How a coven of artists brought tarot reading to the Northern Quarter

The Order of the Fool (TOOTF) identify themselves as a ‘coven of pictorial alchemists’. Their latest interactive exhibition, Street Tarot, arrived in the Northern Quarter in October. Anyone with an open mind and heart was welcome to explore the outdoor exhibit, which featured 22 works of art, and have their fortune read. Tarot cards were…

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Fayre Share Fayre: A Modest Show’s ‘main course’ at The Whitworth

A Modest Show explores food, hospitality, consumption and dining across multiple venues in Manchester. It’s the local counterpart to the British Art Show, a national touring exhibition organised every five years by Hayward Gallery.  The exhibition features 42 artists living and / or working in Greater Manchester who were chosen following an open call out…

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How an art project is preserving British-Pakistani oral histories through cassette tapes

As the anniversary of his father’s death approached, Wajid Yaseen searched for a set of cassette tapes holding recordings of his father singing naats, a form of Islamic devotional hymn. Listening to the tapes transported Yaseen back to his childhood and days he spent singing with his father. While reminiscing, he came across another set…

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The Runner: A beautiful, if self-indulgent, audio-visual album from Boy Harsher

Boy Harsher’s directorial debut, The Runner, is an intriguing project. The moody, Massachusetts-based electronic duo released their short film and its soundtrack together ahead of their US and European tour this year. It’s a beautifully shot horror set in the eerie prairies of middle America, interspersed with a meta documentary about the band’s recording process.…

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Hopes, dreams and nightmares at Central Library

A vintage, four-legged stereo system stands on a small stage in Central Library’s performance space. The audience gathered around it are invited to tune into late-night talk radio show Dream FM, whose presenter asks a deceptively simple question: “Where do you drift behind closed eyes?” Since August, residents from across Greater Manchester have been leaving…

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Investigative Aesthetics: An argument for active art

Published by Verso in August, Investigative Aesthetics is a book about the theory and practices of investigation, art and politics. The book’s authors, Matthew Fuller and Eyal Weizman, argue for forms of investigating and presenting information aimed not just at reading but working the conjunction. This idea of a ‘conjunction’ is something that comes out…

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