In Massive Attack v Adam Curtis, Bristol’s finest trip-hoppers will perform at the venue while documentary maker Curtis films the concert in real time – but the experience goes at least one dimension further. A 3D experience exploring the ‘power of illusion and the illusion of power’ will appear like a normal gig says Curtis, but that at some point, the audience is ‘going to realise something a little bit disconcerting is happening… an unexpected development.’ Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja is calling it ‘a collective hallucination’. United Visual Artists, which has worked with Massive Attack in the past, is also involved.
The same venue will also host a centenary performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, which literally caused riots when first performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in 1913. Again, the idea is to shock, and under the auspices of Italian director Romeo Castelucci, it will involve ’11 tonnes of animal bone dust in 30m-deep glass box.’ Watch that space…
Manchester International Festival
Various venues, Manchester
4-21 July, 2013
Johnny Tucker
