Manchester International Festival (MIF) has announced new works and collaborations by Gerhard Richter, Ed Atkins, Olafur Eliasson and Douglas Gordon as highlights of its 2015 visual arts programme.
The biennial festival, which this year takes place across the city 2-19 July, is celebrating its fifth outing as the ‘world’s only festival of original new work’.
Richter’s presentation for this year’s festival is part of a new collaboration with the composer Arvo Pärt. Having been introduced to each other by MIF director Alex Poots and artistic advisor Hans Ulrich Obrist in early 2013, the two have made a series of new works inspired by and dedicated to each other.
Richter’s works Birkenau (2015) Doppelgrau (2014) will be exhibited alongside Pärt’s Drei Hirtenkinder aus Fátima at the newly renovated landscape galleries at Whitworth Art Gallery.
Ed Atkins’ Performance Capture at Manchester Art Gallery will provide audiences with an insight into the production of a computer-generated moving image work.
The film – which takes its name from a process that records, maps and renders the movements of a performer onto an avatar, which then becomes the digital double for the original performer – will involve mapping performers from across the festival programme onto a single character designed by Atkins.
At Manchester’s newest venue, Home, Douglas Gordon and pianist Hélène Grimaud will collaborate with the actor Charlotte Rampling and novelist and playwright Veronica Gonzalez Peña on new multi-media work, Neck of the Woods. The piece will weave together stories, motifs, phrases and fragments to create ‘a portrait of the wolf in a collision of visual art, music and theatre’.
In another collaboration announced last year, Eliasson will work with choreographer Wayne McGregor and musician Jamie XX on a contemporary ballet to be performed at Manchester Opera House. Tree of Codes will see soloists and dancers from The Paris Opera Ballet, along with McGregor and his company Random Dance perform in an environment created by Eliasson to a score composed by XX.
Centre for visual arts
Announcing the new commissions, Ulrich Obrist, said: “Manchester International Festival is becoming an important centre for visual arts, and in this tenth year the visual arts programme is particularly strong.
“I am very excited about Performance Capture by Ed Atkins, which will allow visitors to see the development of a major work by this leading digital artist. I am also delighted that the festival has been able to bring together Gerhard Richter and Arvo Pärt for what promises to be an extraordinary collaboration.
“And for MIF15, collaboration between art and music extends beyond the art gallery to the theatre, where Olafur Eliasson is creating the environment for Wayne McGregor’s new contemporary ballet Tree of Codes.”
Other events during the festival include a new musical by Damon Albarn, a one-off performance by Bjork, and Maxine Peak in a revival of Caryl Churchill’s play, The Skriker.
Launched in 2007 as a commissioning festival presenting new works from across the spectrum of performing arts, visual arts and popular culture, MIF has premiered commissions by Steve McQueen, Matthew Barney, Tacita Dean, Jeremy Deller and Marina Abramovic.
Manchester International Festival 2015, various venues across Manchester, 2-19 July 2015. www.mif.co.uk
