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This winter sees Manchester host a range of exhibitions, whether it be galleries, studios and museums presenting art from both new and renowned artists, or installations that really get you thinking and immersed in the experience. Manchester is a cultural hub and you’ll find plenty of exhibitions showcasing the likes of art, photography, memorabilia, sculptures and historical artefacts across the city to discover during your free time. So switch off from the everyday and become fully absorbed in these exhibitions taking place in Manchester this summer, many of which are free to visit.
Art exhibitions in Manchester
1. L.S Lowry Exhibition, The Lowry
Of course, the largest collection of L.S Lowry‘s work has to be on display at his namesake gallery, and The Lowry boasts its most comprehensive selection ever. Lowry’s so-called ‘matchstick men‘ populate his paintings based on locations around the North West where he spent most of his life, especially Pendlebury, Lancashire, and often evoke a familiarity in northerners, whether through the industrial landscapes they portray, or familiar activities such as ‘Going To Work‘ or milling around a ‘Market Scene‘.
In addition to his paintings, the gallery also houses an extensive archive of photographs, press cuttings and exhibition catalogues associated with Lowry, providing critical and curatorial analysis of his work for a deeper look at the person behind the easel. This permanent exhibition is perfect for anyone familiar with his work who wants to get a real-life look at their favourite pieces, but also newbies keen to take in some North West culture at the true home of L.S Lowry.
🚪 Permanent exhibition.
🎟️ Free entry.
📍 The Lowry, Pier 8, The Quays, Salford, Manchester M50 3AZ.
2. Friends of Dorothy, Kimpton Clocktower
Kimpton Clocktower Hotel’s brand new free art exhibition, a celebration of the power and beauty of queer artistry, in partnership with queer art collective Friends of Dorothy, is now open to the public. Under the guidance of Rob Devlin, Friends of Dorothy is an innovative art project focused on inclusivity and artistic expression, dedicated to amplifying the voices of queer artists and fostering connections within the LGBTQ+ community.
From its humble beginnings as a lockdown-inspired project in 2021, Friends of Dorothy has evolved into a dynamic force, showcasing the vibrant tapestry of queer artistry within the vibrant cities of Manchester and Los Angeles. Open until the end of summer, the exhibition shows a diverse range of artworks, created by multi-platform artists all linked by queer art and talent.
🚪 Ends 1 September.
🎟️ Free entry.
📍 Kimpton Clocktower Hotel, Oxford St, Manchester M60 7HA.
3. Studio Critical by Nick Vorstermans, Manchester Craft & Design Centre
Studio Critical is a Manchester based studio creating tactile wooden objects. Maker Nick Vorstermans focuses his practice on using locally and sustainably sourced materials. His wooden spoons, bowls, furniture and other functional pieces are handmade, many of them from green wood salvaged from urban trees that fell naturally or were trimmed.
Studio Critical embraces a slow studio practice and encourages the thoughtful use of hand tools. Nick sees woodwork not only as a way to create beautiful everyday objects but as a rejection of mass production and consumerism. By mindfully constructing each piece using hand tools, he can make usable, treasured pieces from renewable and sustainable resources, all of which will be on display in the exhibition.
🚪 Open until Saturday 24 August.
🎟️ Free entry.
📍 Manchester Craft & Design Centre, 17 Oak St, Manchester M4 5JD.
4. Re-thinking the Grand Tour, Manchester Art Gallery
For 200 years the Grand Tour set the standard for western culture. In the 1700s and 1800s, it established forms of privileged travel and cultural tourism to Greece and Italy − a la Colin Bridgerton. Many western European artists took inspiration from classical antiquity. Ruins in idyllic landscapes, nymphs, and goddesses defined the classical fantasy as the pinnacle of taste.
Beneath the refinement of the Grand Tour is a story of empire and cultural appropriation. As the scope of European tourism extended to the Middle East and Asia, a colonial viewpoint prevailed. Artefacts were taken back home in private collections and were later acquired by museums. Manchester Art Gallery maintained this classical fantasy, purchasing Grand Tour artworks during the mid 1900s.
