Created by artists John-Paul Brown and Sophy King, ‘The Guardians of Living Matter’ is a multi-sensory exhibition spread across several distinct rooms. Set in a research lab in the distant future, visitors are invited to explore the work of two environmental scientists as they study the lifeforms slowly invading their offices. Cheery Post-it notes are peppered across the space as bizarre, otherworldly tendrils break through the walls. Bolstered by low soundtrack of birdsong and electricity that echoes from room to room, a gigantic, glowing web of real fungus gazes down from the ceiling, watching and reacting to your presence through machines.

Despite the visions of apocalypse that may surface from such a description, The Guardians of Living Matter finds itself far from the likes of ‘The Last of Us’ and ‘The Girl with All the Gifts’. Rather, its vision of a sentient fungal takeover brings with it a degree of optimism for a world where the climate crisis, finally, seems to have cooled down, and scientists can now experiment with a new, post-climate field of environmental research. Much like a parent picking up after their toddler, the new fungal lifeform has stepped in to magically fix the disaster, while humanity is relegated to the proverbial naughty step to think about what it’s done.

In the wake of ongoing concern over AI and the environment, Brown and King have chosen to shift the narrative to what could happen if the two worked alongside each other instead. In a conscious effort to remain carbon-friendly, every material from the exhibition is repurposed from across Manchester – and will be repurposed again after the exhibition ends in March. The mycelium statue was built with discarded tree branches, and the fungus grown over the course of 8 months with the help of gardening experts in Hulme. All the materials are available to be touched, held, and examined on a special sensory wall, alongside a vast array of literature that visitors can use to learn more about the Earth’s fungus.

For Brown and King, the sense of reassurance is a central tenet of the piece. With stories of climate disaster and environmental decline dominating headlines for decades, ‘The Guardians of Living Matter’ tackles climate exhaustion head-on by raising questions about collaboration, beauty, and the manifestation of hope. In this reality, AI has become a low-carbon, non-destructive tool for change and protection, and a world where humanity is overpowered by both nature and its own creations is allowed to be beautiful. It’s a delight to wander through the space knowing this is the vision of Brown and King’s optimistic future – and more delightful still to wonder how your own optimistic future would look in comparison.

‘The Guardians of Living Matter’ is unique, conceptual, and charmingly earnest in its hope for the future, and promises a different experience with every visit. This exhibition is a daring ‘what if?’ in a world often weighed down by climate pessimism, and a real treat to explore and uncover. A fantastic visit.

The Guardians of Living Matter is at the Lowry, Salford, until 29 March 2026.

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You may think that with only less than an hour the exhibit would struggle to fit all this in, but it has been meticulously curated and contains details of the most important periods of his life, such as the time he spent living in Los Angeles.  

Through his perspective it captures and explores Hockney’s creative process, in addition to exploring his relationships and interactions with the world around him. 

It was first held at the Lightroom gallery in London, and came to Aviva Studios last year. Following that success the exhibition returns to the venue as part of a trio of immersive experiences from Lightroom and Factory International being held at Aviva Studios this winter

Andrew Witherspoon, the marketing producer for the exhibition, is one of the many individuals who have been part of this long creative process and Hockney himself has been completely involved from the very beginning. 

Over a number of years, Hockney himself and his studio assistants worked together through the covid pandemic using scale models.

Hockney’s process is revealed in a cycle of six chapters featuring some of his most iconic images. An array of state-of-the-art projectors, which were picked out personally by Hockney as they were the only ones deemed adequately able to represent the brightness and vividness of his colours, loom overhead. 

Hockney has been a long-time advocate for embracing the use of art within technology, and this exhibit is a fantastic example of the way it can bring art to life in a way that transcends beyond the limitations of a traditional static canvas. 

After stepping inside the exhibit, you suddenly become transported; you’re no longer in Salford on a gloomy grey day – you’re simultaneously taken inside his mind and across the world, to the destinations which have inspired some of his most famous work.

