Ai Weiwei: Button Up! remains the coolest thing to do in Manchester this summer, running at Aviva Studios until 6 September 2026. Open 10am to 5pm Tuesday to Sunday, and until 8pm on Thursdays, it stands as Ai Weiwei’s largest exhibition staged in the North of England to date.
Eight-Nation Alliance Flags, made entirely from buttons, has its world premiere alongside Law of the Journey, a 47-metre inflatable migrant boat carrying hundreds of human figures. La Commedia Umana, a Murano glass chandelier weighing nearly three tonnes, and Wang Family Ancestral Hall, a Ming dynasty temple reassembled from 1,500 wooden pieces, also feature.
