Manchester International Festival kicks off with an eclectic array of culture
The biannual Manchester International Festival has opened.
Running through until 20 July & running across the city, we visited the
opening weekend to experience a rich array of culture, including football-art
collaboration, queer ballet & a sublime show of indigenous Amazonian art.
The 10th edition of the Manchester International Festival
(MIF), a city-encompassing arts event with a focus on performing arts, reaching
new audiences, and commissioning of bold new work, has launched. Led by Creative
Director Low Kee Hong, and overseen by John McGrath, Chief Executive and
Artistic Director of organisers Factory International, the wide range of events
are focused on the recently opened OMA-designed Aviva Studios.
A canalside complex of interconnecting spaces for unexpected culture, which we reviewed on opening in late 2023 (000147) shortly after the previous edition of MIF (00109), the festival programme will not only take place inside the venue’s theatre and main hall, but also in the wide public space both inside the Ben Kelly-designed ground floor and spilling into the external Festival Square.
Below, we bring you some highlights from the opening events and also what to look out for over the next few weeks:
A canalside complex of interconnecting spaces for unexpected culture, which we reviewed on opening in late 2023 (000147) shortly after the previous edition of MIF (00109), the festival programme will not only take place inside the venue’s theatre and main hall, but also in the wide public space both inside the Ben Kelly-designed ground floor and spilling into the external Festival Square.
Below, we bring you some highlights from the opening events and also what to look out for over the next few weeks:
FOOTBALL CITY, UNITED ART
Titled to cleverly include both footballing rivals in Manchester, this exhibition of eleven large works are all formed by collaborations between cultural creatives and footballing creatives. It’s even curated in an interdisciplinary way, with curators Hans Ulrich Obrist and Josh Wilding working with ex Manchester United, Chelsea, and Valencia trequartista legend Juan Mata.
Installations range from Ryan Gander working with Eric Cantona on three works including a spotlight that randomly selects and follows a visitor within the cavernous, dark space, through to Paul Pfeiffer and Edgar Davids creating a long entrance tunnel sound work of a crescendoing crowd, allowing the visitor to somewhat feel the intensity of approaching the field of play but also creating an other-space of intimacy and personal journey.
Titled to cleverly include both footballing rivals in Manchester, this exhibition of eleven large works are all formed by collaborations between cultural creatives and footballing creatives. It’s even curated in an interdisciplinary way, with curators Hans Ulrich Obrist and Josh Wilding working with ex Manchester United, Chelsea, and Valencia trequartista legend Juan Mata.
Installations range from Ryan Gander working with Eric Cantona on three works including a spotlight that randomly selects and follows a visitor within the cavernous, dark space, through to Paul Pfeiffer and Edgar Davids creating a long entrance tunnel sound work of a crescendoing crowd, allowing the visitor to somewhat feel the intensity of approaching the field of play but also creating an other-space of intimacy and personal journey.
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figs.iii,iv
Suzanne Lacy has worked with Vivianne Miedema of Angel City
Football Club and New Zealand captain Ali Riley to create a five-screen study
of gender roles in football, and developing an analysis of how women’s football
can develop into its own sport rather than mimic the established but imperfect
men’s model. In the centre of the whole space is a three-part sculpture formed of
three netted drums, with small wormholes between. Milanese architect Stefano
Boeri worked with former Inter footballer Sandro Mazzola and Mexican architect Eduardo
Terrazas to create an installation allowing visitors to re-enact the forward
player’s most iconic goals, albeit while socially connecting to a fellow player
who cannot be seen in the adjoining drum.
Other works come from artists such as Rose Wylie, Alvaro Barrington, and Philippe Parreno as well as footballers such as Brazilian Raí, Japanese Shinji Kagawa, and Ella Toone. A poetic, hallucinogenic, holographic video by Jill Mulleady even manages to collaborate with Diego Maradona, who the artist met when young, as a spectral memory of the revered Argentine international.
Football City, Art United is on at Aviva Studios until 24 August
www.factoryinternational.org/whats-on/football-city-art-united
Other works come from artists such as Rose Wylie, Alvaro Barrington, and Philippe Parreno as well as footballers such as Brazilian Raí, Japanese Shinji Kagawa, and Ella Toone. A poetic, hallucinogenic, holographic video by Jill Mulleady even manages to collaborate with Diego Maradona, who the artist met when young, as a spectral memory of the revered Argentine international.
Football City, Art United is on at Aviva Studios until 24 August
www.factoryinternational.org/whats-on/football-city-art-united
SANTIAGO YAHUARCANI: THE BEGINNING OF KNOWLEDGE
Possibly the highlight of the festival so far is this exhibition of works by an artist and his family from a remote Amazonia town in northern Peru. Santiago Yahuarcani is an artist, Indigenous activist and leader of the Aimeni (White Heron) clan of the Uitoto people who creates bold, devastating paintings that speak to a relationship to land as well as historic and ongoing threats to the way of life of his people and the natural world.
