Laura is a freelance games and media critic, and runs Indie games website IndieHaven.com. She has worked as UK Editor at Destructoid, freelanced at RPS, Kotaku UK, The Guardian, Polygon, Vice, IGN, The Jimquisition and more. She is also an Editor at Let's Play Video Games.

Image source, MIF

Achingly cool games designer Nina Freeman makes beautiful, thought-provoking video games, including How Do You Do It, which looks at burgeoning sexuality through play with dolls.

Her more recent game, Cibele, is about falling in love during an online game. For MIF17, Freeman has made a free game, Lost Memories Dot Net, which you can play here., external

Image source, Nina Freeman

That's a wrap, folks! First Interdependence talk done, and we're gearing up for the next one. While we switch over, why not listen to Laurie Anderson on BBC 6 Music?

Watch an extract from Wayne McGregor's Chroma, featuring Laura Morera and Eric Underwood dancing to The Hardest Button to Button by The White Stripes. to get a sense of his thinking about the body in action.

Laurie Anderson is currently in conversation with Wayne McGregor about the influence of technology on their work, on our lives, and its future potential. Below, she offers some advice to the next generation.

Birgitta Jónsdóttir is an Icelandic politician, anarchist, poet, activist, web developer... She's a Member of the Icelandic Parliament, representing The Icelandic Pirate Party. The party's core policies include direct democracy, transparency, civil rights, the right to self-determination, public access to information and responsible decision making. Birgitta has also been a vocal advocate for Chelsea Manning, external.

Wayne McGregor is a choreographer, currently working for the Royal Ballet and his own company, Studio Wayne McGregor. His piece, Tree of Codes, was a highlight of the MIF15.

He’s choreographed videos for Radiohead and The Chemical Brothers, and he also worked on the movement for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire film.

McGregor has a life-long interest in science and technology, and this has informed much of his work to date. In 2004, McGregor was made a Research Fellow in the Department of Experimental Psychology at Cambridge University.

Avant-garde artist, composer and musician Laurie Anderson is part of Interdependence, external today, speaking to choreographer Wayne McGregor about using technology in artwork.

For more than 30 years, Anderson has used cutting-edge technology to tell human stories. Her single, O Superman, reached no.2 in the UK charts in 1981.

Our host for this morning is academic and journalist Aleks Krotoski. She's won an Emmy, a BAFTA and a Radio Academy Award, and she writes about and studies psychology and technology. Her podcast, The Resilient, external, describes itself as "a podcast of intimate interviews", and features stories from powerful, everyday people.

Morning campers! We've got an action-packed weekend for you, whatever you're in to...We're at Stoller Hall for Interdependence: We Need To Talk, external, debating technology this morning and community this afternoon. Both events will be live-streamed right here, featuring the likes of Laurie Anderson, Wayne McGregor, Rem Koolhaas and Nina Freeman.

Cotton Panic!, external opens tonight. It's a new 'industrial musical' from Wrangler, Jane Horrocks and Nick Vivian, looking at the cotton famine of 1861. Hear the team talk about the show below.

Returning to Reims, external continues at HOME, and Party Skills for the End of the World, external continues to amaze and equip audiences every evening. If you're after an exhibition, we've got True Faith, external at Manchester Art Gallery, HOME1947, external at The Lowry and No End to Enderby, external at the Whitworth.

Tonight, we're bringing a little bit of West Wales to Manchester as the Machynlleth Comedy Festival decamps for a weekend at MIF, external. Mark Watson, Tim Key and Kiri Pritchard-McLean are in town tonight to make you laugh.

There's so much going on across the city today, that we've gathered it all into a handy calendar for you here, external. Whatever you're doing today – even if it's just hanging out in Festival Square with a cold drink – have a great one!

While the forecast may be good at the moment, we all know that the good old Manchester weather might show itself again at any moment. So, enjoy Festival Square, which its brilliant range of food, drink and music, from noon to late every day, but you might want a few indoor options, too…

From family shows to exhibitions, immersive performance to banging DJs, there’s something for everyone.

On Saturday, take your little ones to Bambino, external, a new opera designed specifically for babies, at 10:30 and 1:30, and older children will enjoy The Welcoming Party, external, a show about migration and home at the Museum of Science and Industry.

