Manchester International Festival (MIF) has announced its first shows for next year’s festival (2-19 July 2015), including a new contemporary ballet, Tree of Codes, with a ‘visual concept’ by the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. The ballet is directed and choreographed by Wayne McGregor with music by Jamie xx.
Inspired by the Jonathan Safran Foer novel of the same name, the ballet will feature soloists and dancers from The Paris Opera Ballet, alongside the Wayne McGregor | Random Dance dance company. The dancers will perform in an environment created by Eliasson especially for the ballet.
Speaking about his involvement in the project, the artist said: “Clearly Jamie’s music can’t live without movement and space. Clearly Wayne’s choreography can’t live without sound and space. Clearly my art can’t live without sound and movement. Clearly creativity can change the world.”
The biennial festival has a strong record of working with some of the world’s high-profile visual artists, stretching back to the first festival in 2007 that included work by, amongst others, Douglas Gordon, Matthew Barney and Steve McQueen. The festival has since commissioned majore works by a variety of visual artists including Jeremy Deller, Marina Abramovic and Tino Sehgal.
Other shows announced for the 2015 festival are The Age of Starlight, a CGI-heavy show about the history of the universe presented by Professor Brian Cox and directed by Kevin MacDonald, and the children’s show, The Tale of Mr Tumble.
Manchester International Festival, 2-19 July 2015. www.mif.co.uk