The four walls, along with the floor, transform into many things throughout the course of the exhibition: a longboat, an opera theatre, and of course at one point, a gigantic swimming pool. 

The exhibit is narrated by Hockney himself, and the script is comprised of 60 years’ worth of interviews, edited together so seamlessly you would never even realise there may be decades between one word and the next. 

In one sentence you might be hearing some audio from an interview in 1980, and other audio from an interview we captured in 2021 stitched together.

His commentary is intertwined with an original score by American composer Nico Muhly which provides an orchestral ambience to the exhibit. 

One constant throughout Hockney’s career has been his lifelong fascination with nature and all its intricacies, and this message reiterates throughout the span of the exhibit. 

Hockney actively encourages the viewer to truly interrogate their surroundings -he completely engulfs the onlooker, and the enormous screens which and gigantic speakers leave no option for the viewer than to attentively digest his message. 

David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (Not Smaller & Further Away) is at Aviva Studios from 16 December 2025 to 11 January 2026. It is one of three large-scale 360° immersive experiences from Lightroom running in repertory at Aviva Studios this winter with alongside new shows VOGUE: Inventing the Runway and The Moonwalkers: A Journey With Tom Hanks.

Dog-friendly slots are on specific dates/times. See factoryinternational.org for details.

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From where he was living at the time, artist Imran Perretta could see the smoke from the burning buildings. Friends of his were caught up, in various capacities, in the rioting. A Riot in Three Acts, originally installed at Somerset House in London, now recreated for the gallery space at HOME in Manchester, is Perretta’s attempt to grapple with the personal, political and social fallout from the events of that August.

The installation, occupies the entire ground floor gallery. It’s on a good scale for the location – not so small as to appear insignificant, nor so large as to overfill the space: “uncomfortable in a brilliant way,” as Perretta describes it. Each of his skills, as artist, filmmaker and composer, is put to work.

The main visual element is a scenic backdrop of Reeves Corner, location of House of Reeves (a local furniture store, owned by the same family for over a century).

We enter looking at the back of the construction – wooden struts and blank canvas – so that the artifice is immediately apparent, but also the viewer must make the choice to proceed. We have to move towards the installation and around it, in order for the subject to be revealed.

This store survived the riots, but the Reeves family’s other establishment was burnt to the ground. Video of this fire is shown on loop, using Perretta’s Blackberry phone (the sight of a Blackberry with all those lovely buttons all but brought a tear to my eye). There is so much to unpack in this – the transience of “cutting edge” technology; the beginnings of so-called ‘citizen journalism’; accounts that BlackBerry Messenger service was used by looters to organise attacks; the interesting decision of an artist who views himself primarily as a filmmaker to use just this one, tiny moving image.

It is, I think, a wise choice. The point of an installation is to invite the viewer to ‘be here, now.’

Immediately facing the image of House of Reeves is a 3-D recreation of the site of the store that was destroyed (and, despite plans, never rebuilt) – pitted concrete columns, concrete planters with the size and appearance of underground drainage pipes, containing sickly, spindly bushes whose only “leaves” are the detritus of city litter. Walking across the gravel base creates a sound effect to compete with the music (a modern classical quartet, composed by Perretta and performed by members of the Manchester Camerata*). It is one of several significant juxtapositions.

Having arrived at Ai Weiwei’s impressive Sunflower Seeds installation (Tate Modern) just after health and safety had (with good reason) withdrawn permission for visitors to walk on the one hundred million porcelain seeds, it was a relief not to be denied a key auditory aspect of the experience.

The litter and disarray is not overplayed – a can and a bottle here, some cardboard there – and the weeds are Manchester’s very own, handpicked by the artist. What Perretta offers us is less shock and horror, more an enduring sense of puzzlement, regret and lack of resolution.

