Humanity Hallows Issue 5 Out Now
Pick up your copy on campus or read online
By Charlie Fyfe-Williams
Image: Eoin Carey
For the past week Manchester has once again become the second home to the SICK! Festival. Born out of The Basement, a small live performance venue in Brighton, the festival seeks to explore the difficulties humankind finds itself face to face with in life, gently unearthing and considering our most tender mental and physical sufferings, giving spotlight to uncertainty and deflating common misconceptions.
Embracing mental health through an ever-expanding range of arts, performance, consideration and discussion, SICK! Festival has formed platforms to have difficult conversations in the public space. It also connects the city and its people with subjects that are commonly perceived as awkward.
Since piloting in Brighton in 2013, the festival has continued to grow extensively, finding that gradually, an annual theme begins to naturally present itself within the programme. This year has given focus to ‘identity’ and the sense of belonging, addressing the refugee crisis and a climate recently saturated by politics.
Stretched out across some of Manchester’s finest venues, the likes of The Lowry, Home, Contact and the Whitworth Art Gallery have become partners of the festival, propping open their doors for the fortnight, and inviting the public to create a space for experience, connection and reflection. Events and exhibitions so far have included the Before I Die installation in Stockport and a wide array of performances at HOME such as the plays Fractured Memory and If These Spasms Could Speak.
There is still plenty more to see and do around the city as part of SICK! Festival 2017. Find out more on the SICK! Festival website.
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