Futuresonic, the Urban Festival of Art, Music and Ideas, marks its 12th year by tackling the theme ‘Social Futures: Social Networking Unplugged’.

Spread across the May Bank Holiday weekend, the festival will transform Manchester into a space for experimentation and ground-breaking events.

At the heart of the festival is this year’s Futuresonic Conference, titled ‘The Social Technologies Summit’, featuring some of the leading lights that are busy developing the next generation of social software. There will also be rare UK appearances from Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Movement, and music and media futurist Gerd Leonhard.

Futuresonic Music returns with a line-up of musical mavericks past, present and future. Headlining is legendary hip-hip producer RZA supported by new underground talent Rustie and Flying Lotus.

Continuing with ‘The Social’ theme, Oxford Road will house the Futuresonic Village, where festival-goers will find open-air stages and unique projects; such as a sound-system to rival any major club, housed in a family caravan!

W: www.futuresonic.com