Manchester International Festival - Do It

Following the acclaim of Il Tempo del Postino (MIF07) and 11 Rooms (MIF11), MIF presents Do It 20 13, another groundbreaking exhibition that turns the notion of viewing into an active and performative encounter between artist and visitor.

Do It 20 13 consists of a growing series of written artists’ instructions, each of which is interpreted anew every time it is enacted. These instructions range from the active and the absurd to the profound and the philosophical, some to be accomplished at the gallery and others to be taken away and carried out at home.

Conceived and curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist in conversation with Christian Boltanski and Bertrand Lavier, do it began life in 1993. This 20th-anniversary show brings together artists from the first do it experiments with subsequent generations of artists who have been commissioned to reinterpret earlier instructions.

Do It 20 13 will be divided into four rooms. The Active Room, presented by the artist Richard Wentworth, will contain a series of instructions aimed at the public from artists including Etel Adnan, Ai Weiwei, Yto Barrada, Theaster Gates, Casey Reas Peter Saville, and Ryan Trecartin.

The Homage Room will feature living artists’ reactions to instructions originally created by artists who are no longer with us, for example Sarah Lucas reacting to Franz West, Tracey Emin enacting the instructions of Louise Bourgeois and Christodoulos Panayiotou’s homage to Joan Brossa.

The Archive Room will contain ephemera and documentation from participants in the last 20 years of the project including Leon Golub, Mike Kelley, Shere Hite and Cedric Price.

And finally, the Film Room will screen a large number of do it video works, including pieces from Gilbert & George, Yoko Ono and Nancy Spero.