This research by the University of Manchester’s social and cultural geographer Dr Amy Barron explores intergenerational encounters in Telescope – Quarantine’s performance project presented at Manchester Museum in October 2025.
According to a report by social enterprise United for all Ages, Britain is now one of the most age-segregated countries in the world. Quarantine’s performance Telescope began with the idea of creating a situation that brought a young person – someone on the cusp of adulthood – into an encounter with an older person, a complete stranger. Recruited from two age groups: young adults aged roughly 18-25, navigating their first steps into adulthood, and older adults aged around 60-70, Quarantine invited people to lend them an object that would form the starting point for a series of public conversations at Manchester Museum.
Dr Barron’s publication Age on the Stage: Staging Age Through Creative Encounter in Telescope by Quarantine is a rich and delicate portrait of the encounters that were subsequently created.