Two decades after this gallery was installed, the Grand Tour is being reassessed. Four contemporary artists have selected works from Manchester Art Gallery’s collection, responding to the legacy of the Grand Tour through the theme of migration, with a focus on empire and colonisation, trade, heritage, gendered experiences, and feelings aroused by the comfort of home.
🚪 Ends December 2025.
🎟️ Entry is free.
📍 Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley St, Manchester M2 3JL.
5. Invisible Cities, Salford Museum and Art Gallery
‘Invisible Cities: Salford before, during and after redevelopment, 1952 to 1974′ focuses on the transformation of the city when terraced houses and neighbourhoods were being replaced with modern architecture. The exhibition, at the Salford Museum and Art Gallery, will host images taken and provided by local citizens, professional photographers, and stills from TV and film, alongside architectural drawings and illustrations.
🚪 Open until 1 September.
🎟️ Free entry.
📍 Salford Museum and Art Gallery, Crescent, Salford M5 4WU.
6. John Lyons: Carnivalesque, The Whitworth
Spanning six decades, the exhibition will survey his contribution to British art, literature and art education, centred on his exploration of Trinidadian folklore and mythology through painting and poetry. The show includes paintings, drawings and woodcuts, with selected small sculptures and sketchbooks.
It also includes Lyons’ poetry via text and sound, and importantly, explores the links between his visual and literary practices. An archival element considers Lyons’ long career in art education and the arts ecosystem in Manchester, West Yorkshire, and nationally. The exhibition and accompanying illustrated catalogue bring greater visibility and recognition at a timely moment in his long career.
🚪 Ends 25 August.
🎟️ Entry is free.
📍 The Whitworth, Oxford Rd, Manchester M15 6ER.
7. Queens, The Lowry
This free exhibition – curated by The Lowry – is the first of its kind and is produced with the support of SIX and its creators Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. Queens will ask the question ‘What kind of Queen are you?’ and will start with a celebration of the hit musical, including for the first time in this country a display of all six iconic costumes from the show, alongside Toby and Lucy’s original notes, ideas, scribbles and Instagram photos of the first rehearsals.
Also on display will be costume and set designs, scripts, behind-the-scenes films and fan art. In SIX each of the Tudor Queens are turned into a pop star on stage, and in the exhibition their history as well as their contemporary music influences – from Adele to Beyoncé – will blend together, with lots of opportunities for visitors to sing, dance, play games and quizzes and even take suitably regal selfies.
The exhibition will also celebrate the Queens of every description that we pass in the street, those we work with, play with, we share our lives with and will feature new commissions from artists and photographers, including Manchester Instagram legend, The Mancorialist.
🚪 Ends Sunday 3 November.
🎟️ Free entry.
📍 The Lowry, Pier 8, The Quays, Salford, Manchester M50 3AZ.
Cultural exhibitions in Manchester
8. Batman Unmasked, Depot Mayfield
This summer Manchester welcomes Batman Unmasked – a journey through an elaborate collection of Batman items from the famous Warner Bros. archives, offering fans an exclusive opportunity to experience the cinematic world of Batman like never before. Opening its doors at Depot Mayfield in Manchester on 16 July and running until 26 August, the experience brings the cinemetic world of Batman to UK fans in celebration of DC’s Caped Crusader’s 85th anniversary throughout 2024.
Captivating Batman fans of all ages, Batman Unmasked will take guests on a thrilling journey through the Caped Crusader’s legendary history in film as they explore an extensive collection of original props and costumes from Warner Bros. Pictures, with films including Batman (1989), Batman Forever (1995), Batman & Robin (1997), Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Justice League (2017), Joker (2019) and The Batman (2022).
🚪 July 16 − August 26.
🎟️ Book here.
📍 Depot Mayfield, 11 Baring St, Manchester M1 2PY.
9. Northern Ireland: Living with the Troubles, Imperial War Museum North
Northern Ireland: Living with the Troubles unpacks a complex chapter of our shared history, shining a light on the different narratives experienced by people who lived through the conflict within Northern Ireland and allowing them to share their version of events.
