Thank you for joining us this last 18 days and for making the festival a success. Scroll back to remember some of the higlights of MIF 2017 and see you in 2019!
Manchester International Festival ran from 29 June and 16 July 2017
Talk to us @mifestival on twitter & mcrintfestival on Facebook
Festival Square
Jon DaSilva, one of the most influential DJs in the history of the legendary Haçienda, will be playing a special guest DJ set in the Festival Pavilion tonight.Admission is free and the bar's open very late – don't miss it if you're in Manchester. Here's some of his music to get you in the mood, whether you're local or not!
#Creative50
Nick Chaffe
MIF17 Creative 50
Inspired by our pioneering Dark Matter gigs,, external 'Greetings at 16 R.P.M' is an experimental animation illustrated by brilliant #creative50 artist Nick Chaffe and kindly produced by James, external & James, external.
The animation will illustrate up to 55 different greetings which are onboard the Voyager 1 Golden Record , external- currently the farthest spacecraft from earth. Take a look at Nick's instagram account, external below to follow the beautiful development of the project (and make sure you swipe through!)
Allow Instagram content?
This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Party Skills For The End Of The World
The party at the end of the world rages on, and for anyone still curious about what exactly might happen when they venture through the doors, the brilliant creators have given the following sneak-peek...
What skills might you need for a party at the end of the world?
Learn more about Party Skills For The End Of The World, external
The Welcoming Party
A cheerful hug? A warm meal? Introducing your friends? Immersive family show The Welcoming Party deals with current issues of immigration, separation, morality and togetherness - bringing in pupperty, music and interactive elements to keep little and big kids spellbound.
The reviews so far have been pretty amazing, external, and you still have a few chances left to catch it...
Come give a warm welcome to some new arrivals in this inspiring immersive show
Kiran Leonard
Find out more about Kiran Leonard's amazing new project for MFI17, external on Radcliffe and Maconie's show, from 51min in... hear about tonight's Song of the Husband, external premiere in his own words:
On stage tonight will be a seven-piece band, featuring acoustic guitar, zither, violin, cello, clarinet, percussion and voices.
In the Pavilion on Festival Square there will be an exhibition of sculptures, painting and drawings, a woodcut and a scrapbook.
Tickets still available, if you're quick...
Delving into the last vestiges of an imagined universe, Song Of The Father promises to be like nothing else in the festival. He's on tonight at the Pavilion Theatre, external, right by sunny Albert Square - see you there?
Allow X content?
This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Are you ready for a dance piece like no other?
25 dancers, one hour, not a single movement repeated. 10,000 Gestures promises to be utterly and totally unique.
Quote Message“Dancers’ bodies are a museum in themselves. They archive, store and pass on movement. Dance history was built on 10,000 gestures, 10,000 people, not just the five greatest names of the 20th century. It’s a collective movement
Boris Charmatz, Creator, 10,000 Gestures
An MIF Boris Charmatz
Intrigued? How could you not be. Find out more, right here, , external
#creative50
Michael Sheridan
MIF17 Creative 50
One of our brilliant local artists Sheriden has created a snapchat filter especially for tomorrow's New Order gig - and we want to see you using it.
From 5pm tomorrow, just open Snapchat, swipe right until you reach TheNewORderProject filter, take you pic, and tweet it using #theNewOrderProject.
We're desperate to see action shots from the lucky New Order crowd, so our favourites will be showcased right here. Are you a true fan? Let's find out tomorrow...
Image source, MIFTo learn more, visit Micheal's Twitter, external, and don't forget to use the hashtag #TheNewOrderProject - enjoy!
Manchester Street Poem
Taking interviews from those who have experienced homelessness and daubing them on the walls of an abandoned shop-front - it's not a project that comes around every day.
But then, it's the kind of thing we've come to expect from the brilliant and unique Karl Hyde.
Allow X content?
This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
You can take a look at the live CC-TV cameras capturing the creation of the poem, external every day from 10pm-6pm, and explore a world that often passes us by.
In Manchester, we make the most of the sunshine
Today we're lucky enough to be bringing you all the updates from beautifully sunny Albert Square, and yes we do have umbrellas in our bag - this is Manchester, we know how fast things can change.
Until then though, come join us as the music drifts overhead, the drinks flow and we await the evening's festivities. There's plenty to see tonight, external, but it all starts right here...
Image source, MIF
Image source, MIFMusic For A Busy City
Our Music For A Busy City , externalcomposers had their work cut out for them; creating music for strange and specific locations across the city of Manchester.
You can listen to all their compositions here, external, and you can see how a few of them went about their creations below...
Anna Meredith
Location: Walkway between Selfridges and Marks & Spencers, Arndale Centre
Anna Meredith tells us about her Music For a Busy City composition process
Matthew Herbert
Location: Great Northern Warehouse
Matthew Herbert discuss his project which incorporates the sounds of industrial revolution
Huang Ruo
Location: Manchester Town Hall
Manchester International Festival speaks to Huang Ruo
It's not about the money (money, money)
Allow X content?
This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
And try and keep it together, would you?
Star and creator of Cotton Panic! , externalJane Horrocks has always been known for her amazing pipes (Little Voice, anyone?) so it's our absolute pleasure to be able to showcase an exclusive song from her brand new show.
Plug in, close your eyes, and let the folk history of the North West envelop you...
#mif17 trailer for Cotton Panic!
