Enormous polka-dot inflatables have taken over Manchester’s newest arts venue, as acclaimed artist Yayoi Kusama opens her largest-ever installation.
The jaw-dropping spectacle has seen entire rooms filled with colourful tentacles, glowing lights, and gigantic dolls.
You, Me and the Balloons has taken over the huge space at Aviva Studios, previously known as Factory International, Manchester’s new £220m arts and culture space.
This is the first event to be held in the landmark building, just behind the Science and Industry Museum, and it’s part of Manchester International Festival.
Over the next 18 days, the city will be filled with theatre productions, art installations, and even treasure hunts as part of MIF23’s programming.
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The Yayoi Kusama exhibition is the most talked-about and highly-anticipated of the lot, and it lives up to expectations.
Ticket-holders are first welcomed in to the Aviva Studios lobby – the first time we’ve seen it fully in operation, before heading up the stairs to the main event space.
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Here, the first room is a sea of black and yellow spotted tentacles, with matching walls and floor and ceiling, towering way overhead.
Lying on Clouds at Yayoi Kusama’s MIF23 exhibitionMore pink tentacles at Yayoi Kusama’s MIF23 exhibitionA room full of tentacles at the Yayoi Kusama exhibition for MIF23. Credit: The Manc Group
From here, you head into the hangar-like main hall, where you can first view the full exhibition from a balcony.
Before you you’ll see an other-worldly selection of Yayoi Kusama’s creations, from a massive pumpkin to inflatable clouds you can lie on.
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Some of the artworks are more than 10 metres tall.
You can wander through a forest of glowing pink tentacles, gawp up at colourful dogs called Ring-Ring and Toko-Ton, and peer into a room of polka-dot mirrors.
Yayoi Kusama is one of the world’s most loved artists with a career spanning 80 years, famed for creating playful and kaleidoscopic universes.
Yayoi Kusama: You, Me and the Balloons will be at Aviva Studios until 28 August – tickets are on sale here.
‘Breathtaking’ new 360° immersive dinosaurs exhibition to open in Manchester later this year
Emily Sergeant
A ‘breathtaking’ new immersive dinosaurs exhibition is set to open in Manchester later this year.
Fresh off the back of announcing its programme of events for the upcoming autumn-winter season last week, Factory International has now revealed that another new Lightroom experience will be arriving later this year, and it’s one any budding paleontologist will want to keep an eye on.
Prehistoric Planet: Discovering Dinosaurs blends iconic moments from Apple TV’s Emmy nominated Prehistoric Planet with never-before seen content.
It’s set to take audiences back in time to experience dinosaurs closer than ever before.
Narrated by critically acclaimed actor, Damian Lewis, the new 360° immersive experience is a celebration of our natural world told through captivating storytelling, breathtaking visuals, and groundbreaking technology, with visitors will be transported back in time, 66 million years ago, to experience dinosaurs up close.
Damian Lewis guides audiences through the fascinating role dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures have played in shaping our world – from Ammonites and Mosasaurs, to the Tyrannosaurus rex.
Lightroom’s state-of-the-art 360 projections will allow viewers to see these majestic animals at an awe-inspiring scale and travel alongside them through volcanoes, soaring skies and the deep sea.
As escapist as it is educational, audiences will not only experience some of the most beloved scenes from seasons one and two of Apple TV’s Prehistoric Planet, but they will also be immersed in exclusive extended CGI sequences and bespoke illustrations that bring the show to life in entirely new ways.
And to make it even better, the experience is set to an original score by multi-Academy Award winner Hans Zimmer, alongside Anže Rozman, and Kara Talve for Bleeding Fingers Music.
Prehistoric Planet: Discovering Dinosaurs opens at Aviva Studios, and tickets go on public sale tomorrow (Friday 26 June).
Featured Image – Supplied
Art & Culture
Prestigious Edinburgh TV Festival to move to Manchester for first time in 50 years
Emily Sergeant
Greater Manchester will become the new host city for the TV Festival from 2027 onwards it was announced today.
For the first time in five decades, following an extensive consultation and competitive bidding process – which was launched in 2025 – the prestigious festival is set to move from its home in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh to our region from 2027 onwards, beating out other major northern cities like Newcastle in the process.
As part of a UK-wide strategic review into the event’s long-term future, the Festival’s board of directors say the review was undertaken in order to ‘examine how the TV Festival could continue to grow’ amid increasing challenges around accessibility, affordability, and sustainability across the television industry.
Greater Manchester‘s ‘successful and comprehensive’ bid included commitments around affordability, infrastructure, industry partnership, and long-term growth potential.
Plans include holding the Festival in locations in the newly developed St. John’s creative and cultural district.
“Greater Manchester presented a vision for the Festival that combined genuine creative ambition and future-facing energy with practical accessibility and affordability for delegates,” commented Campbell Glennie, who is the CEO of the TV Festival and The TV Foundation.
“This means we can radically reduce the costs associated with attending the Festival as well as the cost of passes.
“The city reflects the expanding ambition of the UK television industry, while still offering the scale, connectivity and unique cultural identity needed for an event of this significance – it gives us the strongest platform to grow the Festival’s reach and impact in the years ahead.”
Cllr Bev Craig, who is the Leader of Manchester City Council, said being chosen as TV Festival hosts is ‘brilliant news’ for Greater Manchester, adding: “It speaks to the growth, success and strength of our screen sector in the city region and the strong partnerships and talent we have here.”
The final Edinburgh edition of the TV Festival will take place this August, and dates and further details for the TV Festival in 2027 will be shared later this year.
Daisy Jackson -
30th June 2023 
