The rationale for the bi-annual Manchester International Festival is to promote mainly new works and collaborations, and importantly, stage them in environments that challenge both the senses and the mind to perhaps perceive the events differently in the context of the locations. The collaboration between Massive Attack and Adam Curtis certainly ticked all the right boxes; the location, in the Mayfield Depot near the city centre, was a masterstroke. A disused storage and loading depot, this ‘found space’ illustrated what, in so many ways, Manchester is all about. Turning the city’s industrial heritage into an asset rather than a liability. Creating the potential for new horizons and creativity in buildings embedded within the city’s past rather than redundant eyesores of a previous age.
The depot was certainly atmospheric; an imposing dark space bedecked with a dozen large screens on three sides, with the audience standing in the middle and the live band playing behind the front translucent screens.
The rationale behind this new collaboration is centred around exploring the nature of control and manipulation of our reality by those with a vested interest to do so…. The media, the establishment, the brands et al. Curtis and Del Naja use the audio-visual medium to relate how the world we perceive in the Now, the presentation of The Past, and hence our expectations and aspirations of the Future, are all managed by someone else’s agenda. All for our own good – of course. The shows aim, I guess, is to foster an attitude that challenges the imagery and icons around us on the basis that all this is someone else’s ‘world view’. Interesting stuff …. And it largely worked.
Read Adam Curtis’s overview HERE.
In a show lasting around 90 minutes the audience is engulfed in imagery. Perhaps surprisingly, each of the dozen screens streamed identical video rather than a more dynamic alternating / concurrent image presentation. This resulted in a very static audience – most people appearing happy to stand still and watch the one screen they could see best through the crowd. Maybe the artists were making a clever point regarding being Static Observers… I don’t know. Whilst the format of the event impressed on sheer scale terms this reviewer couldn’t help thinking that something was missing to heighten the collective audience experience.
Musically, the live band were superb, as you’d expect; particularly with the able accompaniment of the excellent vocalisation of Elizabeth Fraser and Horace Andy. The band were confined to periods of ambient sound-scaping, with limited sections of full-on performance …. Understandable so as not to overpower the imagery. Indeed the band was hidden from view behind the front screens throughout the entire performance with only the occasional backlight or spot to visualise their presence at all. Don’t be mistaken into thinking this is a Massive Attack gig with visuals … this is a completely different beast entirely.
The content made its points well through the use of old newsreels, film clips, CGI and the like, typically in the staccato bursts so loved by music video makers. Given the huge talents on show here from Del Naja and Curtis, perhaps the most surprising element of the whole performance for this reviewer was the use of narrative…. Both voice-over and on-screen text. I was expecting the music / vocals / visuals collectively to melt together to make the points and drive the thought process along rather than the necessity for a constant narrative. As is so often the case with this kind of construct both the narrator and the on-screen text were prone to moments of simplistic generalisation and trite sloganeering…. But that comes with the format territory.
Either way, quite profound in parts with a rousing finale indicating that there is ‘another way’ if perceptions are shifted. A show to feed your paranoia whilst also throwing a lifeline. What more do you want.
All in all a worthwhile experience in an interesting location listening and seeing what imaginative creative people have to say …. What Manchester International Festival is about really!
Massive Attack v Adam Curtis - Thu 4 - Sat 13 July Mayfield Depot. Manchester.
Full Details HERE.
Article by Barrie Dimond
