Culture Guides
Destination Guides
Seasonal Guides
The re-opening of bars, restaurants, shops, gyms and hairdressers this April has put a spring in many people’s step, and hopefully galleries are not far behind with many scheduled to welcome visitors back in May. There’s much to look forward to, including REMOTE WORK and Lubaina Himid: The Mourning Kangas – two shows wrapped inside one – at Grundy Art Gallery in Blackpool, and Top Secret – an exhibition curated in partnership with expert advisors from GCHQ, at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester.
Over the past year, artists and art organisations have become highly adept at finding new ways to present art, however, and we still have plenty to look forward to outside of the traditional gallery space. Among these, Abandon Normal Devices – the nomadic festival of digital culture, art and film – is returning to the cultural landscape with a water-borne, water-inspired programme that makes use of the Manchester Ship Canal and River Mersey in an entirely new way. The 2021 edition is centred around an urgent message concerning the damage humans are causing to the lakes, rivers and oceans of this planet. The need to repair our relationship with the natural world also lies at the heart of Silence – Alone in a World of Wounds – a new artist commission sited within a stand of birch trees at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, near Wakefield, where visitors will be invited to enter into an act of solitary communion with nature.
A different kind of communion with nature fuels the Turner Prize-winning artist Tai Shani’s major new digital commission for Manchester International Festival’s Virtual Factory series. Unfolding as a nine-part hallucinatory journey across time and space, The Neon Hieroglyph explores the potential of psychedelic drugs to open a powerful imaginative space from which new visions of society and alternative possible futures can emerge. Buckle up, you’re in for a trip.
Here are our picks
Abandon Normal Devices Festival 2021, 27 May–11 July 2021, Tickets not yet on sale - Book now
Abandon Normal Devices Festival, the UK’s only roaming digital festival, resurfaces in 2021 with a new hybrid format, exploring the post-industrial landscapes of the Manchester Ship Canal and River Mersey.
Tai Shani: The Neon Hieroglyph – Online with Manchester International Festival Virtual Factory, online, Until 31 March 2022, free entry - Visit now
Turner Prize winning artist Tai Shani takes us on an LSD-inspired hallucinatory journey across time and space. Prepare to have your consciousness expanded.
Silence – Alone in a World of Wounds at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, 5 June 2021 - Book now
Stop and spend an hour or two with this special creation, nestled within a stand of birch trees beside Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s Upper Lake.
REMOTE WORK and Lubaina Himid’s ‘The Mourning Kangas’ at Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool and online, Until 19 June 2021, free entry - Visit now
Grundy Art Gallery reopens with two exhibitions wrapped inside one – REMOTE WORK and Lubaina Himid: The Mourning Kangas.
Top Secret: From ciphers to cyber security at Science and Industry Museum, Castlefield, 17 May–31 August 2021, free entry - Find Out More
TOP SECRET: the Science and Industry Museum digs into the history of British national security over the last 100 years.
Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life at The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, 21 May 2021–27 February 2022 - Book now
The Hepworth Wakefield celebrates its 10th birthday with the largest exhibition of Barbara Hepworth’s work since the artist’s death in 1975.
Portable Sculpture at The Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, Leeds, 18 May–29 August 2021, free entry - Find Out More
Portable Sculpture at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds challenges our expectations of what sculpture is and can do.
Fledge: A Year of Birds at Contemporary Six, City Centre, 1–23 May 2021, free entry - Find Out More
Contemporary Six presents a very different kind of portrait of the last year focused around the peace and solace nature can provide.
John Moores Painting Prize 2020 at Walker Art Gallery, City Centre and online, Until 27 June 2021, free entry - Visit now
The prestigious John Moores Painting Prize moves online for the first time, featuring the best in contemporary British painting.
Sutapa Biswas: Lumen at Baltic, Newcastle, 8 May–31 October 2021, free entry - Find Out More
Sutapa Biswas’ major solo show explores the artist’s role in illuminating the imperialist structures that still exist within British society.
The Earth Asleep at HOME Manchester, Manchester, Until 11 September 2021 - Book now
The Earth Asleep, a new film and original live score from creative duo Clara Casian and Robin Richards, premieres this spring at HOME.
Nicola Ellis and Ritherdon & Co Ltd: No gaps in the line at Castlefield Gallery, Castlefield, 13 June–1 August 2021, free entry - Find Out More
After a year of mostly silent and empty galleries, we look forward to this clamorous return to exhibiting ‘in the flesh’.
AI: More than Human at World Museum Liverpool, City Centre, Until 20 June 2021, from £5 - Book now
Barbican’s major exhibition, AI: More than Human, comes to Liverpool, offering a tantlising look into the future.
We look at online festivals, new streaming releases and some newly announced outdoor cinema screenings.
We may be living in the online world for live literature still, but there’s plenty to fill your diary with this April thanks to a whole host of virtual festival events, digital book launches, small screen spoken word showcases and socially distanced reading series…
We preview the standout classical music events and venues in Manchester and the north.
It’s the March edition of the Food and Drink Guide to Manchester and the North and things are slowly starting to feel more promising. Spring is here, the weather is mostly warming up and in just a few weeks we’ll be allowed to eat and drink outside at venues with outside space.
Discover the best things to do online from the organisations we love in Manchester and the North.
The days are getting longer, the sun is shining brighter and the first flowers of spring have truly sprung. We’re welcoming in the new season with a guide of Tours and Activities that will inspire you to make, learn and move.