The other early-risers among you should head over to Interdependence: We Need To Talk About Technology, external at 10am, with stellar guests including performance artist Laurie Anderson, choreographer Wayne McGregor and games designer Nina Freeman. The talks are just £5, and promise to wake you up!

We’ll be live-streaming both sessions, so if you prefer so watch from bed with a coffee and a croissant, we’ve got you covered right here. And if you’re still in bed at 2pm for the second session (Rem Koolhaus, Rick Lowe, Karl Hyde, Birgitta Jónsdóttir and more), external we won’t tell anyone…

If you’re in more of a music mood, you can find Music for a Busy City, external all over Manchester town centre, and in Festival Square's Pavilion Theatre, external we’ve got Stealing Sheep followed by Clark, external and Akkord.

For theatre fans, check out Fatherland, external at the Royal Exchange and Returning to Reims, external at HOME.

Then there’s the events that defy categorisation – What If Women Rule the World?, external asks that question through debate and performance, industrial musical Cotton Panic!, external opens, and immersive experience Party Skills for the End of the World, external continues to storm MCR.

Whatever you're doing this weekend, have a good one and cross your fingers for sunshine! Let us know what MIF17 events you're enjoying @MIFestival and on #mif17.

Radcliffe and Maconie talk to Laurie Anderson ahead of her appearance at Interdependence: We Need To Talk About Technology, external tomorrow which you can watch right here on this page from 10:30.

Karl speaks to Elizabeth Alker about Manchester Street Poem, external, a Manchester International Festival installation featuring people with real life experience of living on the streets.

You can listen to Underworld's Manchester Street Poem on Sunday 16 July at 13:00 on 6 Music, and watch a live-stream from the workshop here, external.

The crowds went wild for Paleman, external as part of Mary Anne Hobbs' Dark Matter gigs, external last night. We round up the audience reaction.

Lucinda Childs, who choreographed Available Light, external, says Agon (1957) by George Balanchine is "a brilliant collaboration with the musical composition of Igor Stravinsky".

We've rounded up tracks from some of the amazing bands you can hear in Festival Square , externalacross the festival, so if you're not in Manchester you can dance around your bedroom instead!

Image source, MIF

The Parisian pianist and composer Chassol tells Radcliffe and Maconie about the process he went through to compose for and record the natural world for his piece, Birds. He's playing Festival Square's Pavilion Theatre tonight – find out more here, external.

While the forecast may be good at the moment, we all know that the good old Manchester weather might show itself again at any moment. So, enjoy Festival Square, which its brilliant range of food, drink and music, from noon to late every day, but you might want a few indoor options, too…

From family shows to exhibitions, immersive performance to banging DJs, there’s something for everyone.

On Saturday, take your little ones to Bambino, a new opera designed specifically for babies, at 10:30 and 1:30, and older children will enjoy The Welcoming Party, a show about migration and home at the Museum of Science and Industry.

The other early-risers among you should head over to Independence: We Need To Talk About Technology at 10am, with stellar guests including performance artists Laurie Anderson, choreographer Wayne McGregor and games designer Nina Freeman. The talks are just £5, and promise to wake you up!

We’ll be live-streaming both sessions, so if you prefer so watch from bed with a coffee and a croissant, we’ve got you covered right here. And if you’re still in bed at 2pm for the second session (Rem Koolhaus, Rick Lowe, Karl Hyde, Birgitta Jónsdóttir and more) we won’t tell anyone…

Image source, MIF

If you’re in more of a music mood, you can find Music for a Busy City all over Manchester town centre, and in Festival Square we’ve got Stealing Sheep followed by Clark and Akkord.

For theatre fans, check out Fatherland at the Royal Exchange and Returning to Reims at HOME.

Then there’s the uncategorisable events – What If Women Rule the World? asks that question through debate and performance, industrial musical Cotton Panic! opens, and immersive experience Party Skills for the End of the World continues to storm MCR.

Whatever you're doing this weekend, have a good one and cross your fingers for sunshine!

A look behind the scenes of BambinO, an opera where the audience members wear nappies.

Read the full story here.