Manchester International Festival 2025 officially got underway at 6pm today as a herd of life-sized puppet animals stampeded through the streets of Manchester to launch the festival, travelling north to flee climate disaster.
Created by The Walk Productions, the team behind ‘Little Amal’, and led by Artistic Director Amir Nizar Zuabi, THE HERDS will visit Manchester City Centre, and then Rochdale and Wigan as part of a 20,000 km journey from the Congo Basin to the Arctic Circle. The public artwork is on an unprecedented scale and vividly dramatizes the climate crises.
The Herdsplaceholder image
The Herds | David Levene
From today, a visual arts programme will open across multiple sites through the city. Highlights include an exhibition at Aviva Studios featuring new work created by 11 pairings of artists and footballers, Football City, Art United. - including Eric Cantona. A thought-provoking sound installation by Mumbai-based artist Shilpa Gupta at RISE Inavate Centre in Rochdale; and the first international solo exhibition of works by Santiago Yahuarcani, at the Whitworth Gallery.
Other highlights over the next few says include new work by: Blackhaine, Juliet Ellis, FAFSWAG, Andy Field and Becky Darlington, Germaine Kruip, Orchestral Qawwali Project, Keiken Rosabel Tan, Hobbs Mary Anne Hobbs and Anna Phoebe, and Venture Arts.
Festival Square, the hub of Manchester International Festival, will take up residence again at Aviva Studios with a free programme of live music, performances, talks and family activities.
Creative Director at Factory International, Low Kee Hong said: “It has been an incredible journey building the MIF25 programme with such a diverse range of artists from around the world whose voices are ever more critical in these challenging times. They encourage us to lean into visions of other possible futures, encounter cosmologies unfamiliar to our own, and enter into worlds that propose a re-enchantment of dreaming to rediscover our ability for joy, hope and belief in each other and our communities to build these tomorrows we want to be part of. I can’t wait to welcome audiences to Manchester over the next 18 days.”
Manchester City Academy players Hannah Stengert and Aoife Colbet-Martin at Football City, Art Unitedplaceholder image
Manchester City Academy players Hannah Stengert and Aoife Colbet-Martin at Football City, Art United | David Levene
John McGrath, Chief Executive and Artistic Director at Factory International said: “It has been such a delight to welcome Low Kee Hong to Manchester and to see his ideas for the future of MIF develop. With a global outlook and deep local engagement, the 2025 edition of Manchester International Festival, curated by Kee Hong, promises to be an exciting new step in the story of this unique festival of new work from the world’s great artists. Our wonderful new year-round home, Aviva Studios, will form a joyful centre to the festival, while we also partner with artists and organisations across Greater Manchester to ensure a festival for everyone.”
MIF25 includes:
THE HERDS (3 - 5 July)
Travelling across 20,000km, THE HERDS will unleash a large number of captivating, life-sized animal puppets to storm the streets of Manchester, Rochdale, and Wigan, transforming the city into a breathtaking, untamed spectacle to launch the Festival. Presented by The Walk Productions and led by Artistic Director Amir Nizar Zuabi, it follows the international success of The Walk in 2021, which saw a 12-foot tall puppet of a Syrian refugee girl called Little Amal travel from Turkey to the UK.
A Single Man (2 - 6 July)
For the first time the Festival will partner with The Royal Ballet, to present a stage version of Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man at Aviva Studios. Created by Jonathan Watkins with new music by Jasmin Kent Rodgman and John Grant, who will also perform live, the World Premiere of A Single Man will see former Royal Ballet Principal Ed Watson perform the central role.
Liberation (27 June - 26 July)
Inspired by true events in Black British History, people, politics and power collide in the World Premiere of Liberation, a powerful new play by writer Ntombizodwa Nyoni, directed by Monique Touko. Commissioned and staged 80 years after the Fifth Pan African Congress took place in Manchester in 1945, Liberation explores the private lives of activists who fought to liberate Africa, exploring why their story remains relevant in 2025.
Football City, Art United. (4 July – 24 August)
An ambitious group exhibition at Aviva Studios which features new artworks by 11 pairings of artists and footballers to create new work. The project is a collaboration between World Cup and Champions’ League winner Juan Mata, renowned curator and Serpentine Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist and writer, filmmaker and curator Josh Willdigg. From interactive play arenas and sound installations to animation and sculpture, Football City, Art United. expands the worlds of art and football and the cultural contributions both make to our daily lives. Footballers include Eric Cantona, Edgar Davids and Ella Toone. Artists include Alvaro Barrington, Stefano Boeri, Ryan Gander, Suzanne Lacy, Philippe Parreno and Rose Wylie.
FALE SĀ / SACRED HOUSE (4 July - 10 August)
Critically acclaimed Queer Indigenous collective FAFSWAG take over HOME for the duration of MIF25 – with stunning digital art, live cultural ceremony and a programme of films and talks grounded in Pacific identity and culture. FALE SĀ / SACRED HOUSE responds to the reality that home is a precarious notion for cultures in a constant state of motion and displacement and has been created over the last two years.
Santiago Yahuarcani: The Beginning of Knowledge (4 July 2025 - 4 January 2026)
The first international solo exhibition of works by Santiago Yahuarcani – artist, Indigenous activist and leader of the Aimeni (White Heron) clan of the Uitoto people will be presented by the Whitworth. Working from a remote Amazonia town in northern Peru, Santiago Yahuarcani creates large-scale, narrative rich paintings exploring the relationship between the Uitoto people and the natural world.
