AS Manchester’s perennial, premiere festival of new media/digital arts, Futuresonic is something of a supernova.

For the bright burn of beginnings in this area of art activity faded during the 1990s and its afterglow is now barely visible: who cares about the latest technology - let alone what an artist can do with it - when much of the world still doesn’t have water, sanitation, electricity, etc?

But this year, the visual arts strand of Futuresonic has rekindled a flame of interest, thanks to curator Michael Connor. Why the confidence? Well firstly it’s his pedigree.

“I moved to London nine days ago actually,” Connor laughs.

“Most recently I was at FACT [Foundation for Art & Creative Technology], Liverpool. I was a curator. I did a lot of exhibitions, projects, screenings and seminars which mostly had to do with technology but also related to broader art themes.”

And now? “I’ve moved down to London to take up the post of Head of Exhibitions at BFI [British Film Institute] on the South Bank.”

Given that Connor’s influenced Liverpool, and is set to make a splash in London, what’s he programmed for Manchester?

“I put the programme together with a collaborator, Jackie Passmore, who’s based in Liverpool. It’s called ‘Low Grade’ - art, a talks program, a workshop and music. Basically it’s a single theme: artists working with ‘outmoded’ technologies.”

And it’s this theme that has rekindled so much interest, for Connor has established his own vision for Futuresonic rather than jumping on the, superfast and substance-lite, bandwagon of ‘the latest innovations in new technology’.

TO read the rest of this feature buy this week's City Life (issue 594). Out now priced £1.50.

Fuzzy Logic, part of Futuresonic, is on at the Bridgewater Hall on Saturday and Sunday, July 23 and 24. (11am - 11pm on sat, 12noon - 11pm on sun). Call 0161 907 9000 for more information.