City’s healing to continue with MIF launch

The post-terrorist attack revitalisation and coming together of a city continues in the coming week with the launch of Manchester International Festival on Thursday (June 29).

It launches with What is the City but the People? It’s large-scale public celebration of Manchester which sees local people walking a specially created runway in Piccadilly Gardens for audience of thousands both live and online.

This will be followed by a performance by music legends New Order at Old Granada Studios in a ‘spectacular immersive environment’ designed by artist Liam Gillick.

MIF continues until July 16 and features 25 new commissions and special events including:
•    True Faith, a major exhibition exploring the legacy of Joy Division and New Order
•    Fatherland, a new show created by Simon Stephens, Karl Hyde and Scott Graham
•    Party Skills for the End of the World, apocalyptic theatre from Shunt’s Nigel & Louise
•    Jane Horrocks’ Cotton Panic!, the story of Manchester’s cotton famine
•    A rare Thomas Ostermeier world premiere outside Berlin, Returning to Reims
•    Yael Bartana’s What if Women Ruled the World?, directed by Vicky Featherstone
•    A long overdue celebration of Manchester hero Friedrich Engels by artist Phil Collins
•    Livecasts of What is the City, Cotton Panic! and Ceremony via mif.co.uk/live
•    New work from double Oscar-winning director and activist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
•    Specially-commissioned music for public places with Music for a Busy City
•    Themes of migration explored by artists including Samson Young and Susan Hefuna
•    One-off gigs from artists including Sampha, Arcade Fire, Bonobo, Ride
•    MIF’s first game commission from Portland-based designer Nina Freeman
•    Sufi stars Sanam Marvi and Harshdeep Kaur performing together for the first time
•    Refit of MIF’s hub Festival Square by designers Paloma Gormley & Nick Henninger

Artists in the 2017 Festival include Boris Charmatz, Jane Horrocks, New Order, Liam Gillick, Yael Bartana, Arcade Fire, Phil Collins, Mica Levi, Demdike Stare, Gruff Rhys, Underworld, Lucinda Childs, Frank Gehry, John Adams, Thomas  Ostermeier, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Matthew Herbert, Anna Meredith, Olga Neuwirth, Huang Ruo, Mohammed Fairouz, Philip Venables, Jeremy Deller, Mary-Ellen McTague, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Company Wayne McGregor, Simon Stephens, Scott Graham, Susan Hefuna, Sampha, Raymond Yiu, Paloma Gormley, Nigel Barrett and Louise Mari, Mary-Anne Hobbs, Samson Young and many more.

MIF’s artistic director and CEO John McGrath said: “We can’t wait to share these works made right here in Manchester by some of the world’s most remarkable artists.

“I knew that these artists would speak to the state of the world but I had no idea quite how dynamic, committed and necessary these works would be.

“As an international festival I am delighted that audiences outside of Manchester will be able to experience some of our key commissions live and online.”

So far more than 4,000 local people have participated directly in MIF17, including around 500 taking part in MIF commissions including Fatherland, What is the City but the People?, Party Skills For the End of the World, Manchester Street Poem, ToGather, Ceremony and Cotton Panic!