Summer at HOME

Tom Grieve, Contributing Writer

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Summer at HOME

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

Phil Collins: Can’t Do Right For Doing Wrong at HOME, Manchester
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This summer, HOME present a programme that takes stock of the world, reflecting upon historical struggles, both local and international, whilst looking at the anxieties and tensions we face today, and the ways in which artists are responding.

Multimedia theatre piece, The Drill, looks at the ways in which we prepare for emergency situations and asks us to examine the kinds of futures we are rehearsing. In the cinemas, Something for Everyone: Celebrating 70 Years of the NHS, is a film season that surveys the history of one of our most beloved institutions in a way that raises inevitable questions about the difficult paths ahead.

This year, HOME are taking part in the nationwide Refugee Week, with a weeklong festival composed of exhibitions, performances, theatre, live music and film by contemporary refugee artists. Refugees have been the source of much hand-wringing, political movement and newspaper print over the last few years, and HOME’s programme provides an opportunity to celebrate their contribution to the UK whilst raising awareness of ‘the refugee experience’ through art.

In the gallery, Phil Collins: Can’t Do Right For Doing Wrong, is a solo exhibition in which the Turner-prize nominated artist reconnects Manchester with its radical history, prompting visitors to confront the struggles many encounter under late-period capitalism. Speaking of Manchester, Where We Are is a double-bill performance that starts in Piccadilly Gardens and then takes us from Little Hulton to Levenshulme, Flixton to Failsworth, Denton to Didsbury, where we’re prompted to discuss what it means to be a part of the city.

HOME also take the time to do justice to local-lad-done-good, Albert Finney, with a season of films dedicated to showcasing the breadth Salford-born actor’s work in everything from gritty British New Wave dramas to Hollywood fantasies. Meanwhile, thousands of miles from the ship canal, Gbolahan Obisesan’s adaptation of Chigozie Obioma’s The Fishermen takes theatregoers to a small town in Nigeria for a loaded story of brothers on a forbidden fishing trip.

Where to go near Summer at HOME

Manchester
Restaurant
Maki & Ramen

Japanese sushi and ramen restaurant on High Street, Northern Quarter, founded by Teddy Lee. House-made noodles, eight-hour broths, plus sushi, donburi and vegan options.

Restaurant Orme
Manchester
Restaurant
Restaurant Örme

A hidden gem in the suburbs of Greater Manchester, serving high-level British small plates to a soundtrack of indie rock and roll.

The Abbey
Manchester
Restaurant
The Abbey

Historic Hulme pub with a very good live gig space, brought to you by the very capable team behind YES, Gorilla, Now Wave and Manchester Psych Fest.

Manchester
Bar or Pub
Pigeon Beer Wanderer

Pigeon Beer Wanderer brings wine-level ceremony to Manchester’s new “Beermuda Triangle”, courtesy of Joshua Lightfoot and his crack team of booze experts.

Image courtesy of Unitom.
Castlefield
Gallery
UNITOM Projects

The exhibition arm of Manchester indie bookshop UNITOM is a dedicated space for contemporary visual culture in the St John’s neighbourhood.

City Centre
Restaurant
Portfolio

Portfolio is a Champagne boutique on Manchester’s Bridge Street, offering a set menu of fine-dining small bites.

Manchester
Gallery
Gwafu Vegan
at Bridge 5 Mill

Cameroonian chef Ngwafu Tansie brings allotment-grown, plant-based cooking to Bridge 5 Mill’s solar-powered Ancoats venue, pairing bobolo with cabbage parcels and live vinyl.

1853 gallery 1
Manchester
Gallery
1853 Studios

1853 Studios and Gallery is a Creative Studios and community of creative professionals occupying the 3rd floors of Osborne Mill, Oldham.

Deansgate
Restaurant
Podium

Podium delivers high-end, seasonal dishes, largely geared around produce and ideas from the British Isles, but with a few deft twists and turns.

Culture Guides

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.

“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.

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 large white room with a colourful lit ceiling above a wooden coffin shaped oversized sculpture.
Exhibitions

From local painting to Chinese folklore on film, sound art to otherworldly installation – this month's guide covers the full spectrum.

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.