Image: Cod.Act: Nyloïd

FutureEverything – tickets on sale now

Warren Ellis / Jer Thorp  / Julia Kaganskiy / Paolo Cirio / Ólafur Arnalds / Ariel Pink / Koreless & Emmanuel Biard: The Well / Cod.Act: Nyloïd / Renzo Spiteri / Gazelle Twin / Deep Hedonia: Unresolved Projects / Metahaven: City Rising / Much more TBA

In 2015, FutureEverything celebrates its 20th anniversary. For the last two decades the festival has brought people together to imagine, shape and question the vision of a truly participatory society. A belief in the emancipatory and creative potential of new technologies runs throughout digital culture. It is found both in the open source community, and in the rhetoric of Silicon Valley startups.

In its 20th year, FutureEverything asks, “what now” for our digital culture? Do we need a bigger vision than open, local, bottom up is best? What are the values and narratives that will define the twenty years to come?

Over the past 20 years, the critical futurism of the Festival has been surrounded by an organisation that applies this insight in science, in cities, as well as in art. For our 20th anniversary, we are staging not a retrospective, but a platform for a global community to collaboratively reflect on the bleeding edges of art, academia, design and business. Together we will forge new visions, renew our values and co-create prototypes and experiments that help us to figure out the path forward. Read the full theme statement here.

For the second year we host the FutureEverything Conference in the magnificent neo-gothic surroundings of Manchester Town Hall, and we are delighted to announce the large scale development of our partnership with the Royal Northern College of Music, with a co-curated programme of installations, performances and new commissions.

Conference speakers already confirmed include writer and graphic novelist Warren Ellis, known for his explorations into transhumanism, award-winning data artist Jer Thorp andJulia Kaganskiy, Director of New Inc at the New Museum, New York. They will be joined by award winning contemporary artist Paolo Cirio, whose works investigate notions of privacy and cryptosecurity. We will also be hosting a number of participatory workshops for all delegates, more details will be announced soon.

In partnership with the RNCM, we present the UK premiere of ‘The Well’ by live visual artist Emmanuel Biard and electronic musician Koreless, commissioned by FutureEverything as part of FutureEverything Moscow (November 2014), as well as Cod.Act’s ‘Nyloïd’ – a robotic sound installation that challenges perceptions of the organic and the mechanical. We also present live performances from contemporary classical composer Olafur Arnalds, lo-fi multi-instrumentalist Ariel Pink and Renzo Spiteri’s ‘Sounds Unlimited’, plus much more.

Tickets for the FutureEverything Conference, as well as Ólafur Arnalds and Ariel Pink are on sale now. Full programme details, more live programme tickets and Festival timetables will be announced shortly.

After Hours Hub
Open each evening throughout the festival at the RNCM, the After Hours Hub is a social space where visitors can explore the Festival and meet other attendees and friends. A fully licensed café bar will be open all night, as the festival transforms the central concourse space. The hub will feature DJ sets, performances and pop-up ‘secret shows’ from artists across the Festival programme. More details will be announced soon.