Published by Cornerhouse and Manchester International Festival.

The book  features previously unseen pictures and stories from the event held at MIF in July 2009 and from Jeremy Deller’s research across the city.

‘For me, a procession can act as a snapshot of a time and place and I wanted this one to be as strange, messy and beautiful as daily life in this city is. I was also hoping to include elements that would not just show a smoothed out Manchester, as big cities inevitably have complicated histories and contradictory presents, presents in which certain group activities are lazily referred to as anti-social when in reality they are exactly the opposite.’
Jeremy Deller

The book is available at Cornerhouse.

Images from the book launch at the People’s History Museum, 15 July 2010:

Andy Brydon (Curated Place) talks to Jeremy Deller on the night of the book launch:

Jian Ghomeshi interviews Rufus Wainwright – 14 June 2010 on CBC’s Q

The structure is currently set up at the Holland Festival which stages three Bach solo concerts and a programme with contemporary music by Calliope Tsoupaki, Rozalie Hirs and Frederik Croene, amongst others. Visitors can also enjoy lunchtime performances and guided tours around the pavilion.

Holland Festival, Amsterdam: 5 – 19 June

Zaha Hadid Architects – installation of pavilion at Manchester Art Gallery June 2009. © Jacqueline Passmore

Festival Director Alex Poots said, “We’re very pleased to accept these awards for the 09 event. It’s always encouraging to be recognised by our colleagues in the region. I would particularly like to thank our Head of Creative Learning Dr Jen Cleary for her hard work on sustainability issues at the Festival.”

In May 2010 MIF was independently certified as achieving the British Standard for Sustainable Event Management (BS8901), the first international festival to achieve this certification.  MIF is also involved in the development of BS8901 as an international standard for event sustainability ahead of the London Olympic Games in 2012.  In 2009 MIF won A Greener Festival Award in recognition of its work to improve the environmental sustainability of its events.

The next Festival takes place in 2011 and the first events will be revealed and put on sale in Autumn 2010.

St. Ann’s Warehouse, New York: 21 April – 1 May 2010

Read the New York Times review here

Queen & Country is at the National Portrait Gallery in London from 20 March until 18 July 2010.

The book accompanying the exhibition features single stamp images of the British Service Personnel killed in Iraq. It includes an original poem by Nobel Prize winning Poet, Derek Walcott. Buy it here.

For these London performances, there was a new production directed by acclaimed British director Tim Albery, whose most recent works include The Flying Dutchman at the Royal Opera House, and Boris Godunov for ENO.

Sung in French with surtitles, the libretto is co-written by Rufus Wainwright and Bernadette Colomine.

Watch Rufus, Janis and the cast take a bow at the London premiere of Prima Donna:

Comfortably seated in suspended nest-chairs six young people and their six carers will ‘fly’ amongst the aerial performers in a unique kinesthetic adventure.

Something in the Air will tour to Newbridge School, Oldham, The Unicorn Theatre, London, Trinity School, Dagenham and Galeri in Wales.

“We watch from flower-covered chairs that rise up into the air, swing, turn and bounce up and down. We feel as if we are flying, too, freed from the restraints of our bodies and gravity itself.” Lyn Gardner, The Guardian