About Emergency 24

Manchester’s 24th micro-marathon of the bizarre, the bold, and the beautiful takes over Contact on Saturday 28 September with an afternoon of installations, interventions and limited capacity works from noon, followed by an evening full of short shows from 4pm.

From sleeping princes to burning regrets, memorable ice cream to unforgettable break-ups, a deep dive into the environment and a trio of weddings. Welcoming new faces and the return of old friends — what we can say is: we won’t be crying wolf.

Artists

Afternoon, Noon-4pm.
Ali Wilson · Billy Gigurtsis · Diane Dwyer · Emergency Chorus · Farida Yesmin · Heather Alice White · Jennifer Ng · Ludo & Jake · Martin Hamblen · Nicola Dale · Riley Hamshaw-Mills · Robyn Greeves · Rowena Gander · The Paula Davy

View the full afternoon programme here

Evening, 4pm-10pm.
Adèle Le Gallez · Ali Wilson · Annie Finn & Poppy Waxman · Drunken Chorus · Isabella Victorie A. · Jana Aizupe & Company · Kelvin Atmadibrata · Lewys Holt · Ludo & Jake · Luke McDonnell · Maria Garcia · Martha Pailing · Mi Otra Hermana · Shannon Mulvey · Will Dickie · Yafei Zheng

View the full evening programme here

Look at some of our artists’ image here

Participating artists subject to change.

NB some artists will take breaks on an ad hoc basis, some works have a short duration, some have limited capacity on a first-come first-served basis, and some occur at the same time — so you will not be able to see everything.

About Emergency

An annual platform for Live Art and contemporary performance, Emergency offers a sneak preview of new live work over a single day in Manchester every autumn — this 24th edition will present 28 short works from lunchtime till late throughout Contact’s building and its multiple spaces.

Probably England’s longest-running Live Art event, Emergency aims to be:

— a free to access public micro-festival and open submission platform;
— an opportunity for artists to meet, show, and peer review work;
— a selection event for a number of small Works Ahead commissions.

First held at greenroom in 2000, Emergency also took place at International Anthony Burgess Foundation, BLANKSPACE, Castlefield Gallery, Z-arts & STUN Studio, NIAMOS, before finding a new home at Contact from 2020…

Get a feel for it with 2023’s programme & image gallery, 2022’s programme/gallery, 2021’s programme/gallery, 2019’s programme/gallery.