MediaCityUK will hostVan Gogh Alive this autumn – “the world’s most visited immersive, multi-sensory experience” that exhibits the life and work of the seminal Dutch artist.
Having welcomed over eight million visitors in 70 cities around the world – including sell-out runs in London and Birmingham – the art and culture experience is now destined for Salford; opening from 22 October.
Van Gogh Alive takes people on a trip through the periods of Van Gogh’s life that defined him as an artist – showcasing 3,000 images including iconic works like Starry Night, Sunflowers and lesser-known paintings inspired by his love of Japanese woodprints.
Created by Grande Experiences, Van Gogh Alive has been called a “glorious, stunning, but also very moving”, exhibition, featuring state-of-the-art gallery technology set to an evocative classical score delivered via a 3D sound system.
More than 3,000 images will be on display
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Van Gogh Alive will also feature an interpretive area where visitors can learn more about Van Gogh’s life, as well as interactive art stations where people can create their own art with the help of expert video tutorials.
The exhibition is also home to a life-sized walk-in representation of Van Gogh’s ‘Bedroom in Arles’ painting and a ‘Sunflower selfie room’ – a 360° mirrored space complete with hundreds of sunflowers.
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Van Gogh Alive is supporting The Christie charity and using the experience as a platform to help raise vital funds to continue its incredible work leading the way for cancer care, research, and education. Visitors to the exhibition will have the opportunity to make a donation to The Christie charity when either purchasing tickets or while at the exhibition.
The charity has helped to provide the health service with a purpose-built young adult unit, a new Integrated Procedures Unit, a proton beam therapy research room, and equipment including an MR-linac machine and a new gamma camera. It is now fundraising for some vital projects including a new cancer centre and a world class research facility.
The experience takes visitors through periods of Van Gogh’s life
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Bruce Peterson, Owner of Grande Experiences, said: “After mesmerising a global audience of over 8 million people and selling-out cities all over the world, including Rome, Sydney and of course our most recent location at Kensington Gardens in London, we’re incredibly excited to be bringing Van Gogh Alive to MediaCityUK.
“This is an unforgettable cultural experience for all the family.”
Marie Toller, head of major relationships at The Christie charity, said the experience “looked absolutely stunning”.
“We are delighted that Van Gogh Alive has chosen to support The Christie charity,” he stated.
“The Christie relies on the support and donations from the public to provide our patients with the very best care, treatment and access to research options. Monies raised from the Van Gogh Alive exhibition will go towards making life that little bit easier for cancer patients and enhancing their experience while at The Christie hospital.”
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Van Gogh Alive opens its doors from 22 October 2021 to 23 January 2022.
Tickets are on sale now – having gone live at 9am on Thursday (22 July).
The price is £22.00 for adults and £15.00 for children, with concessions and school group discounts available. More info is available online here.
Art & Culture
The best things to do in Greater Manchester this week | 9 – 15 February 2026
Emily Sergeant
We really have got a busy week coming up this week.
Lunar New Year begins, it’s Valentine’s Day at the weekend, and schools break up for half term too, so as you can imagine, we’re really not short of exciting activities and events to be getting up to right across Greater Manchester – with everything from 360° walk-through projection shows and world-premiere science exhibitions, to legendary Dragon Parades, pie festivals, and much more happening this week.
Finding it a bit tricky to pick what to do though? No worries. We’ve chosen a few of the highlights for another edition of our ‘what’s on‘ guide.
Both free things and those that’ll set you back a few pennies are featured.
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Bubble Planet Experience
Depot Mayfield
Monday 9 February – onwards
Manchester has welcomed a ‘dreamlike world’ filled with giant colourful bubbles, as Bubble Planet Experience is now open.
Bubble Planet Experience has already been visited by more than four million people in cities across the globe, but now it’s time for its first trip to Manchester, where it has now popped up inside Depot Mayfield, so visitors can explore 10 themed rooms, each one offering a different surreal landscape that will ‘blur the boundaries between dream and reality’.
L.S. Lowry’s iconic masterpiece ‘Going to the Match’ is being brought to life right before your eyes in this brand-new exhibition now open at The Lowry.
LOWRY 360 is an immersive experience forming part of the legendary The Lowry theatre’s 25th anniversary programme, and it means that, for the first time ever, you can see one of Manchester’s most famous paintings by, arguably, the city’s most famous artist come to life through sight and sound.
Better yet, after you’ve immersed yourself in this incredible experience, then you can then see the actual painting in the full gallery – Modern Life: The LS Lowry Exhibition.
Did someone say £10 pie? The Festival of Pie is back at The Black Friar is Salford, and in case you didn’t know, that means delicious handmade pies are yours for a bargain price all month long.
Pick from the classic meat and potato, or opt for something a little different like garlic, chicken and leek, mushroom keema and onion bhaji, and our personal favourite, the truffle dauphinoise. Plus, you can add sides like mash and peas for just £3.
The deal is available all day Monday and Tuesday, and 12pm-6.30pm Wednesday to Friday, so don’t miss out before it’s too late.
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LUMINISCENCE
Manchester Cathedral
Monday 9 February – 26 March
LUMINISCENCE / Credit: Supplied
Manchester Cathedral has been lit up with a ‘truly stunning’ new 360° walk-through projection show this winter.
Combining 360° video mapping, new orchestral arrangements of iconic songs, and a narrative story celebrating everything that makes Manchester and its residents so special, visitors are now invited to step into a ‘spellbinding fusion’ of light, sound, and storytelling.