Three years on from the financial crash of 2008 and with the new coalition government’s austerity measures just beginning to bite, poverty, racial tensions and long-standing grievances with policing all contributed to these riots, although political and press reactions tended to focus on sheer criminality. No Scarman-style inquiry was commissioned. Hence, one feels, the sense of unfinished business and unanswered questions layered through this installation.

The effect is emotionally involving and thought-provoking. How many of us (not just politicians) had all but entirely forgotten these riots (a mere 14 years ago)?

It’s worth reminding yourself about those events in August 2011 (especially at Reeves Corner) prior to visiting A Riot in Three Acts. Allow yourself time to take it all in. As with any worthwhile installation, it’s not to be rushed. Walk, sit, look, listen, and think. Is act three truly completed?

Imran Perretta: A Riot In Three Acts is at Home, Manchester from 22 February to 8 June 2025. The gallery will host live performances of Imran Perretta’s specially commissioned piece for string quartet, A Requiem for the Dispossessed, on Friday 28 February and Wednesday 9 April 2025.

On 10 April the venue is hosting Imran Perretta and Dhanveer Singh Brar in conversation chaired by Rahila Haque.

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The often animated projections, covering four walls and the floor, are on a continuous 50-minute loop so, as Lightroom CEO, Richard Slaney tells us, “It’s impossible to turn up late for this show.”

Insofar as there is a beginning, we open with the vibrant commissions Hockney devised for some of the great opera houses of the world. Sets and backdrops (here often animated to add to the fun) for Mozart’s Magic Flute, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Puccini’s Turandot, among others. (Children under 2 can enter free – and for once, I’d recommend it for such tots – but ear muffs might help for the opening musical accompaniment which is, well, operatic!).

With very few exceptions, one connective tissue between all true artists is an insatiable curiosity about the world and their own craft. Hockney is forever examining, reflecting, experimenting. Having drawn pictures since he was “tiny,” he relocated to Los Angeles aged 24 (without knowing anyone there) and declares it to be, “three times better than I’d imagined it to be.” (Yorkshire folk eat yer hearts out!)

The light and the freedom, the straight lines of the city and “squiggly lines” of the hills and canyons inspire him. His painting style develops, but he also makes art with film and photography. There is no doubt, though, as to his true love.

“With photography, you’re not really looking but, when you’re drawing, you’re always looking… You’re always seeing more, and that’s exciting to me.”

Despite this view, Hockney has experimented extensively with photography, seeking both to imbue the medium with a sense of time and to exploit its instantaneous nature to construct new approaches to perspective.

Two elements of his LA work feature strongly, with the artist providing an illuminating gloss via voiceover. His “Pearblossom Highway” piece (1986) defies conventional ‘architectural’ perspective, while his photographic collages seek to introduce a sense of time into the medium. Time is also at the heart of his recurrent Pool paintings – each treatment offers a new vision, aiming to bring water to life, to help us see beyond the surface of this restless element.

Back in Europe, be it Yorkshire or Normandy, Hockney encourages us to look at nature.

“You can’t be bored in nature, if you really look. But you have to really look.”

His multi-camera studies of the Yorkshire Wolds (shot painstakingly over all four seasons), once more foreground time and perspective (as well as being stunningly beautiful), while his iPad paintings of Normandy, building stroke by stroke, allow us to see an artist at work.

“Each brushstroke is recorded, so you’re watching me paint.”

Like the art world’s very own Don Quixote, David Hockney charges at the twin despots of Time and Perspective. Unlike Cervantes’s noble heroic failure, Hockney wrestles notable victories over these foes.

The show is a delightful cascade of colour, careful observation, thought and playfulness. I feel I understand the man and his work all the better now, and will value both all the more in consequence.

“I want my art to be joyful, actually.”

And after 60 years of working, Hockney’s closing observation is punctuated with a happy laugh:

“I’m still enjoying it, enormously!”

I have a feeling, so will you.

David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (Not Smaller & Further Away) is at Aviva Studios from 10 December 2024 to 25 January 2025.

