Hooky's own personal wardrobe, he no doubt needed these during the days when he and the rest of New Order were haemorrhaging their own money trying to keep the club afloat. One of the more interesting pieces was Peter Saville's iconic cover of Joy Divisions Unknown Pleasures, its 100 pulses augmented by one extra morphing into the words "I'm so bored of this graphic."
Though no one could have imagined it at the time, Fac51's influence has been long-felt, being arguably the birthplace of the UK dance music scene and the "superstar DJ", as well as giving Madonna her first ever UK gig. In the words of the late Tony Wilson, "Buildings create synergy. They concentrate creativity." Or, as one of last night's said, borrowing its words from the Situationist text, "The Hacienda must be built."