MIF19

MSP returned right to the very heart of the Festival for MIF19 in July 2019. We secured a workshop space within a disused railway arch in the city centre, which became a making space. Here, two huge cardboard canvases (each measuring 11.5m x 2.5m) were constructed and over 13 days (8-21 July) we worked collaboratively to share 21 stories and create 13 new artworks. Each evening, the artwork created that day was photographed, printed at scale and fly-posted onto a specially constructed billboard in Albert Square, the city’s main public square directly outside the Town Hall. Rebranded as Festival Square for the 18 days of the Festival – and attracting a diverse mix of non-arts audiences – it saw audiences of 165,000 at MIF19. Although our intention was always for the widest possible audience to engage with MSP at Festival Square, just under 400 members of the public came to see the work being created – including guests such as Danny Boyle, Laurie Anderson, Mary Anne Hobbs and Brian Eno – and two major news pieces were recorded in the space for Granada Reports and BBC NW Tonight.