The great Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk will be at the forefront of the most ambitious and eclectic programme yet for the Manchester international festival, which has its third edition this summer. She will be in residence for the three weeks of the festival, premiering her new live show, Biophilia, in six intimate events in the city.
With the artist's customary inventiveness, the show will involve specially created instruments, such as a 30ft pendulum, a hybrid between the celeste and the Indonesian gamelan and a digital pipe organ. The album of the same name will be released as a series of multimedia apps, each song made available with other elements such as video and games.
Another musical event that is bound to be eagerly anticipated is Snoop Dogg's live re-creation, for the first time in the UK, of his first album, Doggystyle – "one of the great hip-hop albums of all time", according to festival director Alex Poots.
And film-makers the Quay brothers, working with violinist Alina Ibragimova (who played Bach at the last festival in Zaha Hadid's concert pavilion), will create an installation in Chetham's school of music for a solo violin programme, including the Bach Chaconne and Berio's Sequenza VII. The event will be a promenade performance moving through the rooms of the school.
In a festival that asks artists – in the words of poet Lavinia Greenlaw, who is creating a work at Piccadilly station for the event – "to go to the edge of their practice", musician Damon Albarn will be working with theatre director Rufus Norris to create a work called Doctor Dee, about the famous Elizabethan scientist, alchemist and astrologer. Though the work will use some period instruments, "it will not be pastiche Elizabethan", said Norris. "It will be Damon, and there will be great tunes. It will be accessible, too. It's not going to be 'squeaky-bonk'."
Victoria Wood's play, already announced, based around the famous 1929 Manchester children's choir recording of Nymphs and Shepherds, will be joined by another drama by a comic: this time by Johnny Vegas, in a project as yet untitled.
And, following the success of Punchdrunk's immersive theatre experience for the 2009 festival, It Felt Like a Kiss, the company will create a show, The Crash of the Elysium, specially conceived for children aged six to 12, from which it was possible, said Poots, that adults will be entirely excluded. "I promise it won't disappoint," he said. "The subject is one that 99% of children adore."
On the visual arts side, the festival will mount a show of new performance works at Manchester Art Gallery by figures such as the senior American artist John Baldessari and the German-British artist Tino Sehgal, who has been give the Tate Modern Turbine Hall commission for 2012.
Poots paid tribute to the generosity of Manchester city council, which is continuing to support the festival at a time when many local authorities are severely reducing support to culture. "For the council to remain rock solid is a huge credit to them," he said.
The Guardian is media sponsor of the festival, which runs from 30 June to 17 July.
Comments in chronological order (Total 47 comments)
17 March 2011 4:58PM
Much I as like everything he does, and his willingness & ability to successfully try his hand at new things, I do wish musician Damon Albarn would get back to working with musician Graham Coxon, and deliver the new Blur album that fans have been longing for...
17 March 2011 5:39PM
Bjork, Snoop, and the Brothers Quay? Time to ring my friends in Manchester, methinks...
17 March 2011 5:40PM
@SilianRail00 yes book that spare bedroom now!
Charlotte Higgins
17 March 2011 6:31PM
She's having a bad make-up day.
17 March 2011 6:40PM
@isitsafe ... Nah, they are doing some G&S.
17 March 2011 6:58PM
Are you sure that's not a picture of Mary Byrne about to massacre another Bassey number on X Factor?
17 March 2011 7:00PM
This ought to be good but when excellent independent Manchester-grown festivals with international appeal have been starved of support or cut it's depressing to see the council throw its entire cultural policy down the drain in order to be just another stop on the European festival circuit for acts way past their best like Robert Wilson and Bjork.
Sorry not to join in the celebration but this really is a festival of star fucking.
17 March 2011 7:22PM
Punchdrunk for kids? Marvellous. I wish I was a kid again and feel a bit sorry that mine aren't old enough.
We already have tickets for Victoria Woods' thing. Bjork sounds great and though I get @Alarming's point, I'll always welcome Albarn; loved lots of Blur stuff, thought Monkey was intriguing even though it didn't totally connect and, let's face it, he's an artist who's always trying something new...
17 March 2011 7:30PM
Look at that photo of Bjork, and you can just imagine that face looking out of the Icelandic Plume...!
