Abandon Normal Devices

Polly Checkland Harding

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Abandon Normal Devices

Grizedale Forest, Cumbria

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Photo of children sitting on tree stumps wearing headgear
Image courtesy of Abandon Normal Devices.
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Abandon Normal Devices – “a dynamic festival of ground-breaking art, digital culture and new cinema” – is the UK’s only roaming digital festival, taking place at a different location every two years. It attracts internationally-renowned artists to work in collaboration with academics and anarchists on innovative new projects.

Where to go near Abandon Normal Devices

Cumbria
Gallery
Grizedale Arts

Grizedale Arts continues to explore the role of art in society from its award winning eco-base near Coniston.

Brantwood, image courtesy of venue
Cumbria
Museum
Brantwood

The Lake District home of the radical social and cultural thinker, John Ruskin.

Cumbria
Museum
Hill Top

Beatrix Potter bought Hill Top in 1905 with the proceeds from her first book.

LawsonParkFarm, courtesy of venue
Cumbria
Bed & Breakfast
Lawson Park Farm Cottage

Award-winning self-catering holiday accommodation that is not only beautiful but also supports the pioneering work of Grizedale Arts.

Cumbria
Museum
The Ruskin Museum

The Ruskin Museum tells the story of Coniston in Cumbria – a place of copper mines and slate quarries, Swallows & Amazons country where Beatrix Potter owned farms and Stone Age fell walkers once dwelled.

Cumbria
Restaurant
Gilpin Spice

Gilpin Spice is the two AA Rosettes Asian restaurant at the stunning Gilpin Hotel in the Lake District.

Cumbria
Bar or Pub
Baha

Baha is a stylish upmarket restaurant with a Pacific Rim-inspired menu, based in Bowness-In-Windermere in the Lake District.

What's on: Exhibitions

Until
ExhibitionsMediaCityUK
Curtain Up at Lowry

Lowry presents an exhibition on group communion, featuring artists who capture the energy and anticipation of live audiences.

A poster by city of making showing images from the University of Salford Archive's
Until
ExhibitionsSalford
City Of Making at The New Adelphi

Creativity, making and innovation have long shaped Salford. City of Making traces that legacy from industrial roots to today’s artists, designers and creative technologists.

Free entry
ExhibitionsManchester
Redactions at texture

For the four artists in texture’s reopening show, redaction is not absence but method – a way of exploring things that have been officially ignored, coded, buried or suppressed.

Free entry

Culture Guides

One Leg One Eye
Music

From drone metal to art pop, free festivals to gigs in museums, here's one of our more eclectic music updates.

Food and Drink in the North

There’s been lamb, there’s been champagne, there’s been okra. Look at what you could have eaten, then plan the next few weeks accordingly.

Hofesh Shechter - Theatre of Dreams at Lowry
Theatre

Dark comedy, visceral dance theatre, Fringe hits and open-air performances on a railway viaduct - try something new this season.

Exhibitions

From post-it-sized art to commissions that fill entire gallery walls, five exhibitions ask what the overlooked reveals.

Emily Lloyd-Saini as Grace in Space and Harrie Hayes as Lieutenant Strong in Horrible Science
Family things to do in the North

Whether you’re after storybook theatre, museum wanderings or illusion-bending play spaces, there’s plenty to keep curiosity ticking through winter and beyond.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Cinema in the North

There's no shortage of great films out at the moment, whether you're looking for the latest blockbuster, that hot arthouse flick fresh from Cannes or a cosy classic.