A giant yellow pumpkin, pink tentacles reaching to the ceiling and a towering pigtailed girl. The scale of Yayoi Kusama’s spotted inflatables in You, Me and the Balloons is impressive, as is the size of the 21 metre-high cavernous main exhibition space housing them at Manchester’s Aviva Studios. The north finally has its version of the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall.
The new cultural institution will officially open in October once the rest of the building is complete, but is having a soft launch this summer as it hosts the Manchester international festival. The building will host visual art shows, theatre, music and dance performances and offer training to support young people into the creative industries. Despite only being accessible to the public for a month, it has already encountered some contention.