17 March 2011 7:37PM
I'm a big fan of Albarn and over the years have seen Gorillaz and Monkey in Manchester. I have to take pause though and think about the hundreds of Manchester City Council workers who are currently reapplying for their jobs. I doubt whether even Damon could compensate for that shitty outcome.
17 March 2011 7:39PM
I just wish Damon Albarn would fuck off.
17 March 2011 8:06PM
Excellent to see Manchester City Council continuing to support festivals such as MiF and ensuring the city is well positioned to stimulate cultural discourse, the economy and investment. Afterall, the city needs something to look forward to after all the doom and gloom and Bjork might just do the trick!
The con-dem miserablists should stay home and watch re-runs of election night ont' tele whilst eating soggy popcorn.
17 March 2011 8:06PM
I just wish PatCake would fuck off
17 March 2011 8:28PM
Christ! Bjork has turned into Eartha Kitt.
17 March 2011 8:59PM
Watch out for Not Part Of - the Manchester Festival Fringe.
Eeh, it's grand up North!
17 March 2011 9:05PM
I have it on good authority from Ms Claire Barker that any more comments like that and she will definitely be calling in the wee Scot Megan, to take note of, monitor, respond to and report on the situation as it develops, and that further outreach work in conjunction with local education providers and centres will be encouraged with the intention to apply for access to ring-fenced funds to enquire into the age-old universal relationship between ex-patriots and the need for facial disguise following the collapse of the indigenous Icelandic banking system.
17 March 2011 9:18PM
weakdrain,
I just wish PatCake would fuck off
No worries, should I ever bother the music listening public with a series of vapid, trite, arse-clenchingly pretentious records and talk myself up ad nauseum a la Sting with a put-upon Essex accent, I'll have the good grace to do so without your prompting. Happy for you if you like his stuff though.
17 March 2011 10:08PM
Three festivals in and isn't MIF already looking repetitive, predictable and a little safe? Surely a festival with its resources and media profile could find space for more innovation, risk and surprise. It's all so obvious!
17 March 2011 10:57PM
I await PatCake's latest contribution to contemporary culture.
Rumours abound that tickets go on sale at 10am tomorrow morning.
17 March 2011 10:57PM
....thats gary glitter disguised as bjork.......
17 March 2011 11:51PM
Bjork and the Quay Brothers! This is such good news
18 March 2011 12:50AM
PatCake, you do realise he grew up in East London and Essex, don't you? So your comment about accent is spot-off. And there's nothing vapid or trite about albums like Modern Life is Rubbish or 13.
18 March 2011 2:13AM
Yes, Björk is great. Well said Charlotte Higgins.
18 March 2011 7:45AM
That's not Bjork. It's a scary simulacrum moulded by the Purple Umbrella People you can see on her shoulders....
18 March 2011 9:21AM
Sorry Guardian, that's not Björk, that's an artist impressions of what Björk would look like at age 75.
18 March 2011 9:32AM
Bjork's charging about £45 quid a ticket.
Mega rip off.
18 March 2011 9:32AM
I can't stand Bjork and her indeciferable lyrics - I call her 'that psychotic pixie'. My eldest daughter loves her! But then she's quite 'arty' and she's also spent significant portions of her adult life dealing with depression.
18 March 2011 9:52AM
MIF is getting better and better. I agree with Poots, Well done Manchester city council! And, well done Manchester for the wonderful artistic talent and commitment.
(That's hard for me to say because I'm from a certain city south of Watford Junction)
18 March 2011 9:53AM
btw, I bet there are some good fringe events. I hope The Guardian cover them as well.
18 March 2011 9:59AM
Knocking about Manchester for 3 weeks will certainly challenge her make up and attire choices.
Should be f***ing hilarious.
She is not the quirky little Icelandic cutie/pixie thing anymore but please don't anyone tell her!!
There will definitely be a pretty large what the f*** does she f***ing look like contingent and in Manchester that can be very interesting!!
18 March 2011 10:17AM
Well done Alex Poots!
18 March 2011 10:33AM
Hedgehog Yum I had no idea Snoop Dogg, Bjork, Willem Defoe, Robert Wilson, the Quay Brothers were Mancunian talent.
Don't get me wrong I love the Quay Brothers. Bjork and Robert Wilson in their prime were fantastic.
