Aug 30, 2012 | Comments: 0
If you see something unusual around Manchester this weekend, get closer and take a good look: it might just be art.
The Abandon Normal Devices Festival has come to town and its patented mix of edgy digital art, intriguing talks, mind-bending film and live happenings is in full flow. An annual collaboration between two like-minded North West multi arts venues ? Liverpool?s FACT and Manchester?s Cornerhouse ? ?the main action of the festival rotates between the two cities while spinning out interesting projects across Lancashire and Cumbria.
It?s Manchester?s turn this go round, and as usual we?re being treated to a feast of curious works that blend genres and challenge our 
perceptions of what culture can be. Such as a post-apocalyptic drive-in complete with wrecked cars to sit on. That?s Empire Drive-In, from Brooklyn artists Todd Chandler and Jeff Stark, and we can?t imagine a better place to watch Mad Max II: The Road Warrior, augmented with live tributes from Manchester troupe Tranarchy. The film programme is stuffed with tasty screenings, including Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then, Brent Green?s quirky live action/stop animation love story, and Turner nominee Luke Fowler?s film debut, All Divided Selves, which digs into the psychology of RD Laing.
We also like the sound of alt drag shenanigans from trixxie carr (above right) at Gorilla and Ask a Teenager, Mammalian Diving Reflex?s live teen advice project, which invites us to expose our dilemmas to the deliberations of their powerful young brains.? And we?re alternately creeped out and fascinated by the prospect of the world?s first bio-engineered football, on display at CUBE. This year there?s a theme of success and failure and self-improvement running through the programme, which poses a central question that mischievously inverts one of everyone?s least favourite soundbites: ?Are you big enough to fail?? If this is what failure tastes like, we say success is way overrated.
Abandon Normal Devices, to 2 September, Cornerhouse and venues around the city and the region. Full schedule and booking info is online at andfestival.org.uk.
Words: Kate Feld; Images: (from top) Empire Drive-In, Todd Chandler and Jeff Stark, by Tod Seelie courtesy of the artists; trixxie carr by Stanley Frank courtesy of the artist.
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