What started over a decade in the past as an instinctive cultural change is about to tackle a much bigger stage. On 25 September, MCRBCN – a one-day design exhibition curated by Manchester-based designer Dave Sedgwick – will open within the coronary heart of Barcelona as a part of the town’s much-loved La Mercè Pageant.
The mission is a inventive celebration of the rising relationship between Manchester and Barcelona, bringing collectively 40 rising artists, illustrators, designers and typographers from each cities for a hanging set up of printed artworks.
For Dave, this second has been years within the making. “Manchester is house, it is the place I dwell and work, however I’ve felt drawn to Barcelona for years,” he says. “There’s one thing concerning the place I discover creatively inspiring. It is filled with vitality and expression, and I’ve at all times felt it shares rather a lot in spirit with Manchester.”
The connection started in 2013 when he first launched BCNMCR – a grassroots exhibition mission that launched Barcelona-based creatives to audiences in Manchester by way of a collection of exhibitions, talks and occasions. It returned in 2014, and once more in 2023 for its tenth anniversary, evolving from a easy showcase into a long-lasting cultural dialogue. A lot of these early guests at the moment are inventive administrators and studio leads, with some even crediting the expertise as their first actual publicity to the facility of design.
This yr, the connection will get formal recognition. Manchester has been named the official companion metropolis of La Mercè 2025/26 – the primary time any UK metropolis has obtained the honour. The broader competition runs from 23–28 September, with MCRBCN forming a key a part of Manchester’s inventive presence.
“I used to be approached by Advertising Manchester, who knew about my previous initiatives,” Dave explains. “They requested if I would curate one thing to mark the partnership. It felt like the suitable second to return to Barcelona – this time to take Manchester’s creativity there and present what we’re able to.”
Visible love letters
The centrepiece of MCRBCN is a set of 20 large-format printed cubes, every co-created by a pair of rising creatives – one from Manchester, one from Barcelona. In complete, 40 practitioners are represented, with every contributing two faces of a shared dice. The ultimate outcomes act as visible love letters to every metropolis which can be private, expressive, and joyfully eclectic.
“From the beginning, I knew I did not need this to be only a one-day occasion,” says Dave. “I wished the inventive conversations to start out lengthy earlier than anybody arrived in Barcelona.”
The distant collaboration course of was completely natural. A lot of the pairs obtained to know one another by way of social media or e-mail earlier than diving into inventive calls and idea sharing.
“A lot of them have already constructed friendships,” Dave provides. “These are the sorts of connections that may final lengthy after the present’s taken down.”
The remaining two faces of every dice carry the mission’s branding, however in any other case, there have been no strict guidelines or visible constraints. The outcomes span a variety of kinds and disciplines, reflecting the number of voices rising from each cities at this time.
Studio banners and veteran voices
Alongside the 20 cubes, MCRBCN additionally includes a collection of large-scale hanging banners created by 12 established Manchester-based designers and studios. These 2.5 metre-high items carry an added layer of depth to the present, providing a broader view of Manchester’s inventive legacy.
“It felt vital to point out the complete image,” Dave explains. “Rising expertise is the long run, however I additionally wished to spotlight the place that journey can lead.”
The road-up contains names like Craig Oldham, Solely Studio, and Edit, alongside Central Station – the legendary design collective identified for his or her Manufacturing unit Information-era visuals, now working underneath the identify Elegant Limbo.
“Many individuals know their work, even when they do not recognise the identify,” says Dave. “They’re nonetheless producing daring, good work many years on.”
The exhibition goals for a mixture of kinds, disciplines and voices, from solo artists to bigger practices – a sort of inventive cross-section of what Manchester has to supply at this time.
Manchester meets Barcelona
Held at OpenBCN Studios, MCRBCN opens to the general public from 1pm to 4pm on 25 September, freed from cost. A non-public night occasion will comply with, together with talks from Dave and Àlex Gobern Gorris, the present president of Barcelona’s prestigious design affiliation, ADG FAD.
Whereas MCRBCN is only one a part of a much wider programme going down throughout La Mercè, it performs a singular position in connecting the dots between the 2 cities’ design cultures. Each cities share an industrial heritage rooted in labour, craft and working-class creativity, however they’ve additionally emerged as main gamers in up to date visible tradition.
“With MCRBCN, I wished to hold on that legacy and put Manchester ahead as a spot of actual inventive substance,” Dave explains. “If guests from Barcelona see the present and are available away interested by Manchester – whether or not to go to, to work, or to collaborate – then we have executed one thing proper.”
It is also the start of an extended relationship. Manchester’s partnership with La Mercè continues into 2026, and Dave hopes the inventive hyperlinks solid by way of this exhibition proceed to evolve past the competition itself.
Constructing inventive futures
Trying forward, the actual worth of MCRBCN could lie in its skill to foster ongoing collaboration between new generations of creatives. “For me, it at all times comes again to folks,” says Dave. “Particularly now, when all the pieces’s dashing up and changing into extra digital, human connection feels extra vital than ever.”
It is a sentiment that defines the entire mission. What began as a one-person initiative to bridge two cities has develop into a cultural community constructed on shared values, mutual curiosity and long-term inventive friendships.
“I by no means got down to construct a legacy again in 2013,” Dave displays, “however possibly what we have created will assist this subsequent era of creatives to maintain that relationship going.”
