Taking place in venues across Greater Manchester, Submerge presents its first festival of experimental international performance, music and visual art in the north from March 8-27, with artists from across the globe.
Submerge is a producing organisation and international festival of innovative performance, music and creative technology, now permanently based in Manchester.
Submerge’s third festival brings together artists, audiences, and communities locally and from across the world through radical live events.
Festival highlights this time include the UK premiere of Pigpen (March 19), an installation by Saeborg (Japan), which features a giant latex pig that gives birth to a litter of human-sized piglets; Cyborg Soloists: The Body Electric (March 18), a series of intimate world premieres presented by Zubin Kanga of Australia, combining classical piano with cutting-edge digital instruments, lighting and sensor technologies, and All Things Equal, a large-scale, immersive audiovisual installation in Mayfield Depot by artist Urban Projections, which marks the opening of the festival on International Women’s Day (March 8).
Other performances include a dance double-bill at Salford Lads Club (March 22) with choreography by Alessandro Sciarroni (Italy); Jamal Gerald’s sex-positive dance party performance, Jumbie, at HOME (March 23-26) and David Hoyle's The Ten Commandments at the Lowry (March 23).
There's a concurrent club night and gig programme featuring genre-pushing artists, plus immersive experiences, workshops and lectures across the three weeks exploring everything from gender and queer theory to the politics of breastfeeding and social care.
Mike Pony, the artistic director of Submerge, said: “Manchester is known internationally as a hotbed for innovation, experimentation and radical artistic expression, it’s the perfect new home for Submerge Festival.”