Huge lazer beams: FREE Future City Exhibition at Salford Quays

When imagining a city in the future it’s hard not to picture the dystopias of Blade Runner’s L.A. or 2000AD’s Mega-City One: a dank vision of what the world is to turn in to should we not have the foresight to create beauty instead of clutter. Show that the future is not a terrifying place of dark and foreboding tower blocks and smog, Quays Culture’s Future City Festival is a celebration of the architecture and space of the renovated Salford Quays and MediaCity areas in Salford through conceptual and wow-making art installations. Highlights include Thank You by Craig Morrison (21-28 Mar, 5pm -11pm) – featuring two of the world’s most powerful laser beams projecting ‘Thank You’ in morse code into the night’s sky from the top of The Lowry – and Ray Lee’s Chorus (3-5 Apr, from dusk), comprising giant kinetic sculptures (pictured) that create a celestial choir of spinning sound machines. The ever-expanding nature of up-to-date news and information is explored though Thomas and Craighead’s Decorative Newsfeeds (17-19 Apr, from dusk). These automatic drawings of breaking news from around the world will be projected on to a large screen outside the Lowry. 0°00 Navigation by Simon Faithful (24-26 Apr, from dusk) is one man’s maniacal journey along the Greenwich Meridian Line from Peace Heaven in Hampshire to Cleethorpes, overcoming any obstacle that stands in his way along the exact line of longitude that splits the past from the future. Throughout the festival, Liz West’s Vanishing Boundaries will transform the floor of MediaCity’s Open Centre into a field of colour through reflective coloured discs. The future has never looked so bright.

Fri 21 Mar – Sat 26 Apr, Salford Quays and MediaCityUK. quaysculture.com