MIF17: What Is the City but the People? in Piccadilly Gardens

Polly Checkland Harding

Visit now

MIF17: What Is the City but the People?

Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester
29 June 2017

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

Webb Aviation
Book now

The opening event of MIF17, Artistic Director John McGrath’s debut festival, will be a unique portrait of the people of Manchester. Conceived by artist Jeremy Deller, What Is the City but the People? will see residents parading on a specially designed walkway stretching more than 100 metres across Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens to live music from Graham Massey, assisted by an unexpected mix of local musicians. Capturing the city through its outfits and attitudes, audiences of What Is the City – both in-person and online – will be treated to a varied performance, including high-fashion statements and moments of deep intimacy.

What's on at Piccadilly Gardens

Rock and Goal
Until
ActivityManchester
Rock and Goal Tour

Join Joe Feeley a Mancunian through and through, who guides you into Manchester’s two pillars of cultural excellence with his Rock and Goal tour.

From £9.99

Where to go near MIF17: What Is the City but the People? in Piccadilly Gardens

ABode Manchester
Manchester
Hotel
ABode Manchester

ABode Manchester is a boutique hotel. With a signature restaurant and bar. Conveniently situated Near Piccadilly Station.

Manchester
Restaurant
Niwa Yakitori

Charcoal grill yakitori supper club held in a beautiful Tokyo-style backstreet cafe in the North Quarter.

Brownsfield Mill building in Manchester
Manchester
Tourist Attraction
Brownsfield Mill

Now a Grade-II listed building, Brownsfield Mill in Manchester was constructed in 1825 as a power mill, and later housed the A.V. Roe and Company aviation factory. The former mill forms part of the Piccadilly Basin and is to undergo refurbishment for potential use as flats or office space.

Roby 1844
Manchester
Bar or Pub
Roby 1844

Roby 1844 is a new canalside terrace bar and restaurant based on Aytoun Street in the heart of Manchester.

Bundobust Manchester
Manchester
Restaurant
Bundobust Manchester

Head to Bundobust Manchester for fantastic and endlessly original Indian street food, all vegetarian (and often vegan).

Manchester
Bar or Pub
Kampus

Kampus is a multi-purpose destination, offering accommodation, places to socialise, eat and drink and a whole lot more.

Manchester
Restaurant
Tariff & Dale

Tariff & Dale is a bar and kitchen in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, taking its name from its location on the corners of both Tariff Street and Dale Street.

Beatnikz Republic
Manchester
Restaurant
Beatnikz Republic

Beatnikz Republic Brewing Company is a microbrewery based in Manchester which has focused on innovative and high-quality beer since 2017.

Asap Coffee Interior/ Counter
Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
ASAP Coffee

If you’re looking for quality coffee and a decadent brunch in a setting that nails the Northern Quarter brief, you’d struggle to do better than ASAP Coffee.

What's on: Exhibitions

Woman agaisnt space background
ExhibitionsManchester
(Re)collection at saan1

Across three floors of saan1, three independent curators pursue distinct interpretations of memory, nostalgia and landscape.

Free entry
ExhibitionsManchester
Nothing Gold Can Stay at texture

After recently finding a new home in Cheetham Hill, texture 2.0 hosts its second show, fittingly themed around transience and impermanence.

Free entry
Poster for Bodies in Water. A figure wearing a multicoloured, fringed costume and silver star-shaped headpiece stands knee-deep in a lake beneath dark clouds, with green hills in the distance. Bright green text reads: “Bodies in Water”, “8–25.8.26” and “PV: 7.8.26, 18–21”. Bottom left shows the PINK logo and address: Hilton House, Lord Street, Stockport, SK1 3NA.
Exhibitions
Bodies in Water at PINK

Folklore wraps around human anxiety in this new PINK exhibition, where the dragons and giants of Lake Bala become placeholders for fear itself.

Free entry

Culture Guides

Exhibitions

Summer isn’t usually a high point in the exhibitions calendar, but Greater Manchester’s small galleries seem to have made a pact to change that this year.

“the ripple” artwork by Crowns & Owls courtesy of Good Machine.
Music

From post-industrial romance to experimental country, here's a hot new batch of weird gigs in small venues.

Food and Drink in the North

It's summertime, and the dining choices are easy, thanks to our expert guide to food and drink in Manchester and the North.

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre

Discover the summer's most rewarding theatre in libraries, pubs, Fringe venues and unexpected spaces across the North.

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.