Shilpa Gupta: You are the place (4 - 20 July)
Mumbai-based artist Shilpa Gupta connects and collects stories with different communities to create a thought-provoking sound installation at RISE Inavate Centre in Rochdale.
An Inheritance (4 July - 2 November)
Showing at Manchester Art Gallery in 2025 and again in 2125, An Inheritance brings together a sprawling collection of knowledge, advice, jokes, memories and objects curated by over 500 primary school children from across every borough of Greater Manchester. Working with artists Andy Field, Beckie Darlington and Rosabel Tan, these young people have been thinking about Manchester 100 years from now and what they can leave behind for its children – from a jar of honey (in case there are no bees in 2125) to advice on how to make friends, and everything in between.
Venture Arts: Michael Beard (4 - 20 July)
Enjoy a live collaborative performance from Michael Beard, dance Company Chameleon and Manchester Camerata at Venture Arts pop-up open studio - filled with art, movement and music. With local artist Michael Beard in residence, live performances and interactive workshops, The Lab, Aviva Studios will be a welcoming space for creative exploration.
And Now I Know What Love Is (9 - 19 July)
Internationally acclaimed artist, choreographer and musician Blackhaine will take over industrial space Diecast for the World Premiere of And Now I Know What Love Is (9 - 19 July). Performed by a company of dancers and taking inspiration from the rich, urban landscapes of North West England where he grew up - liminal, seemingly-desolate spaces - this immersive performance blends choreography and sound inviting us to question our sense of belonging and love in a world of despair.
A Symphony of Flesh and Bones (10 - 13 July)
Focusing on the experiences of her father Lloyd, a world champion bodybuilder, and her brother, Antony, a former cage fighter, A Symphony of Flesh and Bones is an immersive and dreamlike film and installation by award-winning artist Juliet Ellis. Taking place in the South Warehouse at Aviva Studios, Ellis’s new piece explores how and why we build our bodies as shelters or armour–and how the physical effects of aging impact the different identities we construct.
A Possibility (17 - 20 July)
The Royal Northern College of Music will play host to a new artwork by Germaine Kruip. Part sculptural installation, part soundscape, part immersive experience, A Possibility features music by Emily Howard and Hahn Rowe performed by percussionists using Kruip’s specially made brass sculptures. The piece invites audiences to transcend the immediate and explore a world of infinite possibilities.
Sounds of the East (6 July)
MIF and Hallé present Sounds of the East – an evening of music woven together by Eastern tradition and inspiration at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall under the baton of the Hallé’s new Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, Kahchun Wong. The concert opens with a European premiere; Cambodian-American composer Chinary Ung’s Grand Spiral (Desert Flowers Bloom).
Ruhaniyat (رُوحانیت) - An Orchestral Sufi Experience (10 July)
A World Premiere by Rushil Ranjan (the Orchestral Qawwali Project) with Manchester Camerata and a very special guest. Established in 2020 by Ranjan and his partner Abi Sampa, the Orchestral Qawwali Project has soared to prominence with its unique blend of Sufi poetry, Indian Classical dance and orchestral arrangements.
Mary Ann Hobbs & Anna Phoebe (15 July)
Mary Anne Hobbs and Anna Phoebe offer a unique hybrid performance, bringing together live DJing, sound design and voice, with violins, viola and live electronics. In the age of attention-obliteration, Hobbs + Phoebe will explore the question: WHAT DO YOU WANT? The performance will feature elements drawn from raw Manchester sources and bespoke music written for the space. This 45 minute piece will only ever be performed once, in the form it takes at MIF25.
Everything is Recorded (16 July)
Richard Russell brings his ever-evolving collaborative music project, Everything is Recorded, to MIF25 for an unforgettable experience. As the multi-talented producer and founder of XL Recordings, Richard Russell invites you into his musical world for a night of innovation and collaboration – joined on stage by an expanded lineup of collaborators and special guests, performing live for the first time.
Surround Sounds (19 July)
Celebrating 20 years of Sounds from the Other City. A full immersion into the SFTOC experience, Surround Sounds injects the heady atmosphere and no-holds barred energy of one of the UK’s most venerated independent music festivals, right into the heart of Aviva Studios.
Festival Square (4 - 20 July)
Returning to the banks of the River Irwell at Aviva Studios, and flowing indoors to the Social, Festival Square showcases the best talent from the city and beyond with a free programme of live music and performances. From late night DJ sets and family fun, to spoken word and bands; and with new acts to experience and great food, this summer hangout is buzzing with all that makes Manchester special.
Balmy Army x Balmy Ukraine (9 – 13 July)
Manchester’s youth-led art, activism and mutual care project Balmy Army returns to join forces with young people from Ukraine for a three-day takeover of art and activism at Contact where young people are heard, and adults have to listen.
Factory Settings (4 July - 25 August)
A new project by award-winning design studio Superflux Marking the beginning of a long-term partnership, which will explore the ecological future of Aviva Studios’ post-industrial site, the collaboration will launch with an augmented reality experience on the Factory Settings app. Factory Settings is a free AR app where you choose a particular lens and inhabit experiences crafted by artists.
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