Fatherland
Not going to find yourself in Manchester anytime soon? Never fear, you can listen to this track from our show Fatherland, external at your leisure and pleasure.
Composed and created by Karl Hyde - who is also busy creating Manchester Street Poem, external live right now - and Matthew Herbert - one of our composers for our city-wide treasure hunt Music For A Busy City, external - gosh, these artists do get everywhere, don't they...
Allow YouTube content?
This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
#creative50
Want to visit an installation that combines original music, poetry, film, dress-making, statue welding as well as vital Manchester history?
We have the event for you. From 11am-8pm today, get down to Elizabeth Gaskell house, external for an amazing one-day exhibition celebrating the life of Friedrich Engels' common-law wife, Mary Burns.
The one who introduced the communist idol to the slums of Manchester, the working classes, and who did a lot of the work he became known for - she's a key figure, often forgotten by the history books.
Learn more in this excellent Storify below, which combines dress-making with historical know-how:
Allow X content?
This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
This exhibition has been put together by several of our brilliant #creative50 team:
Fabricator: Nicola EllisTextile dyer: Natalie LinneySculpture designer: Jasmine WalneArtist films/projections: Jamie StarboiskyComposition/cello: Chris LyonRecording/sound design: Manoli MoriatyPoetry: Ella Otomewo and Kofi Gyamfi
And you can learn more about our closing ceremony celebrating Friedrich Engels right here.
Cotton Panic!
Cotton Panic!, external is now open and swinging, taking over the ludicrously atmospheric Upper Campfield Market Hall with a gig/visual art piece that explodes the history of the North West cotton famine of the late 1800's. Which isn't a sentence any of us thought we'd ever say.
It's actually a truly incredible story of how Mancunian workers stood in solidarity with the slaves of the American Deep South, refusing to bow to pressure despite suffering enormous hardships as a town. In short, it makes you proud to be Manc.
But don't take our word for it...
Allow X content?
This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Allow X content?
This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Allow X content?
This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Allow X content?
This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Allow X content?
This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Allow X content?
This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Allow X content?
This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
An exhibition from an imagined dead planet...
Manchester based composer and musician Kiran Leonard has created a brand new music and visual art show, based on an imagined future historical discovery on a neighbouring planet.
Leonard has assembled a team of artists, designers and artists to create the artefacts from this imagined historical haul. Intrigued? Us too. Listen to much more from 40 mins in below, and hear a brand new piece of music from the show itself, Song Of The Husband., external
10,000 Gestures
Name: Boris Charmatz
Born: Chambery, 1973
Trained: Paris Opera Ballet Scool and the Conservatoire in Lyon.
Best known for: Danse de Nuit, a reclamation of public spaces in response the Charlie Hebdo and Bataclan attacks in France.
Super power? Making dance happen any time, any where, and embracing the wide range of what dance can be – “It can be a Madonna show, it can be the Billy Elliot musical, it can be YouTube, it can be a hardcore work by Trisha Brown.”
Allow YouTube content?
This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
What do others say about him? "He is one of the foremost agitateurs of the contemporary dance scene right now. From Tate Modern to taking over a football stadium... Boris is always where you least expect him. There's a flow of energy going through the space and through us [the audience]." Eva Martinez, Artistic Programmer and Artist Development, Sadler's Well.
In his own words: “Dancers’ bodies are a museum in themselves. They archive, store and pass on movement. Dance history was built on 10,000 gestures, 10,000 people, not just the five greatest names of the 20th century. It’s a collective movement.” In the Financial Times., external
“I didn’t project myself as a prince in Giselle. I was interested in dance because it had a history, a culture, a mental landscape. I could read about it, discuss it, write and make it, as well as perform it. I could touch on politics, history, social and economic ideas.” In The Guardian, external.
Allow YouTube content?
This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
What to say at a dinner party: "Of course, as a proponent of non-dance, Charmatz necessarily positions himself outside the mainstream, which only makes his work more exciting."
OK, that's great, but what on earth is "non-dance"? It's a choreographic movement of the mid-1990s, which grew out of the contemporary dance scene in France. It's a cross-disciplinary art form which eschews traditional dance vocabulary and movement, instead drawing from theatre, film, music, lectures etc. Charmatz says: "I am a dancer, but I see dance a mental space not only as physical practice."
Sounds cool! What should I do now? Find out more, external about Charmatz's brand new piece for MIF17...
Cotton Panic!
The Cotton Panic, or Cotton Famine, of 1861, is the inspiration for MIF's new 'industrial musical', external by Jane Horrocks, Nick Vivian and Wrangler.
With the American Civil War raging in 1861, the production of cotton, mostly produced by slaves in the Southern States, dropped. This affected many workers in North West England, who relied on Lancashire's cotton mills for their livelihoods.
The supporters of the Southern states in America hoped that by holding England's cotton-manufacturing towns to ransom, they could force British support for their side in the war. What actually happened was that, despite privation and hardship, the cotton workers resolved to support the Union in its fight against slavery, which they called "a foul blot on civilisation and Christianity". Go, Lancashire!
The show runs to 15 July, external.
Allow X content?
This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Allow X content?
This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
#creative50
See the whole MIF GIF a day series, external
Running alongside our anarchic and immersive apocalyptic party experience Party Skills For The End Of The World, external, Dinner Party At The End Of The World, external is a unique dining experience perfectly encapsulated by our brilliant #creative50 artist Tara Collette:
Allow X content?
This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.