Poet Slash Artist

Continuing in the gallery space at HOME until 29 August, this new multifaceted group show, cerated for Manchester International Festival 2021, connects words and images and explores the poet as artist and the artist as poet.

A collaboration between Hans Ulrich Obrist, curator and artistic director at London’s Serpentine Galleries, and poet and chancellor of the University of Manchester Lemn Sissay MBE, Poet Slash Artist is a far-reaching project that looks at the current and future connections between poetry and the visual arts – forging new links between them across cultures, continents, languages and generations, and showing that there are more words and images passing between us than ever before in the history of literature and art.

Poet Slash Artist brings together writers who work with visual art and visual artists who work with words, from poets Adonis and Inua Ellams to artists Tracey Emin and Lubaina Himid, winner of the 2017 Turner Prize.

With outdoor installations displayed across the city from 1 to 18 July (free, no ticket required) and in an exhibition at HOME’s gallery running until 29 August (free, ticket required), Poet Slash Artist brings together writers who work with visual art and visual artists who work with words, from poets Adonis and Inua Ellams to artists Tracey Emin and Lubaina Himid, winner of the 2017 Turner Prize.

Blurring the lines of received opinion, Poet Slash Artist unites voices, languages and cultures from around the world. Each of the 25 poet/artists involved has been commissioned to create a new work that brings together their visual art and poetry practice. The resulting show and installations feature work by Etel Adnan, Adonis, Jay Bernard, Anne Boyer, Julien Creuzet, Imtiaz Dharker, Jimmie Durham, Inua Ellams, Ibrahim El-Salahi, Tracey Emin, Renee Gladman, Vivienne Griffin, Lubaina Himid, Sky Hopinka, Isaiah Hull, Tarek Lakhrissi, Lebogang Mashifane, Friederike Mayröcker, Jota Mombaça, Precious Okoyomon, Tiffany Sia, Lemn Sissay, Cecilia Vicuña, Xu Bing and Gōzō Yoshimasu.

Alongside the exhibition, musician, author and award-winning broadcaster Cerys Matthews will curate a live night-long programme of spoken word and music at Homeground, HOME’s summer-long open-air stage, on Friday 2 July (5.45–10pm, £20). Celebrating music, lyrics, stories and poetry, Catch A Fire will be hosted by writer, broadcaster and music enthusiast Jeffrey Boakye, and performers include Dele Sosimi’s Afrobeat Experience and Gary Crosby’s Jazz Jamaica featuring Zara McFarlane, Anthony Anaxagorou, Murray Lachlan Young, Imtiaz Dharker, Inua Ellams, and Young Identity poets Nasima Bee, PA Bitez, Jova Guayaba and Isaiah Hull.

Meanwhile, a film season at HOME (curated by Rachel Hayward, Head of Film, and Jason Wood, Artistic Director: Film and Culture) will look at inter-disciplinary practice and feature work by figures who overlap between the worlds of poetry and visual art. See the HOME website for more.

Commissioned and produced by Manchester International Festival and HOME.

Part of Manchester International Festival 2021.