Neu! Reekie! announce Where Are We Now? festival
First details have been announced for Where Are We Now?, a new festival curated by art collective Neu! Reekie! for Hull City of Culture 2017
Taking place 2-4 June 2017, Where Are We Now? brings together artists including Young Fathers, Akala, Charlotte Church and Hollie McNish for three days of politically minded performance, posing answers to the festival's question through music, spoken word, film, street theatre, poetry, visual art and discussion.
The weekend will kick off with an opening event at Hull City Hall in Neu! Reekie!'s signature style, blending animation and short films with musical and spoken word performance, and continue with events featuring BAFTA and MOBO award-winning rapper and poet Akala; Stanley Kubrick prize-winning filmmaker, writer and curator Mark Cousins; DJs and producers Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston; visual artist Jamie Reid, and hip-hop acts The Four Owls and Stanley Odd.
The programme also includes soul singer Law Holt, poet and writer Sabrina Mahfouz, musician and writer Bill Drummond, Hull music promoter Altu 'Flowrex' Collingwood, singer and MC Eva Lazarus, Caught by the River co-founder Jeff Barrett, UK rapper Chester, provocative pop leader Momus, and Scottish electronic outfit Finitribe.
Kevin Williamson and Michael Pedersen of Neu! Reekie!
"Where Are We Now? will be a summer festival like no other: a gathering of time-served trouble-makers, spoken word rebels, artistic mavericks and leftfield music pioneers,” say Neu! Reekie! in their manifesto for the festival. “We'll be converging on the city of Hull to ask of today's counter-culture the soaring, searching question with which David Bowie kissed us goodbye.
“The UK has reached a crossroads. Where it goes next is anyone's guess. Dark divisive forces of racism and prejudice are stirring across the UK (and Europe) in the wake of Brexit and across the Atlantic following the election of Donald Trump. We need to ask our artists, musicians and writers where they stand.”
Where Are We Now? is one of four weekend festivals to take place over the course of the year with an express focus on contemporary political, social and cultural issues – the others are Women of the World Hull (10-12 Mar), focusing on gender equality; Freedom and Freedoms in a global context (1-4 Sep), which will include artist Bob and Roberta Smith's summer takeover of Hull School of Art; and Substance (8-10 Dec), focusing on the significance of the North in a cultural context.
"Hull has a rich history of radical thinking and, as many events throughout the City of Culture year show, pushing the boundaries of convention,” said Martin Green, CEO and director of Hull 2017. “We're delighted to welcome Neu! Reekie! and artists from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales in 2017 for Where Are We Now? Given the changing global context, it’s more essential than ever for artists to offer commentary on current issues.”
Tickets for the first events to be announced are on sale now, with more details about the rest of the line-up coming next year.
Friday 2 June 2017
Neu! Reekie! presents Where Are We Now? #1
with Young Fathers, Charlotte Church and Hollie McNish
City Hall, Queen Victoria Square, Hull, HU1 3RQ
Doors 6pm
Tickets £20/£17.50 concession
Saturday 3 June 2017
Neu! Reekie! presents Where Are We Now? #2
with 'the guiding lights of UK hip-hop' invited by Altu Flowrex Collingwood, including Akala, The Four Owls, Stanley Odd and Eva Lazarus
The Welly Club, 105-107 Beverley Road, Hull, HU3 1TS
Doors 6pm
Tickets £15/£12 conc