Issue #7 - September 2018 News, Reviews & What’s On. Your monthly update on visual art in the Liverpool City Region
Cover image: Haegue Yang, The Intermediate – Long Neck Woman Upside Down, 2016. On display at Tate Liverpool as part of Liverpool Biennial 2018: Beautiful world, where are you? from 14 July until 28 October 2018. Photo: Roger Sinek © Tate Liverpool
Fri 21 Sept – Sun 7 Oct Toxteth Reservoir, L8 Tickets: £12–£10 (concessions and family tickets available) fact.co.uk/aurora ticketquarter.co.uk
Art in Liverpool magazine is a monthly newspaper promoting visual art across the Liverpool City Region.
Art in Liverpool, issue #7, September 2018
Published by Art in Liverpool C.I.C. and written by contributions from our partners, supporters and most importantly, volunteer writers, who add a unique voice to arts writing in the UK, thinking differently about what actually matters to people visiting galleries. With issue #1 published in March 2018 we’ve got a lot of growing to do, and if you want to be part of that, get in touch: info@artinliverpool.com Equally, we’re here to support galleries and creative spaces, so make sure to keep us up to date about your events at least two weeks in advance of each issue. If you’d like even more of a presence in the magazine we have advertising available every month, and take bookings well in advance. For details on pricing and deadlines contact Patrick: patrick@artinliverpool.com
issue #7, September 2018 Editor: Patrick Kirk-Smith Photography: Tony Knox Contributors: Ian Fallace, Joanie Magill, Bernadette McBride Advertising, sponsorship, distribution, stocking & event enquiries should be sent to info@artinliverpool.com Art in Liverpool C.I.C. Company No. 10871320
Jay Wheeler, 2018. Rimrose Valley. photo c. Tony Knox
You know at the Docks, where people leave their padlocks hanging from chains overlooking the Mersey? Behind Tate, on those lovely benches? Well there anyway. I found myself sat there with nothing to do other than sit for a while, for the first time in a long time.
so much warmth on a fairly miserable rainy day. Delicate locks left by couples and siblings, parents and their children, interspersed with scouse mischief in the form of massive bike locks wedged inbetween – “my love is bigger than your love”.
We’re reaching the mid-point of the Independents Biennial, Art in Liverpool’s new project, relaunching one of Liverpool’s best loved festivals and extending it to the entirety of Merseyside. The last 41 days have been completely manic at our offices, and in our galleries, so I hid away for an hour just watching the water.
So off I set to the first stop; Tate Liverpool. There’s a reason this place has spent 30 years as the most visited UK art gallery outside London. It fits so well in the docks as part of Liverpool, and set itself up as a teacher for the entire city when it moved here. It still feels that way. I remember these tourist days when I was a kid, setting off with cousins, aunties, uncles to just show them the sites. It’s probably why I enjoy being in galleries so much today. They feel like an escape as much as an education.
I struggle with concentration, for those who know me it’s very apparent. My mind skips from one idea to the next, racing between plans at a rate I sometimes lose track of. So over the last few months, having plans thrown at me, and making it my goal to make them happen (for the most part) has meant that finding space to sit like this has been hard to achieve. In the middle of what was fast becoming the most stressful week of the Independents Biennial, and the most chaotic run up to an issue of this magazine we’ve had, it felt important to make time for calm. I call these my tourist days, rediscovering places I’d forgotten and popping in and out of galleries with my Art in Liverpool hat well and truly off. Just here, sitting in front of the railings separating me from the river, there is
Anyway, from Liverpool Biennial at Tate, to Liverpool Biennial at Open Eye. I’ve not raved about a film like this for a very long time. Madhia Aijaz’s film at Open Eye summed up so much of the Biennial; its title; its artists; its team; its partners. I’ll not go on, because there’s a full review later in this issue about this film, but in short it made me feel like a global citizen, connected and responsible. From Open Eye, bearing in mind this is a tourist day, I got myself some chips. They weren’t great, and the van forgot my sauce so I was left walking through the salty air of the docks with a dry punnet of chips. But it got better, and I decided to go further afield, and try out somewhere new, so I hopped on
a train at Moorfields at got off at Waterloo. A short and slightly disorientating walk later I spent the rest of the afternoon on Rimrose Valley Country Park. I’ve never been before and there’s a strong and sad chance I’ll never go again. For this year’s Independents Biennial, the park is being occupied by artists reacting to the news that a major bypass is planned to take heavy goods vehicles direct to the North Docks. The bypass plans to cut right through the middle of the valley, one of Sefton’s largest green spaces, left mostly untouched by landscapers until now. So the end of my tourist day ended a in a beautiful place, with an unwelcome bitter taste. I would urge anybody to visit Rimrose Valley while the artists are in residence, but to keep it safe for longer, for now, sign their petition to stop this road: https:// www.change.org/p/secretary-of-statefor-transport-stop-the-dual-carriagewaythrough-rimrose-valley
