It is the future. Everyone is a broadcaster and content maker. The high-rise residents of Whitebeck Court in Charlestown, Manchester have their own media channel to share views on housing, local history, technology, health, animals, food and, of course, the weather. Channel 2049 is created by residents in collaboration with artists Alan Dunn, Claire Nolan, Sh!t Theatre and Maria Stukoff.

Channel 2049 reimagines the first UK Superchannel, a project by Danish artists’ group Superflex, first commissioned in 1999 by the Foundation for Art & Creative Technology (FACT) and Liverpool Housing Action Trust (LHAT) as an innovative online community TV channel that gave voice and skills to elderly high-rise tenants at a time of major redevelopment. Pioneered prior to broadband and the rise of social media and developed by Maria Brewster (FACT) and Paul Kelly (LHAT), the Superchannel in Liverpool’s oldest tower block evolved into the city-wide tenantspin channel, led by Alan Dunn (Channel 2049 collaborator), that further explored high-rise living and imagination, including the SuperBlock radio play set in the year 2040 developed by tenants and artist Jeff Young for BBC Radio.