The works are related to shamanistic rituals carried out at night in which ingested sacred plants help conjure stories, dreams, and meditations upon the world. Those imaginings of the human, non-human, natural, and spirit worlds are then presented across handmade sheets of llanchama paper made from the inner bark of Amazonian trees.
Possibly the highlight of the festival so far is this exhibition of works by an artist and his family from a remote Amazonia town in northern Peru. Santiago Yahuarcani is an artist, Indigenous activist and leader of the Aimeni (White Heron) clan of the Uitoto people who creates bold, devastating paintings that speak to a relationship to land as well as historic and ongoing threats to the way of life of his people and the natural world.
The works are related to shamanistic rituals carried out at night in which ingested sacred plants help conjure stories, dreams, and meditations upon the world. Those imaginings of the human, non-human, natural, and spirit worlds are then presented across handmade sheets of llanchama paper made from the inner bark of Amazonian trees.
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figs.vii,viii
Nature in all its forms is also present in the portrayed
narratives, the history of colonial extraction is present throughout, often in incredibly
violent scenes including those witnessed by Yahuarcani’s own grandfather, the
sole survivor of the Aemeni clan of the Uitoto Nation who perished under forced
labour, torture, and starvation of the British Peruvian Amazon Company,
responsible for an estimated 30,000 deaths between 1879 and 1912.
While graphic and speaking to such atrocities, the function of the work is also to show resilience and harmony with nature, increasingly important as indigenous people face new threats from encroaching urbanisation, diseases, and environmental breakdown. The works in this show sit in a space between real and spiritual, memory and living, reality and imaginary, and in doing so create a rich space not only for Yahuarcani and his clan to memorialise and organise, but for visitors in Manchester to recognise an interconnected world and question our own ways of thinking, living, and remembering.
Santiago Yahuarcani – the Beginning of Knowledge is on at the Whitworth until 04 Jan 2026
www.factoryinternational.org/whats-on/santiago-yahuarcani
While graphic and speaking to such atrocities, the function of the work is also to show resilience and harmony with nature, increasingly important as indigenous people face new threats from encroaching urbanisation, diseases, and environmental breakdown. The works in this show sit in a space between real and spiritual, memory and living, reality and imaginary, and in doing so create a rich space not only for Yahuarcani and his clan to memorialise and organise, but for visitors in Manchester to recognise an interconnected world and question our own ways of thinking, living, and remembering.
Santiago Yahuarcani – the Beginning of Knowledge is on at the Whitworth until 04 Jan 2026
www.factoryinternational.org/whats-on/santiago-yahuarcani
A SINGLE MAN
The deep, operatic voice of American singer John Grant is still resonating around the main theatre of Aviva Studios after the few performances of A Single Man that opened Manchester International Festival. A short run of a new ballet-led production of Christopher Isherwood’s portrait of queer love and loss saw Grant performing the role of protagonist George’s mind, stretched by longing, hope, fear, and passion in 1960s California. A set by Chiara Stephenson created a kit-of-parts system of his identities, with different elements lit up or folding out to suit narrative elements, was activated and animated with a lead performance by former Royal Ballet Principal Ed Watson, enacting George’s everyday existence and existential turmoil to Grant’s soaring voice.
While a major production, the presentation overseen by director and choreographer Jonathan Watkins was only on for a short four-day run, though no doubt it will continue elsewhere and travel to venues far beyond Manchester, as so many of the Festival’s previous bespoke commissions have done.
A Single Man was presented at Aviva Studios, 04-06 July
www.factoryinternational.org/whats-on/a-single-man
The deep, operatic voice of American singer John Grant is still resonating around the main theatre of Aviva Studios after the few performances of A Single Man that opened Manchester International Festival. A short run of a new ballet-led production of Christopher Isherwood’s portrait of queer love and loss saw Grant performing the role of protagonist George’s mind, stretched by longing, hope, fear, and passion in 1960s California. A set by Chiara Stephenson created a kit-of-parts system of his identities, with different elements lit up or folding out to suit narrative elements, was activated and animated with a lead performance by former Royal Ballet Principal Ed Watson, enacting George’s everyday existence and existential turmoil to Grant’s soaring voice.
While a major production, the presentation overseen by director and choreographer Jonathan Watkins was only on for a short four-day run, though no doubt it will continue elsewhere and travel to venues far beyond Manchester, as so many of the Festival’s previous bespoke commissions have done.
A Single Man was presented at Aviva Studios, 04-06 July
www.factoryinternational.org/whats-on/a-single-man
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AN INHERITANCE
A sweet, tightly conceived and presented installation at Manchester Art Gallery combines over 500 objects and thoughts from local primary school children. They were tasked with thinking about Manchester both today and in 100 years’ time, and were invited to contribute a text or object to first be exhibited and then preserved by the City Council for a century for a future Mancunian generation.