Water deserves more credit. Aurora shows us why. “We aim to open up a dialogue about the value of water on a global and local level, not in a way that is accusatory and negative but in a way that builds understanding and connection. As urgency grows globally, as the conversation is about excess in Kerala, rapidly sinking cities in Indonesia and simultaneously about scarcity in the Middle East, we must open up the rhetoric as something that an individual can grasp and own. Without global perspective our local relationship with water becomes non existent, complacency settles in and we bury our heads in the sand when it comes to our understanding of water as a resource. We believe an artwork or an experience can move audiences in ways that can help build relationships with water that extends beyond utility.� - Catherine Baxendale, Creative Producer for Invisible Flock
Last year, Cape Town ran out of water. It made international headlines and stayed at the top of the news for weeks. The world became more aware of water, and the impact our unashamedly casual respect for it has had. This year, swathes of Lancashire and Greater Manchester burned for weeks in a heat wave that left peat bogs incredibly vulnerable, while people disregarded the reality of the heat and left embers on untended land. The fire took weeks to calm down, with the help of limited water supplies while the rest of the North West awaited hose pipe bans. Water as a commodity is a global issue that impacts us locally in a very big way, and this September FACT and interactive art experts Invisible Flock will enter in to Toxteth Reservoir to tell this global story in a place which, for 152 years, provided fresh clean water to Liverpool’s growing population. In1997 the reservoir was decommissioned, but left behind, standing now as a reminder of the cavernous capacity we have to consume. Invisible Flock are working with international artists from Indonesia, India and Japan to tell a multi-faceted global story, built from personal narratives on water. Aurora is a new collaborative work of art that promises complete immersion in the reality of water.
space and time was turned on its head. It became finite, more relevant to the festival (2016’s Biennial theme was Time Travel) and less of a passive concept. The reservoir made that work shine, because it defined its physicality. For Aurora, the hope is that the space, the work, the artists and the history work together to produce something very intentional and high impact. But we’ll see. I’m writing about the potential of something rather than the thing itself, but for now all I know is that water scares me, and fills me with joy at the same time, and that when Aurora starts I’ll be the first through the door to experience water in a whole new way. In September, for three weeks, the 2 million gallon capacity reservoir will host water, ice, lights and sounds because water is worth thinking about. The experience starts on the 19th September, until 7th October and is already provoking reactions. I picked up the first of their publications at FACT, which introduces their ideals, but leaves me sitting in anticipation for any specifics. It’s the first of these publications which explain and inform Aurora, and sets the tone, but its a tone I doubt will be fully formed until 7th October when the exhibition ends, and everybody has had their own chance to react.
It’s the second of its kind at the unlikely venue since 2016, following a gigantic laser show from Liverpool Biennial 2016. The portal, as I ended up calling it, used the functional architecture of the reservoir to its advantage, turning an upright artwork on its side. It’s not often a venue is worth changing how you create work, and rarer still that its worth changing existing work to suit. But in 2016 that’s what happened, a laser portal to transport viewers through All image credits: installation, Invisible Flock photography, Brian Roberts
Aurora at Toxteth Reservoir, 21 September - 7 October 2018 High Park Street Toxteth Liverpool L8 8LU
Haegue Yang’s surreal escape at Tate Liverpool
Visitors with Haegue Yang’s ongoing series The Intermediates at Tate Liverpool, Liverpool Biennial 2018. Photo: Mark McNulty
On my way in to Tate Exchange to visit our writers-in-residence this month I stumbled across a jungle. Concrete, green, all of it. It was unexpected. I missed the usual press previews for Liverpool Biennial this year, so I keep getting this warm fuzzy feeling that you only get when you stumble across things. And Haegue Yang’s installation on the ground floor of Tate Liverpool is exactly that. It’s a joy to stand within. Regardless of the artistic integrity, contemporary thought, folk tradition etc. that has gone into it, it’s an inspiring place to be. While I was there, three visitors were sat with notepads, not drawing, but writing. One was writing a story about something she had imagined in the space, forest creatures mingling with city dwellers, finding love, enjoying life and blending cultures. The Intermediates form the base of the exhibition, a sculpture series based on folk craft traditions & modern industrial methods. They are built from artificial straw, and based on traditional wicker sculpture, partly inspired by paganism, so would probably do a fair job of inspiring stories without the rest of the installation. But the beds of artificial plants, imported sand, and imagined floor-to-ceiling landscapes surround these outlandish creations build a voice for the occupants of Tate Liverpool’s Wolfson Gallery.
