So it’s less than two weeks until what’s set to be the highlight of the Cornerhouse calendar – Abandon Normal Devices otherwise known as AND. It’s a city-wide, week long festival showcasing new and existing talents in the exploration of art and digital culture. Events are happening all over Manchester city centre so if you haven’t got the dates in your diary get cracking and pencil in Fri 1 – Thurs 7 October.
The programme is jam packed with everything from the International Premiere of the (bloody) marvellous horror comedy All About Evil! with infamous hostess Peaches Christ to Lawrence Malstaf’s vertically suspended and vacuum packed performance of Shrink.
For the film fans…Brillante Mendoza is a Filipino filmmaker who beat the likes of Tarantino and Ang Lee to the Best Director award at Cannes last year. We’re working on a full retrospective of his work for next year but in the meantime find out what all the fuss is about with a rare opportunity to watch his 2008 film Service. We are also hosting the premiere of Gillian Wearing’s feature debut Self Made with an in-depth Q&A with the director herself.
Other interesting things that have caught our eye include Brief-Blue-Electric-Bloom – a hybrid of music, theatre, poetry and sign language interpretation, Spelunk the forest! which takes you to Livia Forest to explore interactive artworks, and to get you in the mood (and more importantly the best outfit) for All About Evil, Junk are offering a Gore Couture workshop. Think ghoulish glamour and hellish embellishments – Lady Gaga crossed with Morticia Adams!
On top of all this you’ll also be able to check out our brilliant Phil Collins and UnSpooling exhibitions that are running alongside AND up in our galleries.
It’s all very exciting! And this is just a little taster of what’s happening during the festival so it’s definately well worth checking out the full programme on their website.
1 Oct – 7 Oct 2010
A week long feast for curious minds and disillusioned spirits – Welcome to Abandon Normal Devices!
http://andfestival.org.uk/