'Sheffield's smallest cinema', record shop and gallery staging 'racy exhibitions' opening in Chapel Walk
The historic alleyway is being revived by new tenants
A record shop, gallery and ‘Sheffield’s smallest cinema’ will be a champion of Northern cultural heritage when it opens in the city centre.
Memory Dance is opening in a newly-refurbished unit at 21 Chapel Walk on June 5.
It will be run by Sheffield-based curator and archivist Alex Wilson who says it will focus on sound, moving images, design and photography.
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It will also sell records and stage ‘racy exhibitions’, happenings and screenings in the the micro cinema space in the basement which Alex describes as the smallest in the city.
Alex established Memory Dance in 2009 to unearth rarely-seen archive collections and show them in new and exciting contexts.
A Memory Dance record label followed to sharing lesser-known work from the fringes of noise, jazz, synthpop, street-soul, electro and early house music.
Alex is one of the first to move into refurbished shops on Chapel Walk funded by Sheffield City Council.
Last year it was offering people up to £10,000 from the ReNew fund to enable occupiers to fit-out vacant units.
Memory Dance’s opening exhibition is called ‘We’ll miss them when they’re gone’ which explores the history of Sheffield record shops, from Bradleys to Virgin.
It includes original 78 RPM sleeves, old record shop bags and items from lost Sheffield vinyl retailers.
Alex said: “It’s an ode to vinyl, the art and obsession of record collecting, and a tribute to those who have worked the counters, priced the wax, and built communities of music wherever they may be.
“We also offer a public call out to the Sheffield community to come down with anything relating to the history of Sheffield record shops: bags, prints, receipts, photographs, posters…”
Records from “some of the best collections the city has to offer” with a real focus on Sheffield artists and labels will be on sale, he added.
During DocFest weekend, June 11-15, the space will celebrate one of the key filmmakers operating today. Details to be announced soon.
At the end of June, Memory Dance will stage an exhibition on the story of Sheffield Cablevision TV (1972-76).
It will have photos, artefacts and merchandise and the cinema will show a rarely-seen collection of Cablevison TV video.