Factory International has announced the 2023 edition of Manchester International Festival (MIF) featuring a unique partnership with Selfridges and artist Ryan Gander.
The festival, which partners regionally and across the globe, runs from 29 June to 16 July. During this time, a wide-ranging programme of original new work by artists from around the world will take place in venues and spaces throughout the city and at Factory International’s much- anticipated new home, which opens its doors for the first time for the Festival, in advance of its official opening in October.
In Selfridges Exchange Square and across the city, members of the public will be able to engage in unique artworks that all reference the concept of time. This includes, a city-wide quest for collectible coins called The Find, Ryan Gander’s Intervention Space. Gander, who previously studied at Manchester Metropolitan University, has hidden hundreds of thousands of collectable coins in plain sight across Manchester, each embellished with words offering guidance on daily decisions.
Those who look out for them may find coins on park benches, walls, steps, in food courts and libraries, or tucked away in parking ticket machines. Ryan’s coins are collectable artworks, lucky charms and decision-making tools rolled into one. Ryan hopes The Find will inject mystery into people’s everyday encounters, encouraging them to see the world around them differently.
Ryan’s acclaimed art installation, “Time is Your Greatest Asset” will also be on displayed on the façade of the store and in the entrance of Selfridges Exchange Square for the duration of the festival. The vending machine, which accepts card payments is filled with rocks – symbolising memories made, and time with his children by the beach – will sit in the entrance of Selfridges Exchange Square for visitors to interact with.
All proceeds from items sold in the vending machine will go towards Factory International’s Artist Development Programme. The store’s interior will also display six phrases taken from the coins shown as fly posters.
His project, The Find, will take place across the city, and we will serve as an intervention space for this activation, with a full façade and internal windows takeover.
Ryan Gander said:
“I think we all wander through our lives distracted from lots of the extraordinary encounters and events that surround us, I know I do… For me The Find is an interruption to the flatness of our daily repetitive rituals. A true exercise in looking, chance and choice.”
Ryan’s artworks will be available to interact with from 29 June to 16 July. Ryan’s work marks 15 years of creative collaboration between Selfridges and MIF.
The Find, created by Ryan Gander, commissioned and produced by Factory International for Manchester international Festival 2023.