Folk as a strand of this installation that speaks the loudest, because of its vagueness – what traditions are being observed is unclear. It helps. The disparity between the appearance of urban folk, and forest crafts is intriguing, and part of the exploration you find yourself undertaking here. Maypoles lead up to the ceilings around the sturdy industrial pillars of the docks, twisted into a reverse product of a morris dance gone slightly wrong, speak of England, perhaps a slight dig at the questionable traditions of the dance which pulls you up and away from the green and diverse walls.
and their traditions in the modern day; Annie Pootoogook’s are autobiographical, very violent, very prying drawings of Inuit communities; and Joyce Wieland draws on her own anxiety about Canada as an unfortunate neighbour to Trump’s America. The vast separation to outward looking work downstairs in Haegue Yang’s installation, from upstairs in the collective exhibition is fascinating.
-Liverpool Biennial stays at Tate Liverpool until 28th October Words, Patrick Kirk-Smith
The space feels fast, but not fluid. And has an energy like nothing else in the Biennial. Haegue Yang is an artist who is interested very much in the passage of time on a grand scale. Born in South Korea, she now works between Berlin and Seoul, but her personal history doesn’t seem reflected here. This is different to many other responses to this year’s Biennial theme in that her ‘Beautiful World’ is observant rather than reflective. Upstairs at Tate there are more Liverpool Biennial installations to explore, but they have a different sense of identity entirely. Dale Harding takes inspiration from his own genealogy for his world, inspired by rock art sites in Queensland; Duane Linklater focusses on Canada’s indigenous communities, their fur trade, their beliefs
Annie Pootoogook, Man Abusing His Partner, 2002
Conversations with Independents Biennial artists: Stephanie Carr Interview by Joanie Magill, Independents Biennial Writer-in-Residence Stephanie Carr’s exhibition, on the top floor of George Henry Lees former department store on Houghton Street, is a series of canvases of varying sizes. Repetitive patterns of printed circles are overlaid on a grid like structure, at times in dense concentrations, at others, sparse and graphic-like. Stephanie grew up with a parent who suffered from depression and alcoholism from which he ultimately died. Her work is concerned with repetition and the juxtaposition of order and disorder associated with alcoholism. She uses glasses, alcohol and other evocative materials in her work. Repetition is a key element of her work. It makes the work cathartic to produce and mirrors the compulsive addictive behaviours of an alcoholic. Stephanie graduated from Liverpool Hope University in July 2018. Named as one of the North West’s Top Art Graduates of 2018 by The Double Negative Magazine, she has won numerous awards including the Simon Ryder Purchase Prize, the Corke Gallery Exhibition Award and the Art in Liverpool Group Exhibition Award. Despite being a multi award winning artist and clear rising star, Stephanie is unassuming and unaffected in person. We talked about making work from personal experience, the transition from university to the professional art world and what comes next. How did the work in this exhibition come about? When I was 14 my mum passed away and my dad started drinking because of it. When I was nineteen, my dad died of alcoholism. That’s like kind of where it came from. Three years in uni, well 4 years because I had a year out as well because I had a daughter, those four years were spent making work about alcoholism. That’s where the repetition came in, like, just repeating the pattern – the act of pressing the glass down. That also mimics that picking the glass up and putting it down again. That was one of the ideas. I wanted it to be about order and disorder, addictions have got an order about them. It starts with the repetitive notion of you repeatedly drinking. Whether it has negative consequences or not, it ends in disorder. You can’t control it, it effects the rest of your life. It’s more a cathartic thing really. It’s like listening to music or a podcast or something. You just do it, you’re creating it and it takes your mind off it. Is it the process of making that drives your work? I don’t know what the end product is going to look like. I draw a grid and then I decide. I’ll use a glass of this size and
I’ll use this colour ink and I’m going to print it four times. I think what it might look like half way through and then I’ll just carry on. I usually just do it seeing how I feel. It’s probably some sort of subconscious thing. Its like being a teenager when you haven’t got much control over your life, its probably just me being controlling.
