Artistic Pioneers, Mavericks And Rebels Line Up For Where Are We Now?

The first events and artistic collaborators for Where Are We Now?, a new festival presented by avant-garde art collective and provocateurs Neu! Reekie! as part of Hull UK City of Culture 2017, have been announced.

The festival will take place from 2 until 4 June 2017 with the first events on sale now at www.hull2017.co.uk.

Where Are We Now? brings together a lively gathering of some of the most exciting cultural rabble-rousers, agitators, thinkers and luminaries from across Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Through a programme of spoken word events, hip-hop, live music, film screenings, discussions, street theatre, poetry and visual art, Neu! Reekie! and their artistic collaborators pose the question: where are we now? The idea is to stimulate debate amongst artists, musicians and writers, as well as the wider public.

The three-day festival includes Mercury Prize winners Young Fathers; political activist, writer and singer Charlotte Church; rapper and poet Akala; artist, musician, writer and producer Bill Drummond; Hull music promoter Altu ‘Flowrex’ Collingwood ; 2016 Stanley Kubrick prize-winning filmmaker, writer and curator Mark Cousins; artist Jamie Reid renowned for his work with the Sex Pistols; A Love From Outer Space founders Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston; hip-hop group The Four Owls; soul singer Law Holt; singer and MC Eva Lazarus; spoken word artist Hollie McNish; Caught by the River co-founder Jeff Barrett; UK rapper Chester P; David Bowie aficionado and leader in provocative pop Momus; hip hop band Stanley Odd; poet and writer Sabrina Mahfouz; and legendary Scottish outfit Finitribe.
Neu! Reekie! have developed a manifesto for the festival:

“Where Are We Now?’ will be a summer festival like no other: a gathering of time-served trouble-makers, spoken word rebels, artistic mavericks & leftfield music pioneers. We’ll be converging on the city of Hull to ask of today’s counter-culture the soaring, searching question with which David Bowie kissed us goodbye.

“The UK has reached a crossroads. Where it goes next is anyone’s guess. Dark divisive forces of racism and prejudice are stirring across the UK (and Europe) in the wake of Brexit and across the Atlantic following the election of Donald Trump. We need to ask our artists, musicians & writers where they stand.

“For detached hipster unicyclists or stay-at-home clicktavists this may not be your time or place for we promise to ruffle feathers, take to the streets, challenge the dominant narratives, and counterpose Love to Hate.

“Convening the radical fusion will be one of the UK’s most acclaimed and exciting artistic collectives. With counter-cultural roots going back through the last 25 years – to the legendary Rebel Inc publishing house – Neu! Reekie! intend to take the pulse of the cultural resistance across the UK and its four nations. And have some fun involving the good people of Hull.

“Come together. Ask questions. Listen & watch. Dance. Shake things up.”

The festival’s opening event, Neu! Reekie! present Where Are We Now? will take place at Hull City Hall on Friday 2 June, when they will be joined by Young Fathers, Charlotte Church and Hollie McNish. In addition to the musical and spoken word guests, the evening will feature animation and short films.

On Saturday 3 June, Neu! Reekie! and Hull music promoter Altu ‘Flowrex’ Collingwood will invite the guiding lights of UK hip-hop to The Welly for an evening of live music. The line-up includes Akala, The Four Owls, Stanley Odd and Eva Lazarus. More details about the festival line-up will be announced next year.

Martin Green, CEO and Director, Hull 2017, said;

“Hull has a rich history of radical thinking and, as many events throughout the City of Culture year show, pushing the boundaries of convention. We’re delighted to welcome Neu! Reekie! and artists from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales in 2017 for Where Are We Now? Given the changing global context, it’s more essential than ever for artists to offer commentary on current issues. It will be exciting to see what conversations, debates and thoughts this gang of artistic agitators inspire in this city.”

Where Are We Now? is part of the Hull 2017 Roots & Routes season and is one of four weekend festivals due to take place next year that focus on contemporary political, social and cultural issues. The others are WOW (Women of the World) Hull (10 – 12 March), which will focus on gender equality; Freedom and Freedoms in a global context (1-4 September) including Bob and Roberta Smith’s summer takeover of Hull School of Art and Design as a ‘Centre for Freedom of Expression’; and Substance (8-10 December), which will focus on the significance of the North framed within a cultural context.

EVENTS PROGRAMME – TICKETS ON SALE FROM TODAY AT WWW.HULL2017.CO.UK
Friday 2 June 2017
Neu! Reekie! presents Where Are We Now? #1
City Hall, Queen Victoria Square, Hull, HU1 3RQ
Doors 6pm
Ticket Price: £20/£17.50 concession
Saturday 3 June 2017
Neu! Reekie! presents Where Are We Now? #2
The Welly Club, 105-107 Beverley Road, Hull, HU3 1TS
Doors 6pm
Ticket Price: £15/£12 conc