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We are what we eat. In age of financial strife, child hunger and queues at food banks, not everyone can afford to be fussy. Fast food producers resort to cheap and desperate gimmicks – meat in amusing shapes! free plastic toys! – in order to attract young consumers, and make sure they remain loyal. Consumption is the ultimate goal of every marketing team, even if that means selling your soul to get there.

Which brings us to Sweet Dreams, a co production between Factory International, and the art collective MLF (Marshmallow Lazer Quest). Billed as a ‘new immersive experience’, Sweet Dreams takes audiences on a surreal and satirical journey through food, appetite and desire, seen mostly from the point of a naïve food mascot, Chicky Ricky (smartly voiced by actor and comedian Munya Chawawa). As the audience moves through a series of themed rooms, other characters are introduced including Penny Peckish and the sinister ‘Boss’, who has a Rolodex instead of a face (voiced by Reggie Watts). Chicky Ricky thinks he’s living his best life but the company he works for is in commercial decline. For Ricky, it’s a painful road to fast food Damascus.

Says MLF director Robin McNicholas: ‘Sweet Dreams holds a cartoon mirror on our world. We’re serving up a story where audiences can deepen their connection to the food they eat. We aim to spark further conversations about our place in the food chain, via chirpy cartoon faces that are often the gatekeepers to the things we consume.’

The age range for the show is 12 plus. A responsible move because very young children would be freaked out by some scenes. At times, it feels like this is collaboration between satirist Chris Morris and horror director Ti West, with additional input from kitsch artist Jeff Koons. The factory conveyer belt is the stuff of nightmares, with workers encouraged to have regular ‘despair breaks’ and scream into the abyss via a metal funnel (an idea stolen from Unnovations, another blackly comic Charlie Brooker publication).

On a purely visual level, this show is a knockout, a jaw dropping blend of motion graphics, gaming, illustration, and bespoke objects. The scene of a dozen chewing mouths is something David Lynch would kill to have in his next movie. The vocal presence of gifted comic actress Morgana Robinson (who many will know from the sitcom Stuck), is a plus as are the character illustrations from French artists McBess.

But it’s the satirical script from former chef Simon Wroe which is the secret weapon. Wroe’s sly corporate speak is chilling and hilarious; in fact, I’m tempted to watch Sweet Dreams a second time, just to hear the rich, playful language. It’s a pleasure to see a show where a writer is given carte blanche to let his imagination run wild.

It’s unlikely anyone will emerge from Sweet Dreams eager to eat white meat. Some people may feel nauseous. Others may become vegetarian. What’s that loud whirring sound? It’s Bernard Matthews, spinning in his grave. Bootiful.

Sweet Dreams is at Aviva Studios until 1 September 2024.

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You’d be wrong on all three counts. In fact, Julia Donaldson took the crown, and that was across all genres. Meanwhile, her long-time friend and colleague, Axel Scheffler, was the number one bestselling illustrator of 2022 proving, if proof were needed, that their picture book partnership is loved by children everywhere.

Now, a major new exhibition at The Lowry in Salford is celebrating their longstanding collaboration. Opening on Saturday 22 July, Julia and Axel – Thirty Years of Favourite Stories is a free family-family experience containing, among numerous treats, Donaldson’s own writing notebooks and a selection of Scheffler’s early sketches.

With more books than you can shake a Stick Man at, Donaldson and Scheffler’s output has been prodigious – and phenomenally successful. From The Gruffalo, Zog, and Room on the Broom to Tabby McTat, The Smeds and the Smoos and The Smartest Giant in Town, their publications are acclaimed the world over. They’ve certainly made the most of their time, but does it feel like three decades?

Scheffler says: “It’s really weird when people who are 30-years-old come up to us and say, ‘I read The Gruffalo as a child’, that’s a very strange feeling. That does seem like a long time ago.”

