A decade has passed since the first Manchester Science Festival, and this year they’re celebrating their 10th birthday by putting on their best festival yet. Set to coincide with Manchester’s year-long stint as European City of Science, the Festival promises a packed programme full of talks, exhibitions and interactive fun for the young and the old alike. Well, we’ve taken a look through this October’s programme to bring you five of the very best free events at this year’s festival.
Cloud Crash Preview at MoSI (pictured)
With the launch of the festival comes the launch of the Museum of Science & Industry’s latest art installation – Cloud Crash – designed by Paris-based artists HeHe, known to their mums as Helen Evans and Heiko Hansen. The installation is composed of three pieces designed to shed light on climate science. If you don’t get a chance to catch this preview, the installation runs all through festival and into next year.
Thu 20 Oct, Museum of Science and Industry, Liverpool Road, Castlefield, Manchester, M3 4FP. Tel: 0161 832 2244, 6pm -8pm, www.manchestersciencefestival.com
Sensory Sound Pit at MediaCityUK
Salford University jumps into the festival in the first week, with this special installation at their MediaCity complex. It’s an interactive soundscape created by artist Di Mainstone, where sounds are accompanied by visual and tactile feedback inspired by neurological research into auditory processing – creating a musical score that you can see and feel all around you.
Thu 20 Oct – Wed 26 Oct, MediaCityUK Campus, University of Salford, Plot B4, Salford Quays, M50 2HE. 10am – 4pm (Thu – Sun), 1pm – 4pm (Mon – Wed), www.manchestersciencefestival.com
Science Showdown at MOSI
Running five times a day for the last week of the festival at MoSI are these Science Showdowns, where two experimenters are pitted against one another in a gladiatorial science-off to see who can make the most interesting and engaging experiments. Flames and explosions are guaranteed in this family-friendly extravaganza.
Mon 24 Oct – Sun 30 Oct, Museum of Science and Industry, Liverpool Road, Castlefield, Manchester, M3 4FP. Tel: 0161 832 2244, Various times, www.manchestersciencefestival.com
Scanning the Horizon at HOME
For many, the BBC documentary series Horizon has been a vanguard of scientific education and enlightenment for decades. Here editor Steve Crabtree presents a supercut of some of the series’ wildest predictions and some of its most eerily accurate, giving us some insight into how our view of the future has changed over the past fifty years.
Wed 26 Oct, HOME, 2 Tony Wilson Place, Manchester, M15 4FN. Tel: 0161 200 1500, 4pm – 5.30pm, www.manchestersciencefestival.com
Step Inside the Camera at Victoria Station
This installation built by photographer and lecturer Justin Quinnell transforms Victoria Station’s waiting room into the inside of a camera. Using a tiny pinhole aperture, you can see an image the outside world flip-reversed onto the far wall, like a traditional analogue camera. It’s only up for one day, so make sure you catch it will you can.
Fri 28 Oct, Manchester Victoria Train Station, Station Approach, Todd Street, Manchester, M3 1WY. 10am – 4pm, www.manchestersciencefestival.com
- Words:
- Jon Whiteley
- Published on:
- Sun 23 Oct 2016
