What Is The City But The People?

The initial idea of the MIF17 event, ‘What is the City but the People?’, pushes the boundaries between performer and audience albeit with some setbacks. A synopsis is provided on the Manchester International Festival website:

‘This year’s Festival opened with an invitation – come to Piccadilly Gardens and join friends, neighbours and total strangers for this selfportrait of the city.

Raised high above the pavements, a unique selection of individuals from across Manchester walked along a runway stretching more than 100 metres through Piccadilly Gardens.

All eyes were on the people of Manchester as they become the

opening event of the Festival.’

In order to organise the large scale event, performers were invited and/ or chosen from a select group. In this project, a performance space centered around an adapted iteration of the performance, I propose that the performances become less of a spectacle and more of a means of introspection and catharsis. Confessions, perhaps. There is no bureaucratic selection process. You show up, you give an impromptu performance entirely of your own accord, or you sit and observe.