The biennial Manchester International Festival (MIF), which since it was launched in 2007 has presented new commissions by a range of international artists, has announced the programme for its fourth edition, which takes place in July.
Among this year’s visual arts highlights is a major exhibition curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and presented in a space designed by Richard Wentworth. do it 20 13 is a twentieth anniversary reenactment of a curatorial project conceived by Obrist in 2003. Featuring the work of, amongst many others, Ai Wei Wei, John Baldessari and Ryan Trecartin, the exhibition is concerned with instructional procedures and processes of human interpretation. The show will be spread over four rooms, one of which – the Homage Room – will feature living artists’ reactions to instructions by deceased do it artists, for example Sarah Lucas reacting to Franz West, Tracey Emin to Louise Bourgeois and Christodoulos Panayiotou to Joan Brossa.
MIF will also be presenting a series of works at Mayfield Depot, a disused and atmospheric railway station that has been closed to the public since 1986. These include Tino Seghal’s immersive performance piece This variation, Dan Graham’s psychologically complex live work Past Future Split Attention; a collaborative audiovisual performance from Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja and filmmaker Adam Curtis; and Eszter Salamon’s John Cage-inspired Dance for Nothing.
Other visual arts-related events include Glasgow band Mogwai performing their live soundtrack to the Douglas Gordon film Zidane: A 21st Century Portrtait; and a preview presentation of major new collaborative project from artist Matthew Barney and composer Jonathan Bepler. River of Fundament is an ambitious, seven-part film that combines elements of performance, sculpture and opera to explore themes of Egyptian mythology and reincarnation.
Details of the full festival programme can be found at www.mif.co.uk
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