The best of Manchester International Festival - for free.

Every two years, Manchester International Festival presents a real spectacle. At venues across the city, many previously undiscovered or underused, Bjork, Damon Albarn, Kenneth Branagh and Adam Curtis, have all showcased cool new work with many returning time and again. Highlights of the 2015 programme include Jamie XX’s ballet 'Tree of Codes', Maxine Peake playing as a shapeshifter in Caryl Churchill’s seldom performed 'The Skriker' and Damon Albarn’s homage to Alice in his new musical, 'wonder.land'.

However, there’s plenty going on as part of the Festival that’s not ticketed. Here’s our guide to three must-sees, the only difference from the main programme being that they are completely free.

Ed Atkin’s 'Performance Capture' show at Manchester Art Gallery
Manchester International Festival is known for live and performed art. In 2011, for example, '11 Rooms' at Manchester Art Gallery included live works by Tino Sehgal and John Baldessari while the Whitworth was entirely emptied of objects to make space for performance artists like Kira O’Reilly and Ivan Civic as part of the Marina Abramovic Presents group show. This year, however, live art moves into the digital realm with a new show curated by artist Ed Atkins. Entitled Performance Capture, the exhibition is set to explore motion capture, artistic production and the crossover between the digital realm and traditional, mark-making artistic practices. It will start with an ‘action’ room where festival actors and volunteers will have their movements digitally recorded while wearing ping-pong ball covered outfits. Other rooms will show behind the scenes filmmaking with live animators and modelers at work. The show will conclude with a screening room showing the footage of an amalgamated yet singular character being generated. Atkins is a lecturer at Goldsmiths College and, if this ambitious new show is anything go by, one we’ll be seeing again.
Performance Capture 
Sat 4 – Sun 19 Jul 
Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3JL.
Tel: 0161 235 8888
Mon - Wed and Fri – Sun, 10am – 5pm, Thu 10am – 9pm

New paintings by Gerhard Richter and an Estonian choir feature in a joint show with composer Arvo Part at the Whitworth
Estonian composer Arvo Part and painter Gerhard Richter were introduced three years ago by MIF Director Alex Poots and the curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist. The two artists found much in common and were inspired to make work dedicated to each other. This outpouring by two of the world’s greats will be shown together for the first time at The Whitworth this July. The works in question include Richter’s Ashes and Doppelgrau plus Pärt’s Drei Hirtenkinder aus Fátimain performed by Estonian choir Vox Clamantis (Thu 9 to Sat 11 Jul) and then by choirs from the Greater Manchester area in the new landscape gallery. Part has been described as changing the way in which we think about music. He created ‘tintinnabuli’, a musical language which emerged from his study of Gregorian chant in 1976, and has become the world’s most performed composers. Richter, meanwhile, has seen his portraits and still life works (which seem anything but still) as well as more abstract pieces exhibited around the world, most recently in huge retrospectives at MOMA (New York), Tate Modern (London), the Neue Nationalgalerie (Berlin) and Paris’s Pompidou Centre.
Richter / Part
Thu 9 – Sun 19 July
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M15 6ER.
Tel: 0161 275 7450
Times vary

Street food and live entertainment at Festival Square
Festival Square (aka Albert Square) is a fine place to hang out, with good times possible in any weather thanks to the spacious Festival Pavilion. Tune into live, free music on the central acoustic stage while tantalising your taste buds with street food and fine wine. Regional food hero Paul Heathcote’s acclaimed catering operation is running the bar so there will be elegant takes on G&T and gourmet sarnies. Meanwhile, a selection of food traders will be on the Square daily such as quick-fire, wood-fired pizza from Honest Crust and salted caramel ice cream by Ginger’s Comfort Emporium. Veggies can enjoy expert Asian cooking by Master Chef finalist, Jackie Kearney (the Hungry Gecko). Architects BDP and design store, Ferrious, are set to join forces with students from Manchester Metropolitan University’s School of Art to really go to town on the look and feel of the space too. DJ sets in the Pavilion bar are another highlight. The roster includes BBC Radio 6 Music’s Mary Anne Hobbs, Will Tramp (Homoelectric) and Time Out’s own club writer and mixer, John Loveless.
Thu 2 Jul – Sun 19 Jul,
Festival Square, Albert Square, Manchester M2 5DB

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