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Ai Weiwei Button Up!
Factory InternationalWater Street
Until 6 Sept
About this event
History, power and empire collide in Button Up! – a major new exhibition from the world-leading artist and activist Ai Weiwei Monumental in scale and ambition, Ai Weiwei: Button Up! confronts 200 years of turbulent world history in this vast new exhibition, the artist’s most expansive in the North to date. Ai Weiwei is known around the world for his uncompromising artistic vision and political activism. From a brutal childhood in exile to surviving secret detention in China, his remarkable life and career have led him to global prominence. Using sculpture, installation, film, photography and architecture, his work is unafraid to ask urgent, critical questions. In Button Up!, the artist turns his lens on two centuries of Chinese and British relations. Inspired by visits to Manchester and the city’s pivotal role in the Industrial Revolution, the exhibition traces 200 years of power, trade and empire, exploring their legacy and connection to today’s global crises.
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Follow the thread
From this venue’s worldManchester FlagshipsStart with the cultural institutions that define Manchester.From this venue’s worldManchester TheatreDiscover Manchester's celebrated theatres, from historic institutions to bold contemporary performance spaces.LineageManchester International FestivalTrace other Manchester rooms working in this tradition.LineageContemporary performanceTrace other Manchester rooms working in this tradition.LineageVisual artsTrace other Manchester rooms working in this tradition.Adjacent this weekCiné Césaire: The ExhibitionIbraazAdjacent this weekMorphological MurmurationsUniversity of Edinburgh Public EventsAdjacent this weekEarth Photo: Mount Ephraim GardensRoyal Geographical Society
A different kind of night
Not the same tradition as the lineage above — a genuinely different thread to pull, if you want one.