Casey Kaplan
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT COMMUNITY
Manchester International Festival
Hosted by Jude Kelly
Rem Koolhaas’s OMA, arguably the world’s leading architecture practice, were in conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist, the Artistic Director of London’s Serpentine Galleries and an MIF Artistic Advisor. OMA are currently designing The Factory, a new cultural venue for Manchester that will become MIF’s permanent home.
Artist Liam Gillick, designer Peter Saville and curator Matthew Higgs discussed New Order + Liam Gillick: So it goes.. and True Faith, two MIF17 projects exploring the ongoing legacy of New Order and Joy Division, analysing the mercurial chemistry that unites artistic communities.
Rick Lowe invited us to think about art and urban renewal. Lowe is the founder of the pioneering Project Row Houses in Houston, Texas, described by The New York Times as ‘one of the most original and ambitious works of art of the past century’.
Karl Hyde from Underworld, Joanne Wilson and Jez Green, from Mustard Tree, a Manchester charity that aims to combat poverty and prevent homelessness, talked about Manchester Street Poem, created for MIF17 by Underworld and people from Manchester with personal experience of homelessness. Chaired by Kevin Gopal, editor of Big Issue North.
We Need to Talk About Community was part of Interdependence: We Need to Talk, six themed sessions of provocative conversation and new ideas staged every Saturday during MIF17.