The Whitworth announces free opening weekend

The Whitworth has announced details of its opening weekend, featuring art, music, talks, walks, performance, literature and a fire and light show. The Oxford Road gallery has been closed for a major £15m refurbishment but will relaunch over the Valentines weekend with a programme of free events. From 10am on Saturday 14 February, the building and surrounding area will be filled with brass band and choir performances, a Video Jam, plus curator tours and talks – including by author Jeanette Winterson. In the evening, a fire and light show outside will be followed by performance art from Nico Vascellari in collaboration with the French musician Ghédalia Tazartès. Later on, Dave Haslam hosts an afterparty. The relaunch continues on the Sunday – see the full programme here. Entry is free throughout, but registration is required for the afterparty (do so here).

Sat 14 & Sun 15 Feb, The Whitworth, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, M15 6ER, Tel: 0161 275 7450, www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk