UNTHINKABLE returns to Hull with film, art & experimental sound

UNTHINKABLE started life as a film festival in 2023, but four years in it’s become something considerably harder to put in a box. Film is still there, alongside contemporary art, experimental sound and performance, but so are Hull Fair, a working butcher’s shop and the back of a Transit van. Mary Anne Hobbs, Richie Culver, Industrial Coast, Conor Thomas, Cosey Fanni Tutti and I. JORDAN all feature across the programme, alongside artists from Hull and the wider region.

The sound side of things runs deep into Hull’s industrial history. Conor Thomas of The Death of Rave heads to the waltzers at Hull Fair, following previous appearances from Rainy Miller, Richie Culver and I. JORDAN. Mary Anne Hobbs returns for mentoring sessions with local artists, while Industrial Coast continues its relationship with the festival. It’s less about importing a ready-made music programme into the city than plugging into something that was already there.

Then things get stranger. THAW 001, curated by Pierre Mateos, puts a Richie Culver work inside a working butcher’s shop. TRANSIT 001, curated by Portuguese avant-garde label PERF, takes a Transit van and turns it into a venue, with Medlock and Quiet Husband performing from inside. HARI, meanwhile, a former industrial tyre factory now given over to studios and exhibition space, becomes another base for the festival.

That feels like the point of UNTHINKABLE. Five years after the City of Culture circus moved on, the festival isn’t trying to recreate it. It’s finding culture in the places that were already there, from the fairground and factory to the shop and street, and seeing what happens when you put something unexpected in the middle of them.

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