Art with Cantona and a herd of puppets lined up for city's cultural festival

A herd of puppet animals raising awareness about the climate crisis and artworks inspired by footballers including Eric Cantona are part of the 10th Manchester international festival (MIF), whose organisers want visitors to have "a moment to reflect".

- Lanre Bakare

The former Manchester United footballer Juan Mata, the curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and the writer and film-maker Josh Willdigg have put together a celebration of the beautiful game with artists and footballers collaborating to create art.

The England Lionesses midfielder Ella Toone, the former Netherlands and Juventus enforcer Edgar Davids, and the Manchester United great Cantona are among the footballers taking part in Football City, Art United, which will be held at Aviva Studios and include sculpture, sound installations and animation.

The project was inspired by a conversation between MIF's artistic director, John McGrath, the poet Lemn Sissay, Obrist and Mata, who saw MIF's Poets Slash Artist show, where artists and poets collaborated, and asked if something similar could be done with footballers. Mata also featured in the 2023 festival, working with Obrist and Tino Sehgal.