VOID Manifesto

Manifesto layout designed by Ursula Rae

As a group we decided to create a manifesto to summarise what our festival is all about. It gives people a sense of what we hope to create and how we will do it. It took a couple of read throughs and edits to get it right but I think that the final draft is on point and intriguing. The points of our manifesto are:

• An alternative layer to a Manchester Design Festival. (We will create night time design events to run alongside a daytime festival)
• An evolving festival through the interaction of participants. (We would like the events and happenings within the festival to be partly determined by the public by interacting with the installations/ designs)
• Creating individual and collective experience. 
• Changing appearance through manipulated conditions. (Redesigning the city through intangible design)
• Concealed within the light revealed within the dark. (Artwork that goes unnoticed in the day but reveals its self when night time falls)
• Absence can be as stimulating as presence. (Trying to get people to notice and experience design where it is otherwise hidden)
• Facilitating interaction within the space and each other. 
• Using artist networks to generate momentum and encourage organic growth. (Using already established artists to attract the public to design and therefore help the design community to grow in an unforced way)
• Intangible Design (design which does not have a physical presence)
• Generating activity in a non-space. 
•  Not reflecting on the past or concerning the future, but experiencing the now. (We're not giving our energy to Manchester's past or future but we are focusing on the present to encourage people to enjoy the city's spaces as they are now)

The overall aim of our festival is to help the people redesign the city through their experience of the space rather then focusing on commercial, tangible design.