Objects range from a copy of the Manchester Evening News dated 24 June, with a cover of the fire that ravaged city centre historic buildings which will no doubt benefit developers who would have known nothing at all about the incoming fire, while a room of short quotes opens up all kinds of worldviews from the participating children. “I hope love is the same.”, “Is Russia still a country?”, “The bills are going to get expensive.”, “Is the Dog man still famous?”, and “When you are in a restaurant be nice to employees and do not play with knives.” sit alongside countless quotes offering insight into the natural world, local politics, personal hopes, and often insightful readings of current politics.
An Inheritance is showing at Manchester Art Gallery until 02 November
www.factoryinternational.org/whats-on/an-inheritance
A sweet, tightly conceived and presented installation at Manchester Art Gallery combines over 500 objects and thoughts from local primary school children. They were tasked with thinking about Manchester both today and in 100 years’ time, and were invited to contribute a text or object to first be exhibited and then preserved by the City Council for a century for a future Mancunian generation.
Objects range from a copy of the Manchester Evening News dated 24 June, with a cover of the fire that ravaged city centre historic buildings which will no doubt benefit developers who would have known nothing at all about the incoming fire, while a room of short quotes opens up all kinds of worldviews from the participating children. “I hope love is the same.”, “Is Russia still a country?”, “The bills are going to get expensive.”, “Is the Dog man still famous?”, and “When you are in a restaurant be nice to employees and do not play with knives.” sit alongside countless quotes offering insight into the natural world, local politics, personal hopes, and often insightful readings of current politics.
An Inheritance is showing at Manchester Art Gallery until 02 November
www.factoryinternational.org/whats-on/an-inheritance
GERMAINE KRUIP: A POSSIBILITY
In a recent review of Germaine Kruip’s work(see 00255), our writer Sam Moore said that “There’s something painterly in Kruip’s work, through the tension in which it seems to exist in a gallery space, and the way the shapes her lights form feel as if they could be right at home on a canvas.” Manchester International Festival visitors will also soon get to have this emotive experience with a new work formed from a collaboration with the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) featuring new compositions by composers Emily Howard and Hahn Rowe.
Few details are yet available for the project that opens on 17 July, but it will be in two parts using projected light as critical protagonist. Shadows will evolve with music throughout, while in the second part the artist’s brass sculptured will emerge as a playable set for a musical ritual.
Germaine Kruip: A Possibility is presented at the Royal Northern College of Music, 17-20 July
www.factoryinternational.org/whats-on/germaine-kruip-a-possibility
In a recent review of Germaine Kruip’s work(see 00255), our writer Sam Moore said that “There’s something painterly in Kruip’s work, through the tension in which it seems to exist in a gallery space, and the way the shapes her lights form feel as if they could be right at home on a canvas.” Manchester International Festival visitors will also soon get to have this emotive experience with a new work formed from a collaboration with the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) featuring new compositions by composers Emily Howard and Hahn Rowe.
Few details are yet available for the project that opens on 17 July, but it will be in two parts using projected light as critical protagonist. Shadows will evolve with music throughout, while in the second part the artist’s brass sculptured will emerge as a playable set for a musical ritual.
Germaine Kruip: A Possibility is presented at the Royal Northern College of Music, 17-20 July
www.factoryinternational.org/whats-on/germaine-kruip-a-possibility
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FESTIVAL SQUARE
Covering the duration of Manchester International Festival 2025, the outside spaces of Aviva Studios will become Festival Square, home to a series of free events for everyone from creative kids to queer clubbers. Each day has a series of participatory or musical events, with many musicians emerging from Factory International’s annual programme to support the local emerging music industry, Factory Sounds.
Haçienda legend Dave Haslam (and author, see 00199) has already played the square, but more dance is to come, including an evening of queerness with Shanika Sunrise and Homobloc x Homoelectric. The night before features rapper Maxi Zee, sound artist Zeyla, and DJ Adele Tondu. Over the duration of Manchester International 2025, nearly 200 artists, bands, DJs, and musicians will perform in Festival Square, 160 of whom are from the Greater Manchester area.
Festival Square is open every day throughout the festival
www.factoryinternational.org/whats-on/festival-square-mif25
Covering the duration of Manchester International Festival 2025, the outside spaces of Aviva Studios will become Festival Square, home to a series of free events for everyone from creative kids to queer clubbers. Each day has a series of participatory or musical events, with many musicians emerging from Factory International’s annual programme to support the local emerging music industry, Factory Sounds.
Haçienda legend Dave Haslam (and author, see 00199) has already played the square, but more dance is to come, including an evening of queerness with Shanika Sunrise and Homobloc x Homoelectric. The night before features rapper Maxi Zee, sound artist Zeyla, and DJ Adele Tondu. Over the duration of Manchester International 2025, nearly 200 artists, bands, DJs, and musicians will perform in Festival Square, 160 of whom are from the Greater Manchester area.
Festival Square is open every day throughout the festival
www.factoryinternational.org/whats-on/festival-square-mif25