Of course, the magical thing about picture books is that children and parents (and grandparents, aunts and uncles) can read them together, some discovering them for the first time, others revisiting old favourites.

“That is very rewarding,” says Donaldson. “Ironically, the younger the book is pitched, the more likely an adult is going to read it to a child.”

The Lowry anticipates that multiple generations will visit the new exhibition, meaning that families can enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at Donaldson and Scheffler’s work. For instance, this is the first time that so many of Donaldson’s personal writing notebooks have been shown as a collection, thereby shining a light on the first ideas and creative writing behind her stories. It also means that visitors will have the chance to see how her work has developed and changed over the years.

At the same time, the display of Scheffler’s artwork will chart the development of his illustrations, from works-in-progress to full-page final illustrations which are instantly recognisable to anyone who has read the books.

“Seeing the originals is exciting for many people,” reflects Scheffler. “I think seeing the artwork is special, and also seeing inside the process.”

Donaldson adds: “And the extras that The Lowry is putting on sounds imaginative. So maybe some children will come away fired up to do stuff themselves, to write or draw, or act or dress up.”

Alongside the landmark exhibition will be a specially created ‘storybook room’, inspired by Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book. This will provide opportunities for friends and family to come together to read and enjoy Donaldson and Scheffler’s bestsellers. In addition, throughout the exhibition there will be lots of fun stuff for children to do, including writing their own stories, drawing pictures, dressing up, and playing games inspired by the books.

“Encouraging creativity in children is important”, say Donaldson and Scheffler, “especially when seeing things close-up.”

“Thinking about myself, I’m sure I wanted to write because of reading poems that I loved,” recalls Donaldson. “Or I wanted to act because I’d been to see plays. I don’t think you really want to do something unless you’ve got a little bit of familiarity with it.

“When I was five, I got a book called The Book of 1000 Poems and I wanted then to become a poet. That was my ambition. I love stories, I love poems, music, all of those things. But, actually, it just kind of happened. It grew out of busking, out of songwriting. Songwriting led to work for television and that led to A Squash and a Squeeze being a book, and that led to me write books. So, it wasn’t like I was desperate to be a writer, it was quite organic.”

It was a similar story with Axel in that, as a young person, he wasn’t initially inspired to become an illustrator.

“You have to do something when you’re grown up, you have to make a living, and drawing was apparently something I was OK at. I grew into it, really.”

Meanwhile, The Lowry exhibition will be structured about three themes: Highways, Heroes, and Home, all key elements of the books. Visitors will no doubt seek out their favourite characters who epitomise these subjects, whether it’s the brave little girl from last year’s bestseller The Baddies or Stick Man, who (spoiler) reunites with his ‘Stick Lady Love and their stick children three’.

Another prolific author, Charles Dickens, called his books his children, noting that his ‘favourite child’ was David Copperfield. So, do Donaldson and Scheffler have ‘favourite children’?

Donaldson says: “It does chop and change but I really like The Scarecrows’ Wedding, maybe partly because we included it in the show we did at the Edinburgh Fringe and I got to act Betty O’Barley. I had a pink spotted dress. I love the summery feel of it, and I love the love triangle that’s got a Hollywood thing with Reginald Rake.

“Doing it on the stage, the bit when it goes ‘The farmer came by with a frown on his face, and he made a new scarecrow to take Harry’s place’, and Reginald Rake is brought on, it always just brought the house down. I love that one.”

As for Scheffler, he says: “I don’t have one favourite but I always say that I like the more wacky ones, the more crazy ones. So, The Smeds and The Smoos or Stick Man or The Highway Rat, I think he’s quite ridiculous. But I also like the fairy tale world better than the real world, so things like the mix of giants and animals and everybody living in a crazy world.”

Donaldson adds: “And yet, I think Axel does such a good job on [the others]. Probably the most vaguely realistic one is Tabby McTat because it is a real cat that is a pet and has to be fed, and I think Axel did a really good job.”

