Manchester International Festival


What Is The City But The People

What Is The City But the People

This year’s Manchester International Festival opened with What Is The City But The People? Created by the same guy who did the original Manchester Day, it was a wonderful slice of city life, weaving narratives around shared and separate experiences.

I had the camera in the phone on burst shots- five of everything- and I hope I’ve picked the best of them for the album.


The collapse of the Biospheric Foundation

I visited the Biospheric Foundation a couple of times during the 2013 Manchester International Festival. It was an interesting project, taking first steps towards a self contained urban farm.

Sadly, it has gone bust, with over £100,000 in debts and tales of bad behaviour and rotten business practices from people who worked with it.

It’s a terrible shame, and it’s likely to put people off funding similar projects, which just makes it worse.


Roof Hens!



Roof Hens!, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

You may not be able to see them in the photo, but there are chickens behind the coop. They’re on the roof of the biospheric project in Salford. I hope their wings are cropped, because they live on the second floor. If they fly down they may not be able to get back up.


Wythenshawe’s vertical farm

At the Manchester International Festival there was an event discussing plans to build a vertical farm in an old office building or similar. Being my usual disorganised self, I didn’t get tickets for the event. It has been announced that a building in Wythenshawe has been selected and the farm will hopefully provide food for the 2013 Festival.

My take on a vertical farm in Sounds of Soldiers had a bunch of guerilla gardeners taking over a multi-storey car park. The first draft of that bit of the story can be found here.


Chilling with an Earl Grey outside the International Festival pavillion 1

I’m in a deck chair, so I may be trapped.


Procession – The adoration of the chip


The adoration of the chip, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

All my Procession pics are now up on Flickr.


Procession- last of the industrial revolution

Procession looked a lot like a real parade, despite some of the names giving the impression it was supposed to be a surreal take on the tradition. Off to see more art now.