MIF25

Shilpa Gupta: You are the place

Free to attend – no booking required
A close-up of a microphone hanging from above, with several similar microphones blurred in the background. The warm lighting and soft focus create an atmospheric feel.
Date
4 - 20 Jul 2025
Venue
RISE Inavate Centre, Smith St, Rochdale OL16 1YH
Tickets

11am – 8pm

Tuesday – Sunday throughout MIF25

Free to attend – no booking required

Accessibility features available for this event: Audio Description Wheelchair Access

Artist Shilpa Gupta connects and collects stories with different communities to create a thought-provoking sound installation in Rochdale

You are the place is a new sound installation by artist Shilpa Gupta on display in Rochdale – a hub for people arriving and moving through the area. Over the past year, the artist has worked with local communities, including recent immigrants and asylum seekers, to create the installation.

Through workshops supported by local groups, participants were invited to respond to questions like: Is there something you think about very often? What is it? Have you left it behind somewhere? Where? Do you miss it?

Capturing their thoughts through drawings and writing, their responses were shared with local songwriters who composed verses in some of the many languages spoken in Rochdale – Ukrainian, English, Urdu, Portuguese, Cantonese, Punjabi, Polish and Arabic. These verses were then brought to life by a constellation of voices from within the communities and beyond.

The different voices and languages are woven into the sound installation like pieces of memory, crossing invisible borders and speaking of longing and movement.

You are the place reflects how each individual is made up of many experiences and memories. As we move through life and the world, we carry these fragments and places within our bodies.

The work opens up a space where visitors are encouraged to feel rather than seek explanation. It invites us into a liminal space where the known and unknown live side by side, and where identity and place are constantly shifting.

Drifting across languages, places and our inner landscapes, You are the place invites us to pause, listen and consider new ways of imagining ourselves and each other.

Manchester International Festival 2025

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Credits

Creative team

Lead Artist Shilpa Gupta

Installation Designer & Technical Director Andrew Roberts

Vocal Consultant and Rehearsal Director Beth Allen 

Sound Recordist and Editor Tariq Emam

Songwriters

Arabic Mina Salama

Cantonese Natalie Isaacson-Walsh and Agnes Walsh

English Chris Davies

Polish Agnieszka Kwiecien and Richard Moss

Portuguese Cecilia Keuffer 

Punjabi Rubaya Peerzada 

Ukrainian Oleksandra Derevianko

Urdu Sarah Yaseen

Commissioning

Commissioned and produced by Factory International. In partnership with Rochdale Development Agency.

The presentation at MIF25 is supported by Rochdale Borough Council, Rochdale Business Improvement District and RISE Inavate Centre.

Image: Courtesy of artist

Access information

The full address of RISE Inavate Centre is RISE Inavate Centre, Smith St, Rochdale OL16 1YH and the what3words are rivers.bats.cloud.

The venue can be approached from Milton Street or John Street, turning on to Smith Street. The venue can also be approached from the pedestrianised part of Smith Street.

There are two accessible toilets at this venue. You do not need a key to use the accessible toilets.

There are additional banks of gendered toilets available.  

Assistance dogs are welcome at this venue. If you need to bring an assistance dog to this venue, please contact access@factoryinternational.org.

There is a step-free entrance to the venue via a long ramp on Smith Street. Inside the venue, there are no steps. The floor is a mixture of smooth concrete and carpeted floor.

There will be a transcript available for this event.

There will be audio description available for this event.

There will be a chill out space available at this event

We will be producing a What To Expect Guide for this event. It will be available from 5 June.

Travel information

Rochdale town centre tram stop is 0.1 miles from the venue. Rochdale Train Station is 0.7 miles from the venue.

Rochdale Bus Station is 0.2 miles from the venue. Take a look at TFGM’s bus information for further details: https://tfgm.com/ways-to-travel/bus

There is bike parking outside Rochdale Central Library, on Smith Street.

There is blue badge parking on Milton Street. There is general parking at the Smith Street Car Park, just off Milton Street.

RISE Inavate Centre is approximately 15 miles by car from Aviva Studios. Tram services operate between Deansgate-Castlefield and Rochdale Town Centre.

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