Nevertheless, Scheffler did draw the cat rather larger than your average feline and, at the request of the publisher, had to redraw Tabby McTat without any teeth.

“I had to take the teeth out,” he says. “I think the publisher thought the teeth were too scary.”

These details are catnip to fans of the book, and the kind of behind-the-scenes secrets that young (and older) readers can expect to find at The Lowry’s exhibition. Thankfully, Donaldson and Scheffler have no qualms about revealing their creative processes. In fact, Scheffler says that “seeing the original illustrations is exciting, and they look very different from the printed ones”.

Donaldson also reveals that the length of time taken to produce a book can vary. While the actual writing process may be a few weeks, what she calls the “gestation” period can be up to a year.

“A lot of it is working out what the story is going to be. You can’t just write it if you don’t know what the story is going to be, and that’s the tricky part.”

Thankfully, her creativity means that negotiating ‘the tricky part’ has resulted in many much-loved books, now rightly regarded as children’s classics. And every single one created jointly by Donaldson and Scheffler will be included in The Lowry’s exhibition.

“That’s 28 books in total, across the picture books and Tales from Acorn Wood,” says Michael Simpson, Director of Visual Arts at The Lowry. “So, it’s a lot of books. We want to treat all of them exactly the same. Obviously, some like The Gruffalo and Zog and Stick Man are hugely popular, but they’ve done loads of others.

“Our starting point was that we wanted to inspire the next generation of Julias and Axels of this world, the writers and illustrators of the future…We want to give every young visitor the opportunity to be creative during the exhibition. The bottom line is this – we really want children to feel that they’ve got some insight into the books. We want children to feel that they can have a good time and for their families to join in with them.”

He continues: “We think it will be a lot of fun for families and we think that children will have lots of things to do.”

In the meantime, if you can’t wait until the Julia and Axel exhibition opens in order to glean various tantalising morsels of information, consider this: Donaldson has two young cats at home called Tabitha and McTat. By all accounts, they are PURRRR-fectly happy.

Free family exhibition Julia and Axel – Thirty Years of Favourite Stories is at The Lowry, Salford from 22 July 2023 to 1 January 2024.

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You’d probably say that the best reason to visit a bar is the quality of beer they sell. Normally, I’d agree, but for the next few weeks, the best reason to visit this place is a small but beautifully curated exhibition of photographs by Bristol-based artist, Lucy Ridges.

Hosted by Track Brewery as part of their Fractions project, the exhibition marries images and words (chosen from online contributions). Each of the four writers currently featured (Samuel Thomas Rye, Jo Hewitt, James Sanders and Jon McQuillan) has composed lines which respond to and augment the effect of the image.

For her part, Ridges quotes Garry Winogrand, approvingly:

“I photograph to see what things look like photographed.”

It’s an endearing, unpretentious philosophy for a visual artist to espouse. Nevertheless, for the viewer, what draws and teases the eye in her work is the nagging sense that – paradoxically, for this art form – there is always more to Ridges’s images than meets the eye. By the way, as good as these images may look here, they work even better in the “flesh”. (More of this, later.)

Two of the four photographs on display show a female figure through distorted glass and water. Do we peer vainly in the hope of forming some more complete vision, or open ourselves to the wonder and beauty of the incomplete? Could it be that the sharper our focus, the more constrained our vision?

The grounding for Ridges’s subjects is, more often than not, a woman’s face or body. She is, she says, more familiar with the female form.

Looking closely, there is something in common with the erotic, here. Not the sexual aspect of erotica (the images are not in the least sexualised), but the intriguing, alluring impression that what we are being shown, being permitted to see, is only a promise, a pathway to something somehow forbidden to our eyes.

A third photograph shows a hand and its reflection in a mirror. The mirror is not on a wall, but lying flat on a table, hard by a window with a net curtain diffusing the light. The composition is beautiful, but again the magnetism of the image lies in the questions it invites. Why is the mirror there? Whose is the hand and slender arm? What is going on just out of sight? And why?

