About Us

Yes Men for Abandon Normal Devices at AND Festival

A catalyst for new ideas and artforms

We’re a radical arts organisation situated in the North of England, working globally.

We curate experiences, commission and incubate new art, cinema and sound, often through collaborations with emerging technology and science.

Nomadic yet rooted in community, we:

create space to imagine
challenge normative perspectives
disrupt traditional artforms

Our programmes

We commission and showcase extraordinary art where it’s not usually experienced: from caves and carparks to forests and ferries, and from multiplayer platforms and mines, to observatories and online portals.

Our programmes are always interactive, whether online or in person.

They are responsive to time, place and people, featuring public realm interventions, live research, exhibitions, performances, films, online projects and live labs.

We create experiences that are unprecedented, unexpected, unpredictable, absurd, wild and joyful.

AND Festival

Our festival is a celebration of community, place and our changing world.

Exploring a new site for each edition, we challenge ourselves, artists and audiences to look at the world from a new perspective.

We care about our interactions with people, and our impact in the world.

Centering artists and audiences in critical conversations about our shifting society enables the imagining and creation of new, alternate infrastructures and systems for a more equitable and sustainable future.

We lead research into environmentally sustainable digital production.

Artistic Commissions

Since 2009 we have commissioned and supported hundreds of artists to push the boundaries of their creative practice, by making space for provocation, risk-taking, and experimentation that enable new artforms to emerge.

Working with artists, technologists, researchers and creatives such as Eva and Franco Mattes, Julian Oliver, Gillian Wearing, Rafael Lozano Hemmer, Anita Fontaine, Kali Malone,Brody Condon, Molleindustria, Ubermorgan, HeHe, Matthew Plummer-Fernandez, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, The Yes Men, Oneohtrix Point Never, Daito Manabe, Marshmallow Laser Feast, Liam Young, Nora Al-Badri, Beatrice Dillon, Daan Roosegaarde.

Our works have toured internationally to countries including Germany, China, Indonesia, USA, Italy and Australia, as well as across the UK. Explore our archive, catch up with our latest news or listen to our podcast.