SICK! Festival in Manchester is going to make you feel good

SICK! Festival returns throughout the month of May following last year's ‘Mindscapes’ programme.

Working with local and international artists, the team at SICK! have put together a festival mixing comedy, poetry, gaming and more all at the service of the themes of health, wellbeing, sexuality and society.

Here are our five highlights from SICK! Festival 2022. 

MDZ Estate Tour - Jimmy Cauty

You may know artist Jimmy Cauty better as one half of the KLF and co-founder of The Orb but for SICK! Jimmy brings something very different. Walk, giant-like, through a city in miniature, housed in a 40ft shipping container, peering inside tower blocks, a prison and some very strange religious goings-on.
The Green, Moston Lane, M40 - Saturday May 2 - Sunday May 22

I Am - Allie Crewe

Photographer Allie Crewe brings a new commission to SICK!, a series of portraits created in conjunction with Safe Lives, a charity focusing on the victims of domestic abuse. Crewe won the BJP Portrait of Britain award back in 2019 and the 12 images in this collection are no less powerful than the portraits she produced back then.
St Peter's Square and across the Metrolink network - throughout May

SICK! Cars - Woodrow Phoenix and Courtney Hales

If ever there was a symbol defining masculinity, it's the car. In this work, the associations between cars and the male psyche are examined and broken down to reveal the pressures that exist to 'be a man.' The lead artists have been working with a group of young men in North Manchester to come up with something challenging, fun and reflective.
The Green, Moston Lane, M40 - Saturday May 2 - Sunday May 22

Ejaculation Falls - Essi Rossi

Finish artist Rossi looks at both meanings of the word ejaculation, as both a climax and as an outpouring of words, a desire to be heard, in a performance examining sex and sexuality. Audience members - no pun intended - are encouraged to join in the conversation exploring different sexualities and challenging our perceptions of 'the norm'. 
Z Arts - Monday May 25 - Tuesday May 26

Barking Tales: Mental Health Comedy Night

Harriet Dyer hosts with guests Louise Young and Daliso Chaponda for an evening in which mental health, often a taboo subject at the best of times, takes centre stage as a source of belly laughs... 
Simpson Memorial Halls, M40 9NB - Thursday May 12