Exhibitions in Manchester and the North

School of Integration at Manchester Art Gallery at Manchester Art Gallery, Chinatown, 5–20 July 2019, free entry - Find Out More

As part of MIF 2019, acclaimed Cuban artist and activist Tania Bruguera will collaborate with local Manchester residents originally from other countries to challenge dominant societal expectations around cultural integration.

Atmospheric Memory at Science and Industry Museum at Science and Industry Museum, Castlefield, 6–21 July 2019, from £1 - Book now

Could the air that surrounds us be used to access the voices of the past? For MIF 2019, Mexican-Canadian electronic artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer sets out to investigate a captivating theory posited by the great 19th century English polymath Charles Babbage

Parliament of Ghosts at The Whitworth, Manchester, 5–21 July 2019, free entry - Find Out More

Ibrahim Mahama presents an assemblage of lost objects that reflect upon the history of his home country’s long struggle for independence.

Disrupt? Peterloo and Protest at People’s History Museum, City Centre, 23 March 2019–23 March 2020, free entry - Visit now

Marking the 200-year-anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre, ‘Disrupt? Peterloo and Protest’ at People’s History Museum takes visitors on a journey through the past, present and future of protest in this country.

UnDoing at Castlefield Gallery, Castlefield, 22 March–26 May 2019, free entry - Visit now

UnDoing at Castlefield Gallery explores our often conflicted relationship between past and present in architecture.

Ruskin, Turner and The Storm Cloud at Abbot Hall, Cumbria, 12 July–5 October 2019, free entry - Find Out More

This summer, Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Cumbria marks the 200-year-anniversary of the great Victorian art critic and watercolourist, John Ruskin’s birth, with an exhibition dedicated to the turbulent skies above.

AFTERLIFES | Hannah Farrell, 27 March–27 April 2019, free entry - Find Out More

Refuge: The Art of Belonging at Abbot Hall, Cumbria, 15 February–29 June 2019, free entry - Visit now

Refuge: The Art of Belonging at Abbot Hall in Cumbria serves as a vital reminder of the significance behind the common proverb: ‘Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it’.

Ericka Beckman and Marianna Simnett at FACT, City Centre, 29 March–16 June 2019, free entry - Find Out More

A duo-exhibition of work by the eminent American filmmaker Ericka Beckman and rising London-based video artist Marianna Simnett marks a strong start to FACT’s year-long season focusing on identity, representation and gender.

Barby Asante: Declaration of Independence at Baltic, 23 February–5 May 2019, free entry - Visit now

Responding to the impact of the legacies of slavery and colonialism upon the present, ‘Declaration of Independence’ at Baltic in Gateshead will exist as a performative forum designed to help us rethink our understanding of monumental moments in world history.

EDIT.04 Live Creations: Joe Moran / Dance Art Foundation at The Lowry, Manchester, 23 March–14 April 2019, free entry - Visit now

For EDIT.04, British-Irish choreographer Joe Moran prepares to transform The Lowry’s gallery space into a ‘live exhibition’ combining performance, film and spray paint drawing.

'William Stott of Oldham: Great Painters are Rare' Exhibition at Gallery Oldham, Manchester, 26 January–11 May 2019, free entry - Visit now

Exactly 120 years after his death, the work of the world-renowned William Stott of Oldham returns to his hometown as part of an exhibition dedicated to his legacy.

Capturing Chambré Hardman at The Hardmans’ House, Liverpool, 13 March–26 October 2019, free entry - Visit now

As one of Liverpool’s lesser known gems prepares to reopen its doors for 2019, we look forward to encountering a rare series of photographs only recently discovered by chance in the cluttered darkroom of the Hardmans’ former, perfectly-preserved home.

The Cooper Gallery’s Space Odyssey 2019 at The Cooper Gallery, Barnsley, Barnsley, 26 January–27 April 2019, free entry - Visit now

Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing, The Cooper Gallery in Barnsley presents an exhibition celebrating some of the most beautiful and spectacular visions of the cosmos taken by astrophotographers around the world.

Kimsooja: To Breathe at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 30 March–29 September 2019, free entry - Find Out More

Following on from Chiharu Shiota’s monumental web installation, South Korean artist Kimsooja prepares to fill Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s 18th century chapel with iridescent light. Prepare to step into a deeply meditative space, underpinned by eastern notions of the Void.

at HOME Manchester, Manchester, 15 February–15 April 2019, free entry - Visit now

Presented at venues across Manchester, Sixteen is a nationwide photographic project that gives voice to the next generation of young people across Great Britain, who will live in a politically reshaped country divorced from the European Union.

Kannan Arunasalam: The Tent at The Tetley, 16 February–2 June 2019, free entry - Visit now

Kannan Arunasalam: The Tent at The Tetley explores the lasting impact of the civil war that raged in Sri Lanka for over 25 years, claiming the lives of an estimated 80,000-100,000 people and leading to the forced disappearance of more than 20,000 ethnic Tamils.

Simeon Barclay: Life Room at The Holden Gallery, Manchester, 8 February–29 March 2019, free entry - Visit now

The Holden Gallery presents Simeon Barclay: Life Room, featuring new work by an artist from Huddersfield who discovered glamour, theatricality and a sense of aspiration between the pages of ‘Vogue’, and a love for industrial fabricating techniques during 16 years spent on the factory floor.

The Blanket by David Murphy at The Piece Hall, 25 January–7 April 2019, free entry - Visit now

The Piece Hall in Halifax prepares to unveil ‘The Blanket’ – a new large-scale outdoor artwork by British sculptor David Murphy – which will occupy the centre of the former textile hall’s sweeping Georgian courtyard.

Li Yuan Chia: Unique Photographs at The Whitworth, Manchester, 18 May–15 December 2019, free entry - Find Out More

The Whitworth presents a quiet, yet arrestingly beautiful series of hand-coloured photographs taken by China’s first conceptual artist, Li Yuan Chia, nearing the end of his life.

Sol Calero at Tate Liverpool, Waterfront, 14 June–10 November 2019, free entry - Find Out More

Tate Liverpool presents a new commission by Venezuelan-born, Berlin-based artist Sol Calero, whose brightly coloured, large-scale immersive installations offer a sharply satirical critique of the surreal set of stereotypes and clichés attached to different cultures.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh: making the Glasgow Style at Walker Art Gallery, City Centre, 15 March–26 August 2019, from £2 - Book now

Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool prepares to present its blockbuster exhibition of 2019, dedicated to the life and work of the Glaswegian artist, architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh – father of the UK’s part in the international Art Nouveau movement.

, 18 January 2019–3 May 2020, free entry

Whether Liverpool Biennial 2018 passed you by or you diligently ticked-off every last one of its multiple offerings (if so; bravo), the Liverpool Biennial Northern England Tour seems unlikely to disappoint.

Chinternet Ugly at Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, Manchester, 8 February–12 May 2019, free entry - Visit now

CFCCA presents ‘Chinternet Ugly’ – a group exhibition that offers a rare glimpse behind the biggest digital boundary in the world: the Great Firewall of China.

The Art Schools of North West England at Bluecoat, City Centre, 17 November 2018–31 March 2019, free entry - Visit now

There were over 150 art schools in England in the mid-1960s; now most of them are closed or absorbed into other institutions. Bluecoat’s new exhibition, ‘The Art Schools of North West England’, asks: What did it mean to have an art school in every town and what can we learn by discovering their fate?