'Funny and bizarre' food exhibition to open in city

Audiences are guided through the exhibition by cartoon food mascots

A "funny" and "bizarre" blockbuster summer exhibition has opened in a city's stunning arts venue about the public's desire for food and how it is marketed.

Entitled Sweet Dreams, the show will take place in Aviva Studies, a vast £240m warehouse space in Manchester city centre which opened in 2023.

The show, which includes cartoon characters, lasers, animated films and audio, aims to explore how we desire food and how we're sold the things we eat.

Organisers have described the new venue as "a jewel in the crown for the north in arts and culture".

Matthew Bessudo is the illustrator who created the Chicky Ricky cartoon character

During the exhibition, audiences are guided through a series of rooms and meet Chicky Ricky, a cartoon mascot for the Real Good Chicken Company, who has to navigate a new marketing strategy as times and tastes change.

Illustrator Matthew Bessudo, who created Chicky Ricky, said: "I started with the vision of a traditional Burger King or McDonalds mascot.

"He was invented in an a certain era and he has to adapt to the world of now. What's interesting is that he's simple minded and he doesn't understand the scale of what's happening to him - until its too late."

One of the rooms includes an animation of a food production factory

The exhibition is inspired by film, theatre, video games and animation.

Robin McNicholas, director of Marshmallow Laser Feast, which helped to create Sweet Dreams, said: "What we wanted to do is hold a big cartoon mirror up on the world and say wow - our relationship to food has become really complex.

"It's funny, it's tragic, it's bizarre and it also relates to our relationship with the natural world.

"We've presented our work on large screens in different spaces around the world - but at the Aviva Studios we've been able to lean into the scale of it in a way that audiences have really seen. It's a jewel in the crown for the north in arts and culture."

Robin McNicholas called the arts venue a "jewel in the crown" of northern culture

Aviva Studios is the UK's biggest arts venue since Tate Modern opened in London in 2000 and cost £240m.

Operators Factory International aim to have a blockbuster summer art exhibition each year.

In 2023, the building launched with an exhibition of giant inflatables by the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama called You, Me and the Balloons, attracting 127,000 visitors.

Audiences are guided through the exhibition by the cartoon character Chicky Ricky

Gaby Jenks, the digital director at Factory International, said: "Last year's show was a real hit with families who were wowed by the scale of the exhibition.

"Our aim every summer is to have a show which brings in new audiences and gets them excited about where art is.

"Sweet Dreams is a compelling story which should get new audiences really excited about animation in an exhibition format."

Gaby Jenks is the digital director at Factory International

Sweet Dreams is running at Manchester's Aviva Studios until 1 September.