This free exhibition is IWM’s first on the subject and opened at IWM North following its inaugural and highly successful run at IWM London. First hand testimony and objects including a rubber bullet, propaganda posters and a Good Friday Agreement booklet will help visitors understand the multiple perspectives and human stories.
🚪 Ends 29 September.
🎟️ Free entry.
📍 Imperial War Museum North, Trafford Wharf Rd, Trafford Park, Stretford, Manchester M17 1TZ.
10. Ukraine: Our Ordinary Lives, Imperial War Museum North
Spanning the period since the 2022 invasion, IWM North’s Big Picture Show uses powerful real-life stories to highlight the experiences of 15 young Ukrainians, exploring their lives as they try to find normality, living their ordinary lives through extraordinarily challenging times. Told through their own social media posts, their stories are shared through images and footage capturing the reality of what everyday life is like for young Ukrainians caught up in war.
It forms one of six ‘Big Picture Shows’ on permanent display at the museum and is a 360-degree immersive experience projected onto the 27-ft high walls of the main exhibition space, and plays once daily.
🚪 Permanent display.
🎟️ Entry is free.
📍 Imperial War Museum North, Trafford Wharf Rd, Trafford Park, Stretford, Manchester M17 1TZ.
11. Trading Station: How Hot Drinks Shape Our Lives, Manchester Art Gallery
Hot drinks, once expensive luxuries for the few, have enriched our lives, promoted the exchange of ideas and influenced the design of our homes. Trading Station traces, revealing their global histories, connections to slavery and colonisation and contemporary ethical issues. Spanning four centuries and ranging from silver, porcelain, glass, fashion, lighting, prints and painting, this showcase of exquisite and utilitarian objects asks probing questions and uncovers hidden histories.
At the heart of Trading Station is a gathering space for visitors and groups to use freely. The space is designed to host making workshops, talks and performances to encourage new debate, thinking and action on how better to live together today. The gathering space has been shaped and co-designed by a group of 24 people from groups who regularly use the gallery, working with Manchester-based design studio Standard Practice to realise ideas. The space is open for all to gather and participate in, either in a programmed event or as a space to stop, reflect and take stock.
🚪 Ends 31 January 2025.
🎟️ Free entry.
📍 Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley St, Manchester M2 3JL.
12. We Have Always Been Here, John Rylands Research Institute and Library
Explore stories of identity in The University of Manchester Library collections, telling surprising and complicated stories that wrestle with the idea of identity. Who gets to decide how we are represented? Many people’s histories in the Library have been overlooked but they have always been here.
The stories in this exhibition examine self-representation, identity politics and community solidarity. This exhibition is a starting point. It is a commitment to show that this Library is for and about everyone. It includes a newly-commissioned poem by Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan reflecting on how identities are represented in the archive; photographs, flyers and maps exploring Manchester Carnival in the 1970s, 80s and 90s; and letters and books by members of the LGBTQ+ family including Eleanor Butler, Wilfred Owen and Frances Power Cobbe.
🚪 Ends 13 July.
🎟️ Free entry.
📍 John Rylands Research Institute and Library, 150 Deansgate, Manchester M3 3EH.
Historical exhibitions in Manchester
13. People’s History Museum
Manchester’s People’s History Museum is the UK’s only museum entirely dedicated to sharing the stories of the revolutionaries, reformers, workers, voters and citizens who strive(d) for change. We recommend checking out the entire collection at PHM as it’s ever-growing and truly fascinating. From suffragette banners and badges, to political posters and artwork, the PHM tracks the political and community history of Manchester, focusing on those who have, and still, fight for justice and equality.
Leading a spectacular and colourful charge through history the 2024 Banner Exhibition opened at People’s History Museum in February. Historical anniversaries, political movements, international causes and campaigns for change are amongst the inspiring stories carried by the banners; banners commissioned and created by renowned banner makers, to those born out of community collaboration. 2024 is a particularly important year in the history of the mining industry, with 50 years having passed since the successful strike of 1974 and 40 years since the major strike of 1984 to 1985, which will be represented in the exhibition.