LUMINISCENCE pays tribute to Manchester’s rich cultural heritage through specially arranged orchestral renditions of iconic anthems – with the setlist including songs by Oasis, The Verve, Joy Division, and Elbow, just to name a few.
Looking for somewhere to watch the 2026 Six Nations in Manchester city centre?
It’s that time again, the Six Nations has started and we can practically taste the Guinness already.
That being said, we thought it only right to put together a list of where to watch it and enjoy those pints. With the tournament having now kicked off, we don’t want you scrambling around to find places showing the games, we just want you to sit back and enjoy yourself.
So, without further ado, here is our list of the best places to watch this year’s Six Nations here in Manchester city centre.
Looking to escape the elements and have your mind boggled this half term? Sounds like a trip to Museum of Illusions is on the cards then.
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It’s time to let your competitive side out – get ready to experience the city’s most unique attraction like never before. Race through the vortex, create the best mirror image, and complete the brain gym the fastest to win the dazzling trophy at the end.
Whether you’re team building with your work lot, or taking your mates for a bit of healthy competition, it’s a great one to have a go at.
You can celebrate the first new moon of the Lunar New Year with Tampopo’s Lunar menu, available all day, every day, throughout February.
For the full Lunar experience, choose three small plates with unlimited sides, or go all in with the Lunar Sharing Set Menu, serving two at £20 per person.
It’s bold flavours, vibrant plates, and a menu made to be shared – just as it should be.
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Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos
Science and Industry Museum
Friday 13 February – onwards
Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos / Credit: Science Museum Group | BBC
Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos is making its world premiere at the Science and Industry Museum this week, and will invite visitors to explore our wondrous Solar System.
Fresh off-the-back of the new BBC Children’s and Education TV show, Horrible Science, the ‘thrilling’ new exhibition will encourage visitors to ‘do science the horrible way’, and join both scientists and supervillains to unveil the secrets of space.
The new exhibition will propel families up into space where mystery, intrigue, and rocket-loads of silly and surprising science await. You’ll get to venture through a series of cosmic zones, walk in the shoes of astronauts, explore the life-giving energy of the sun, marvel at mysterious moons, and discover far-off weird worlds.
Chinese New Year Dragon Parade 2026 / Credit: Chinese NY Manchester (via X)
As Manchester gets ready to celebrate Chinese New Year 2026 and mark the ‘Year of the Horse’, it has been announced that the iconic Dragon Parade will be making a grand return this weekend, alongside lots of other seasonal celebrations. Like always, the parade’ll be bringing a spectacular show of colour and light along with it when it weaves its way through our city centre. Thousands of visitors from all across the region are expected to line the streets.
There’ll also be even more cultural celebrations and activities to get involved with throughout Lunar New Year over in Manchester’s popular Chinatown – with live stage performances, traditional lion and dragon dances, and loads of stalls serving up tasty and authentic street food.
Find out everything happening here, and check out road closures, parking suspensions, and parade timings here.
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Featured Image – Science Museum Group | Supplied | CityCo
Art & Culture
The story behind Sâlo: the rising Georgian-born Salford artist set be one of the region’s next stars
Danny Jones
We always love stories of people moving to Manchester to be more creatively engaged, but tales of entire families relocating here for a better life and art being born out of it is something truly special – and besides her obvious talent, that’s what has attracted us and plenty others to Sâlo.
This up-and-coming Salfordian artist may have been born around the border between Eastern Europe and Western Asia during a particular fraught time for her country, but she’s been raised and moulded like so many of us by this city’s rich music culture and wider artistic heritage.
She came to the UK with her family as a baby, with her parents fleeing poverty and lingering friction in Georgia following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 90s, and their journey as asylum seekers eventually brought them here to the North West.
It was clear from a young age that Sâlo (short for Salome) had a gift for the piano, but it was when her family moved to the Greater Manchester area that her own interest in genres and styles began to develop. Here’s a little snippet of her recent performance at the stunning Stoller Hall.
This short video was taken from her feature in a recent episode of Manchester: Unplugged, the web series by StreamGM that launched just last year and spotlights local songwriters.
Honing in on one of her newest releases, ‘Set Me Free’, which taps into that pure love for the keys.
While this clip shows a stripped-back version of the fully-fledged electronic studio version, with production playing a key role in defining her sound, she blends everything from classical music and jazz to neo-soul as well as drum and bass.
You hear the phrase ‘genre-bending’ thrown around a lot these days, but if this mid-20s star in the making isn’t the epitome of that term, then we don’t know who is.
Speaking more about her background in the short documentary film, which aired on YouTube this week, she talks about her first memory of visiting Forsyth Music Shop in Manchester city centre, and the inspiration behind the track in question.
You watch the Sâlo episode of Manchester: Unplugged in full here.
Detailed in the description of the newest edition of the online show, “Classically trained from the age of four, Sâlo’s journey runs through some of Manchester’s most important music spaces”, including time spent at the RNCM and Chetham’s School of Music and more.
As for the tune itself, not only do the lyrics revolve around a difficult patch in a personal relationship – this being one of the first times she felt like she’s fully opened up and not held back on letting people know what she’s speaking about – but it’s also the first track she’s produced and mixed entirely on her own.
Painstakingly mastered from a small studio at home, she almost “fell out of love” with the song altogether, but getting back to that simple joy of playing piano helped revive her passion for it.
With a stunning voice, natural musical talent when it comes to her instrument, and a great blend of different analogue and digital influences, Sâlo is definitely one to watch moving forward.
The Manc -
22nd July 2021 