The remaining photograph is a quirkily refracted and charming “non-portrait” of the artist. Ridges’s face is partially obscured by the bunch of flowers (milk parsley?) she is holding. A tender smudging of colour tones adds to the invitation of this photograph. The art of photography knows many ways to be provocative. This one provokes a smile.

The beer. Track Brewing Co. offer a wide range on tap and in cans. If you’re the fashionable sort, you’ll find an assortment of cloudy (aka ‘hazy’) beers, but there is no shortage of other options for old-fashioned grouches (like me). There’s a special run of cans available during the exhibition, featuring Ridges’s images. Beer and art – what could be better? Limited edition – get ’em while you can.

In his book, Pictures and Tears, the art historian, James Elkins offers guidance on how to look at paintings in an exhibition. Elkins’s advice is to spend a little time browsing, but then to settle on a single work and just stand (or sit) in front of it, to look (really look) not just for a few seconds, but for fifteen or twenty minutes. Only with that level of dedication can you truly begin to see what the artist has carefully constructed.

Go to the Track Brewing Taproom. Grab a beer and settle down to view these photographs, these works of art, in the manner Elkins recommends. They’re worth it.

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The experience begins before we even get inside, as we admire the handiwork in the ‘social tent’ where Bucket List Bingo is on offer alongside a whole host of craft activities.

Resplendent in the sun, crochet flowers adorning the space, need no watering, and the equally weather-proof, knitted bunting is certainly not in any danger of being diminished by the odd shower of rain. These colourful creations are the handiwork of Smith’s Knits of Eccles, where the caravan was parked up the previous day.

Inside the caravan-cum-gallery-cum-cinema, are a series of artworks created by retirees, dispelling many of the myths surrounding the experience of growing old.

Admission is free, but tickets are given out to go inside the Golden Years Caravan, to watch a film.

Seated on the old caravan bench type pew, which of course was covered in the obligatory velvet , surrounded by more bunting in violet hues, I watch with awe, as stories unfold from a variety of contributors, all with one thing in common – their advancing years.

I learn about a 66-year-old woman, who supports a school in Gambia, and a gentleman who, when he turned up to register for his degree at Manchester University had a slight initial problem, as the University’s record system ‘only’ went back as far as 1930 and this silver surfer was born in 1929!

The film, produced by Thirty Pound Gentleman, Film Company and executive produced by Art with Heart and Manchester Cares and filmed, edited and directed by Rosie Eliza, is comical, poignant, uplifting and thought provoking.

In my view, the project deserves to continue and be experienced by a wider audience. I am told that with future funding this could be possible and I certainly hope that more people have the privilege of seeing the film, even if they are not as fortunate as me to behold it within the Golden Years Caravan!

Golden Years Caravan a free, drop-in art exhibition from Art with Heart was at Waterside Arts on 21 July 2019.

Manchester Jewish Museum CEO, Max Dunbar explains temporary move to Central Library.

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Re:Flect is a ‘please do touch’ interactive experience, curated by Chloe Knights and Ella Boston, to encourage the use of all our senses. 

Ella’s practice centres around story-telling, immersion, play and education; whilst Chloe is a visual artist who uses object interaction and sensory play as a tool of connection and navigation.  They challenged us use their space to be, to feel, to laugh and most, importantly, to play in order to combat over-stimulation.

The exhibition centres around the premise that often we are overwhelmed with the business of modern life and many of us don’t get the chance to interact with materials or creative activities from day to day.  By bringing together familiar objects, colour, light and texture, the exhibition aims to create a sensory environment that encourages contemplation where people can rediscover their inner child.

The installations make us use all our senses; a large area of colourful balloons, bean bags, and toys in the centre of the room is a favourite for the kids attending.  The adults prefer to walk around the edges, exploring the vessels that produce aromatic mists, illuminated with different lights, or the closed boxes, encouraging you to put your hand in to feel what’s inside.  There are mirrors and beads hanging from the ceiling, to capture changes in the lighting, and even small sand pits which challenge you to enjoy the feel of sand running through your fingers.