🚪 Exhibition durations differ.
🎟️ Free entry – donation encouraged.
📍 People’s History Museum, Left Bank, Manchester M3 3ER.
14. Lily Parr display, National Football Museum
Lily Parr – one of football’s first female superstars – gets a new permanent museum display dedicated to her life and legacy. It features never-seen-before photographs of Lily and her teammates – which were found in an old suitcase hidden in a loft for four decades. Emerging in the 1920s as part of Preston’s Dick Kerr Ladies, Parr scored nearly 1000 goals in a three-decade career. She played in some of the world’s first women’s international matches and was a trailblazer for women footballers the world over.
🚪 Permanent exhibition.
🎟️ Free entry.
📍 National Football Museum, Cathedral Gardens, Todd St, Manchester M4 3BG.
15. At Home with the Pankhurst Family, Pankhurst Centre
Ever since No.62 Nelson Street was saved from demolition in the 1980s, the Pankhurst Centre has endeavoured to protect and preserve this important historical building and ensure the story of Emmeline Pankhurst is told to inspire and motivate the next generation of radical activists. This engaging and immersive exhibition explores the extraordinary achievements of the Pankhurst Family in the house where they lived and where the very first meeting of the Women’s Social & Political Union took place in 1903.
🚪 Permanent exhibition.
🎟️ Entry is free – book your slot here.
📍 The Pankhurst Centre, 60-62 Nelson St, Manchester M13 9WP.
16. Weird as Folk, The Portico Library
Weird as Folk threads tales from past to present, weaving a shimmering skein of stories across centuries. It is not easy to find these stories. Folklore is an oral tradition. Tales and beliefs are passed down generations and not always written in books. In Weird as Folk, the concealed is revealed in once hidden or obscure curiosities such as ‘witch bottles‘ and ‘protection objects‘. The oldest of these artefacts on display here is a pair of shoes from 1904, loaned by partners at The Folklore Centre in Todmorden, which were found hidden in a local primary school.
As you wander through the exhibition, you will encounter a pageantry of famous weird folk. Among the fray you may notice characters like Will-O-The-Wisp, and Wag-at-the-Wa’ presiding over marsh lands, roaring fires and bubbling cauldrons. ‘Mab’s Cross‘ – a Wigan tragedy – jostles alongside the comedic mischief of Mancunian Boggarts.
🚪 Thursday 4 July − Saturday 2 November 2024.
🎟️ Entry is free.
📍 The Portico Library, 57 Mosley St, Manchester M2 3HY.
Immersive exhibitions in Manchester
17. Sweet Dreams, Aviva Studios
Featuring a cast of satirical on-screen animated cartoon characters, voiced by leading international actors and comedians and illustrated by renowned French artist McBess (Matthieu Bessudo), the narrative of Sweet Dreams centres around a fast-food empire in decline.
Unfolding over a series of meticulously crafted rooms in the vast Warehouse space at Aviva Studios – which last summer showcased a major exhibition of Yayoi Kusama‘s inflatable artworks – audiences will be transported into a mesmerising blend of motion graphics, gaming, illustration and cinema, moving between the tantalising and the grotesque, the nightmarish and the hilarious.
🚪 July 11 − September 1.
🎟️ Book tickets here.
📍 Aviva Studios, Water St, Manchester M3 4JQ.
18. Power Up, Science and Industry Museum
Play the very best video games from the past five decades and try out over a hundred different consoles in this ultimate hands-on gaming experience. There’s something for everyone, from Pong to Pacman, Sonic to Street Fighter and Mario to Minecraft, plus a selection of games created in Manchester.
Face off against friends and families in multiplayer showdowns, rediscover your childhood favourites and test out some of the latest virtual reality experiences. Game on!
🚪 Open every Saturday & Sunday and summer holidays.
🎟️ Tickets £8 here.
📍 Science and Industry Museum, Liverpool Rd, Manchester M3 4JP.