Abandon Normal Devices (AND) is an energetic regional festival of new cinema, digital culture and art. The festival takes place annually in Liverpool and Manchester on alternate years, with an extended regional programme. AND's mission is to change the way we think and push the boundaries of audience experience through a programme that spills out from the screens into the streets of the Northwest.
A catalyst for experimentation this is embodied in the curatorial attitude towards participation and innovation, it is a playful and political investigation into current social, artistic and technological practice. This interest has enabled collaborations across the UK's pioneering digital, science, design and media sectors and in turn has supported the development of emergent practice.
AND has commissioned 56 new works across several platforms including film, performance, public realm, visual arts, and media art, and has worked with over 300 contemporary artists including Eva and Franco Mattes, Brody Condon, Molleindustria, Ubermorgan, Andrew Kotting, John O' Shea, Heath Bunting, Oreet Ashery, Stephen Fortune, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Carolee Schneeman, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Gillian Wearing, Phil Collins, Rafael Lozano Hemmer,The Yes Men, Centre of Attention and Jamie King,
AND features a mixture of screenings, installations, online projects, residencies, public realm interventions, exhibitions and has a distinctive emphasis on critique and ideas- criticality is central to the festival concept wispace for both high-level industry-based knowledge and wider public engagement, conversation and debate.
The festival formed in 2009, as a unique partnership between FACT and Cornerhouse and folly.
AND is a 2012 inspired festival, funded by Legacy Trust UK and part of WE PLAY, the Northwest cultural legacy programme for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.