An immersive, playable art installation comes to Aviva Studios this weekend

An immersive, free-to-attend installation takes over Aviva Studios this weekend, inviting visitors into a journey through a futuristic Manchester.

Those Who Hold Up The Sky sees an underground movement tap into the city’s network, changing everything from adverts and murals to statues and street names.

A mix of interactive digital and physical experiences, including videogame, a soundscape and hands-on making stations will fill the North Warehouse at Aviva, allowing you to model your own ideas for the city.

What each participant creates will make its way into the game as the hand-made models can be 3D scanned and built into game assets for future players to interact with.

The experience has been created by BRiGHTBLACK, an artist collective led by Simon Wilkinson and Myra Appannah known for their use of immersive tech and playful approach, and a group of Greater Mancunians known as Fusion Factory.

Speaking about the project, BRiGHTBLACK says:“We make artworks that put the audience at the centre of the story,placing them in immersive worlds to play and be creative. With ‘Those Who Hold Up TheSky’, we are recreating Manchester as a playable futuristic city with floating islands in the skyand are asking-what would happen if we gave this Manchester to the people and filled it with their creativity, voices, ideas?”

Those Who Hold Up The Sky comes to Aviva Studios from Fri 28 Feb – Sun 2 Mar. No advanced booking is required. Find more information here.