But when local festivals who also attract international work get smothered and now cut, when the city council's cultural policy ( formerly very much about grass roots development ) gets dazzled by star appeal and all in order to put on the likes of Snoop Dogg ( who is a commercial concern isn't he? ), when a few of the latest international avant-garde stars are thrown together to make a show about another member of the international avant-garde ( I like Marina Abramovic too btw ) then it begins to smell a bit.
18 March 2011 10:37AM
Bad photo. Mesmerizingly horrible.
Zombie clown comes to mind.
18 March 2011 11:33AM
Björk and Damon Albarn lead stellar lineup
stellar lineup!!
Give me a break! Dull & Duller, Bland & Blander.
The only amazing thing about them is that they´re still around.
...And why is Yoko in the photo?
18 March 2011 12:13PM
What happened to her!!!???? How did she become so old so fast!?
18 March 2011 12:19PM
Jesus Christ... that's a terrible picture! She makes Barbara Cartland look good. What the hell happened to her?
18 March 2011 12:19PM
Love me some Björk, but she's looked better than this picture.
18 March 2011 12:34PM
@ Alarming. They are not. The point of MIF is that they must work with their Manc contempories... sorry about the confusion
18 March 2011 12:37PM
@ Alarming. good end para btw. agreed. sadly, still need these star attractions to bring the consumers. this is where the media need to give some attention to the fringe events.
18 March 2011 1:30PM
but hedgehogyum, stars are all very well, but this is mostly recycling of past festivals:
Damon Albarn, again
Antony, again
Punchdrunk, again
Johnny Vegas, again
Marina Abramovic, again
Amadou & Mariam, again
Anri Sala, again
Tino Seghal, again
Hans Ulrich Obrist, again
and I'm sure there are more...
I'm not saying there aren't good things in the programme but repeating so much in 3 editions seems to be missing so many other opportunities, starry or not.
18 March 2011 2:36PM
it matters what bjork looks like? i think not
im chuffed to have got me a pair of tickets for her show at MIF. she's a real inspiration. i liked the atmosphere of MIF when I went a few years ago, it's very low key.
18 March 2011 2:47PM
Hedgehogyum - Queer Up North, Manchester Jazz Festival and Feast/Streets Ahead ( as was ) had no problems getting the punters in - all of them presenting local, national and international acts who weren't the usual faces and all of them having a reputation as quality events outside of the UK.
What's different is that the council didn't initiate those events and what they wanted was something they could claim the credit for. Hence the vast ( and I mean vast ) disparity in budgets and support.
Of course as with the previous editions some of this will be good stuff but it really is at a cost to the local art scene.
I realise that with media coverage on top this all sounds like pissing in the wind but there you go.
18 March 2011 2:56PM
fair enough point boss
18 March 2011 4:48PM
@ Alarming. Do the local art scene get more out of those events you'd mentioned, than with the MIF? I doubt it.
If you want to look at well organised events run by the local art/music scene, surely you should the example of 'Sounds from the Other City'. Hold on... Sounds... eh. BTW, it's worth going to it in April.
Anyway. What Manchester is doing is a million times better than what we are doing in London. We should applaud and encourage them in the direction they are going. If it means back-slapping, then so be it.
18 March 2011 7:02PM
HedgehogYum Certainly local artists got far far more out of what was Streets Ahead/Feast/Garden of Delights ( which ran showcases attracting international promoters and got artists a lot of work ) and the Jazz Festival ( which presented local musicians and commissioned work as well ) than they do out of MiF.
I don't know how It's Queer Up North operates these days but it sprang out of work from local artists.
Yes it's great good work comes to Manchester but don't kid yourself that this festival is anything other than the producers establishing themselves as players in the merry-go-round of arts jobs.
19 March 2011 1:04PM
We agree up to a certain point, then not when it comes to the role and tactic of the state and media. This conversation is becoming a merry-go-round in itself. It's funny if we know the same people (I have a feeling about this). Well, Alarming, it was loverly to chat with you about Manchester, local artists, etc on this discussion board of this article. Let's leave it at this. Hat's off to you - sir :).
19 March 2011 3:44PM
The rumour is that Blur are the "special surprise guests" on Sunday at Cornbury Festival... See http://www.cornburyfestival.org . We can but hope!@!!