Festival of new cinema, digital culture and art
Liverpool (UK)

We want to believe!

Our default position is to suspend disbelief. The Millennium bug, an apparition of Christ in a piece of toast, the reliability of news coverage or the possibility of life after death: whether it is laziness, a deep seated need or because it is part of our DNA, humans want to believe in something.

When we look at the works presented at Abandon Normal Devices Festival in 2011, we can see that in very real terms artists make it their job to question our beliefs. These questions have never been more relevant and as recent world events have clearly illustrated, belief systems seem to be in total collapse.

With that, new opportunities arise. The changing relationship between citizen and state is accelerating far faster than can be reported by the traditional media locally and internationally. In the UK alone over the past six months (in 2011) we have witnessed the collapse of one of our bestselling newspapers, a Premier League footballer attempt to gag Twitter and the gadget of choice for international business become a tool for juvenile looters. Perhaps it is this, the inherent strangeness of life, that readies us to believe even the tallest of stories.

Our ambition for AND Festival 2011 was to bring you a thought provoking festival made up of extraordinary experiences, with projects starting life in the playing fields and pubs of Egremont and ending up in shop fronts in Liverpool.

Reflecting on the rich heritage and mythology of the North West we bought you a programme as rich in philosophical questions as it is strange and entertaining.

Pigs Bladder Football, John O’Shea,  AND Festival 2011

Presenting Partners

FACT \\ Cornerhouse (now HOME) \\ folly \\ We Play

Funded By

Arts Council England \\ Wellcome Trust \\ Canada \\ Lancashire County Council \\ Liverpool City Centre \\ Vision Media \\ The National Lottery \\

Media Partners

Aesthetica \\ Little White Lies \\ Another Media

Festival Supporters

ADA \\ The Black-E \\ The Bluecoat \\ Bold Street \\ Picture House at FACT \\ Re-Dock \\ Forestry Commission \\ Sound Network \\ In Certain Places \\ Harris Museum and Art Gallery \\ Scraper Wiki \\ DaDa \\ Florence Mine \\ The Arts Catalyst \\ furtherfield \\ Lets Go Global \\ Media Arts Network \\ Creative Guild 2012 \\ Rope Walks \\  British Waterways \\ Preston Markets \\ Leaf on Bold Street \\ CUC \\ The Kazimier \\ Knowsley Safari Park \\ Mercy \\ They Eat Culture \\ University of Sunderland \\ Crumb \\