My collaboration with David Hoyle for Manchester International Festival played every hour of every day on Canal Street through the whole of MIF 2017 – a total of 204 plays!  It was recorded with the brass of Manchester Camerata and David, and then made into a sound-art installation across seven speakers along the main strip of Canal Street in the heart of Manchester’s Gay Village.  The piece was a tribute to the community, but also touched on themes of assimilation, military industrialisation and gender conformity.  The installation was part of MIF’s Music for a Busy City, including other pieces by Olga Neuwirth, Matthew Herbert, Anna Meredith, Huang Ruo and Mohammed Fairouz.

The Irish webzine Buzz.ie said:

Philip Venables’ equally astonishing Canal Street installation also utilises the number of speakers to maximum effect.  It is a riveting piece of hi-tech theatre driven by music that is at once menacing, mournful and rousing.  Venables’ treatment of the utterly charming David Hoyle’s provocative part polemic, part poem had me rushing from speaker to speaker to try to take it all in.

Huge thanks to Manchester International Festival and Producer Tom Higham – a fantastic team to work with.