Image: Manchester, ziggurats and sleeping bags. Manchester International Festival (MIF) has a new injection of money for culture, in the shape of an extra £9m a year for MIF and a new £110m Rem Koolhaas-designed cultural centre called The Factory. This is partly a legacy of George Osborne, who inaugurated the centre when he announced his Northern Powerhouse vision, in the Old Granada Studios that will be demolished to make way for The Factory. Last week Osborne’s connection to Manchester seemed reaffirmed when he was awarded an Honorary Professorship in Economics by Manchester University.
But these things arrive right at the moment when Manchester needs new, fecund myths, because the old ones are dried-out husks. The biggest evidence for this, actually, can be found in this year's Manchester International Festival.
Manchester’s tedious afterimage is the fault of the films 24 Hour Party People and Control. Walking the city, the little glyph under the ‘Haçienda’ occasionally flashes up in the periphery of your vision. This little accent is a hook that the city’s mythmakers have hung themselves on. The millimetre wide imagination of these mythmakers can be seen in the name 'The Factory', and yet another celebration of New Order at Manchester International Festival in 2017 (now with even more synths!) and an exhibition called Ceremony at the City Art Gallery.
