MIF17’s award-winning live installation artwork that told the stories of people who found themselves homeless in the city – returns for MIF19 in a new incarnation to the very heart of Manchester International Festival as a daily-changing exhibition in Festival Square.
A series of billboard-sized artworks will be created each day at a temporary city centre workshop by Karl Hyde and the Manchester Street Poem team. Visitors will be able to scan a QR code on the artworks which will enable them to listen directly to the contributor’s voices, newly recorded for this project.
Members of the team will also be available on the square to answer questions and engage in conversations about the work they do throughout the year. It will also be possible to watch the creative process in action at their city centre workshop which is open daily.
Karl Hyde says: “The experience of taking part in MIF17’s Manchester Street Poem performed installation was both euphoric and humbling, something that will remain with all of us involved in the project forever. In the two years since, we have rolled out a series of monthly workshops, continuing to collect new stories and drawing in the wider community. This year, we’re filling an even bigger canvas, publishing fresh stories daily, as billboard size broadsheets, right at the heart of Festival Square. This is a project that we will continue to evolve for as long as there are stories that need to be told and voices that remain unheard.”
John McGrath, Artistic Director of Manchester International Festival says: “Manchester Street Poem was a real highlight of MIF17 for many – it was a privilege to work with the co-producers to create something so affecting and enduring and I am very pleased that the project has continued to have a life beyond the Festival. This is a work that keeps growing and is as dependent on the new involvement as it is on the originators. It addresses questions of social injustice and society that are not yet solved important – and gives voice to a group of people who are often overlooked. I’m really looking forward to having Manchester Street Poem right at the centre of the Festival this year –with a selection of the work displayed right at the heart of Festival Square.”
Manchester Street Poem will be at Festival Square from 9-21 July.
