Autumn is always a fertile season in the city. Bands are back on tour, students are back to University, and festivals of literature, technology, film and science abound. Manchester and Liverpool are no different. I thought I’d give a little rundown of some of the intriguing events going down in the next few months as a little taster:
Oct 3rd – Liverpool – Border Bumping. As part of Abandon Normal Devices. From the website:
“Border Bumping will relaunch as a freely available, custom-built smartphone application in September 2013, allowing users to collect cell tower and location data as they traverse national borders in trains, cars, buses, boats or on foot.
The ongoing collection and rendering of these disparities results will create an ever evolving record of infrastructurally antagonised territory, a tele-cartography”.
http://www.andfestival.org.uk/events/border-bumping/
Oct 4th – Liverpool – A Pervert’s Guide to Ideology. As part of Abandon Normal Devices. From the website:
“The makers of The Pervert’s Guide To Cinema return with The Pervert’s Guide To Ideology. Philosopher Slavoj Žižek and filmmaker Sophie Fiennes use their interpretation of moving pictures to present a compelling cinematic journey into the heart of ideology – the dreams and beliefs that shape our common practices”.
http://www.andfestival.org.uk/events/perverts-guide-to-ideology/
Oct 12th – Manchester – What is a City but the People? Archive Film and Walking Tour. As part of The Manchester Weekender. From the website:
“Discover the modernist dreams of post-war Manchester in a fascinating guided walk and archive film screening – presented by Manchester Modernist Society and the North West Film Archive”.
Oct 13th – Manchester – UFO in Her Eyes. As part of Manchester Literature Festival. From the website:
“Written and directed by Xiaolu Guo, UFO in Her Eyes is an adaptation of her critically acclaimed 2010 novel of the same name. Partially inspired by Kafka’s The Metamorphosis and Kurosawa’s Rashomon, the film is a compelling and funny satire on contemporary Chinese society and new consumerism. Kwok Yun’s life is changed forever when she thinks she sees a UFO hovering over Three-Headed Bird Village. She alerts the authorities, who immediately send a team to investigate, while the village’s ambitious mayor spots a tourist opportunity. As money and visitors pour in, the village is transformed, and Kwok Yun has to adjust to a very different life”.
http://www.manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/events/ufo-in-her-eyes-290
Oct 19th and 20th – Manchester – From Semaphore to Smartphone. As part of Manchester Science Festival. From their website:
“We use our smartphones for everything these days – sending texts, browsing the web, taking pictures, watching movies and keeping in touch with our friends. It makes you wonder what we did before them. Well, wonder no more as the University of Salford takes you on a journey of communications discovery. See how technology has changed the way we communicate, find out how the telephone works and how broadband is delivered to your home, marvel at how big mobile phones used to be and discover how radio allows you to communicate around the globe. A hands-on exhibition that will engage the whole family”.
http://www.manchestersciencefestival.com/whatson/event.aspx?ID=1639
Oct 27th – Manchester – Nose-wise: A Smelly Talk and Walk of Manchester. As part of Manchester Science Festival. From their website:
“What does Manchester smell like? From the scents of St Albert’s Square to the whiffs of the canal, take a fascinating smellwalk through the city, led by Dr Victoria Henshaw of the University of Sheffield, and discover the important role this frequently neglected sense plays in our experience of the world around us. This two-hour family session starts with an interactive talk on the sense of smell at The Manchester Museum – complete with pongy props and animal skulls – followed by a guided sniff through Manchester city centre, finishing under the Chinese Arch in Chinatown. An extraordinary sensory journey through the city’s fragrances, stinks and stenches”.
http://www.manchestersciencefestival.com/whatson/smelly-walk
Sam Hind 