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Futuresonic 2008

A festival of art, music and ideas

Futuresonic provides a cutting edge showcase for the arts

Returning for its 12th year, Futuresonic, Manchester’s acclaimed festival of art, music and ideas, occupying the orbits of both music and digital culture, announces its boldest and most extensive programme to date. Futuresonic 2008 will transform the city of Manchester into a space of experimentation. Futuresonic 2008 continues to challenge expectations about what a festival can be. The unique formula of art, music and ideas has won Futuresonic international acclaim; 2008’s cutting-edge line-up will place the festival at the forefront of cultural innovation worldwide. The events will have a lively open and participatory form, and will feature leading figures developing the next generation of social software. Making rare UK appearances will be Richard Stallman founder of the Free Software Movement, and music and media futurist Gerd Leonhard. Plus, leading artists from the music and art strands will talk exclusively about their work. Futuresonic ART will be the first major exhibition to present a comprehensive and creative exploration of social networking. It will unveil many world firsts and new works

by leading artists including Thompson and Craighead — whose digital installations and animations (recently shown on Channel 4) question how live networks like the web change the way we understand the world — and Grennan & Sperandio’s Rubbing Shoulders, which is the winner of the £5,000 Futuresonic 2008 Art Award Commission, supported by Piccadilly Partnership, at various venues and unexpected spaces across the city. The world-renowned music strand is proud to present The RZA as Bobby Digital — the genius behind Wu-Tang Clan and producer of soundtracks for Kill Bill and Ghost Dog — headlining a celebration of the creative spirit and experimentation in hip-hop today. Plus a showcase of crossover sounds mixing countless genres and a multitude of influences in an overview of international mavericks, risk-takers, boundary-breakers and radical music-makers at over 30 venues citywide. Continuing with “The Social” theme, Futuresonic will be “freeing” up a space in the city and creating new interesting places for social interaction over the festival period. Located on the city’s Oxford Road corridor, festival-goers will find open air stages and

Jan & Emily Dixon, Futuresonic.

unique projects such as a sound-system that would rival any major club, in a family caravan. Futuresonic will again this year encourage musicians, artist groups, promoters and event organisers to stage autonomous events, forming the Futuresonic’s strand, which creates more interesting ways to socialise. For more details please visit www.futuresonic.com.

Aesthetica