As children, we have the ability to engage in creative activity without second thought.  When we become adults, our creativity becomes self-conscious as it is influenced by both our own and society’s value of art and play.  This is very apparent in the room, while the children are having a great time playing with the toys and balloons – completely oblivious to anyone else, the adults seem almost reluctant to ‘have a go’.

The quote provided on the wall really does ring true:
“We all have the gift of creativity, When you let go of the illusion of control and open to learning, your unique gifts of creativity will flow through you” – Margret Paul.

The exhibition is good, but with such a large room, I felt that there could have been a lot more in there. The premise was excellent, the kids certainly loved it, but with a few more installations, I think that it would have worked much better.

Re:flect is a free exhibition at Waterside, Sale from 19-27 July 2019 as part of 10-day festival, Refract.

Claire Gaydon explores the pros and cons of digitial sharing at Re:fract 19.

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Soon thousands of bells are ringing out across the city as Yoko Ono opens the Manchester International Festival 2019 in Cathedral Gardens, with a free event sending a resounding message of peace from Manchester to the world.

It’s two years after the Arena bombing left 22 dead, and 50 years since the release of ‘Give Peace a Chance,’ penned by Beatles’ legends John Lennon and Paul McCartney… and perhaps also, Yoko Ono (depending on who you speak to).

From her early bed-in collaborations with husband, John Lennon in 1969, to her ongoing WAR IS OVER! campaign, Yoko Ono has boldly communicated her commitment to social justice over the past half-century, creating works that blur the boundaries between art, politics and society.

In her first major work for the city of Manchester, commissioned for MIF19, Ono makes an interactive call to ‘surrender to peace’.

Yoko, aged-86, isn’t here ‘in person’, but her presence is certainly felt as her activism is teleported to Manchester digitally. Ono’s image flashes on a huge screen high on the Urbis building, and we hear from her as she champions the work and spirit she started in the ‘60s. Bells are a means of inclusion. A way to allow the audience to interact with this art installation. Passive consumption is not an option today.

Live interviews capture where people have come from, why they’ve chosen the bell they brought and why they’ve come to Manchester today. The stories include a granddaughter who brought the bell her grandad had used to warn of danger during the Second World War. In addition to bells participants brought themselves, 4000 specially produced and engraved bells were distributed and none are left by the end.

The stage is a minimalist white affair. Site designers, Shizuka Hariu and Shin Hagiwara have created an imposing digital display above a sweeping white walk way. To the left of the stage a weathered bell, around three feet tall is suspended within a white frame. Its beauty and intrigue draw us in as we’re told it’s been borrowed from Chetham’s School of Music, but no one knows how it got there.

When the installation begins in earnest, Helvetica typeface script is flashed across the white screen to emphasise Yoko’s words “Ring to the trees, ring to the universe, ring with your heart, ring with your neighbour”.

The activist participants duly oblige. This is a modern happening. We’re encouraged to dig deep and within and remember our inner child – we are the artists the orchestra and the bells are our instrument. Emily Lim’s direction draws heavily on her tradition of working with communities and the inclusion of non-professionals.   

The event ends with a chorus of ‘Give Peace a Chance’ started on-screen and finished by the attendees in a cappella, long after the show has ended.

The only minor hiccup is caused by Yoko asking us to look to the sky and count the clouds. Then name them. This is Manchester. There is one cloud and it’s grey. If she’d been here, she’d have seen it. The audience roar with laughter – this hard to classify celebration event has been a success.

Yoko Ono’s Bells for Peace was a mass participatory art event to open MIF19 at Cathedral Gardens, Manchester on 4 July 2019.

Read our review of Idris Elba and Kwame Kwei-Armah’s Tree.

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