Premiere: 11 November 2026 @ Aviva Studios, home of Factory International, Manchester, UK.

Exhibition Dates:
11 November – 6 December 2026
19 January – 26 March 2027

Funny Weather by Theo Triantafyllidis is a screen-based simulation staging humorous sky-based interventions. The inaugural commission from Behind the Screen, the work makes its World Premiere presentation at the landmark cultural venue Aviva Studios, home of Factory International in Manchester from 11 November, with complimentary programming to be announced. 

Funny Weather is about navigating a new era of climate uncertainty in which the weather becomes a main character in our lives. It is a weather forecast for a world changing faster than it can be predicted.

The new digital work is a screen based live simulation that plays with the format of a weather forecast. Visuals slowly transition from quiet cloud formations into epic sunsets, while migrating flocks transform into colourful kites. Combining real-time atmospheric data with recent bird sightings and a bespoke locally hosted AI Oracle, Funny Weather creates a constantly evolving picture of the skies above us.

Long before satellites, the sky was our first forecast. Birds were read for omens, clouds for portents, and wind for what was to come. Today, simulations and datasets, like those used in Funny Weather, are relied upon to predict future patterns, however with our changing climate predictive models built from existing knowledge and patterns can be limiting. Funny Weather explores this tension through a living, unpredictable, and at times darkly comical weather forecast.

Following its run in Manchester, Funny Weather will present at Onassis ONX (Athens and New York), M+ (Hong Kong) and Australian Centre for Moving Image (Melbourne), with each contributing their own site-specific data sets to further drive Funny Weather’s playful narrative.  

Theo Triantafyllidis creates darkly playful worlds across a range of mediums from games and live simulations to performances and installations. He uses the logic of play to tackle complex ideas including ecological collapse, social entanglement and networked desire. Triantafyllidis has exhibited in museums and at festivals around the world including the Whitney Museum (New York), Centre Pompidou (Metz) and Buk-SEMA (Seoul). He will debut a new artwork Feral Metaverse (Spider), at Frieze London 2026 after winning this year’s Frieze London Artist Award.

LISTINGS INFORMATION

Funny Weather
By Theo Triantafyllidis 
Presented by Factory International in collaboration with Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Onassis ONX and M+

Media Wall at Aviva Studios, home of Factory International, Manchester
11 November – 6 December 2026
19 January – 26 March 2027
Complimentary Programme to follow January 2027

Australian Centre for Moving Image, Melbourne
From 8 May 2027

Onassis ONX, New York
Autumn 2027

M+, Hong Kong
Autumn 2027

More Info