I don’t know. I always struggle with that. I think most people would consider it painting but obviously its not paint and I’m not using a brush to apply it. Its kind of like painting and printmaking. Someone else has said that they border on sculpture because the pattern wraps around the canvas and it becomes an object as well. How do you think your work will develop from this point?
How did you come to the decision to make art about this subject matter? I knew that I wanted to do art at university. I had already applied before my dad had passed away. I just didn’t know what to make art about in the first year. You do loads of little projects. You can do whatever you want as long as its around these loose rules that they give you. It was coming back to me to make work about that (alcoholism). It was hard, because when it was going on, you feel like you can’t really talk about it. You want to protect your parents. Once my dad wasn’t well, he was sick in hospital, I started to talk about it in college just before I was planning on going to uni. I think I started to feel more comfortable to talk about it. I felt guilty sometimes, whether I should be talking about that. I saw a Greyson Perry exhibition two or three years ago in Manchester like big tapestries and stuff. It’s not the same medium but its showing taboo things and things you don’t normally talk about like people on council estates and people drinking. I’ve had a few nice messages whilst my work has been in George Henry Lees. Someone I haven’t spoken to in years said that they went through the same with their parents. I think the last few paintings I’ve done, I have felt a bit detached, like I forgot what I was making the work about. I’ve made it look a certain way because I think it will look nice, but I’m trying to get back now to where I started. I’m making a painting in the dimensions of my dad, so it’s like I’m trying to bring something more personal into it. I don’t expect anyone who sees it to know straightaway what it is about. Do you think people need to know what its about in order to appreciate? No. I think if people just like the way it looks and think it’s interesting in some way. I wasn’t making the work in the first place for someone to feel anything anyway. It was just, I didn’t know what to do with myself and I was like sad or whatever and just started making the work. How would you describe your art?
I don’t know. I just like experimenting a lot and just making and trying to do mind maps and things. I’m playing with scale. I think most of them, apart from one in George Henry Lees, are all square so I’m trying to make stuff a bit bigger now that I’ve got a bit more room. I’ve just started one that’s six foot by two foot. How has the transition from being a student to a professional artist been for you? Its been a bit of a shock. Its been good to have an exhibition in George Henry Lees, because there are loads of things that you just don’t think about, like people asking about buying my work. I’ve had to come up with a price and I haven’t known how to do that, so I’ve been trying to get advice. I’ve put so much time into it and its such personal work. I might sell it and never see it again. I think I’ve been quite lucky because I’ve picked up quite a few awards and opportunities. I think my challenge is that I’ve got a daughter and a family now to look after so its more about that really. What does it mean to win awards at thestart of your career? I didn’t even know I would get it (North West’s Top Art Graduates of 2018). I just thought that someone else would have got it before me. I was just really happy. The last year at uni I was worried. I think a lot of people are. Worried thinking what am I doing with this art degree? What will I do afterwards? And then for someone to like your work and to get that kind of award. What comes next for you. Do you have a plan? Not really, I’m just seeing what opportunities come up. A couple of my friends and me are trying to make a little exhibition in Liverpool near Christmas. One of the awards that I won in uni, I’ve got an exhibition in spring in Corke Gallery. I was really worried about getting opportunities when I leave, but I’ve got those and it has made me feel a bit more relaxed.
Ryan Gander, From five minds of great vision, 2018. Installation view at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, Liverpool Biennial 2018: Beautiful world, where are you? Photo: Rob Battersby
Ryan Gander with Jamie Clark, Phoebe Edwards, Tianna Mehta and Maisie Williams. Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. Photo: Pete Carr
How Liverpool’s Metropolotian Cathedral grew new limbs. Ryan Gander’s Liverpool Biennial commission Time Moves Quickly, the message from Ryan Gander to Liverpool. On the platform outside the Metropolitan Cathedral, his work produced in collaboration with the pupils of Knotty Ash Primary School, stands a testament to the power of play.
Gander, and his collaborators, Jamie Clark, Phoebe Edwards, Tianna Mehta, Maisie Williams and Joshua Yates from Knotty Ash have built benches that sit solidly, if sparsely on the cathedral’s plateau. Working together using the Montessori method of education, the artist took the role of leader & peer rather than teacher.
Liverpool Biennial’s strongest card? Open Eye Gallery’s Madhia Aijaz One of Liverpool Biennial’s loudest, and aptly, quietest, statements about globalism and the impact of individualism on an increasingly international society, is from Madhia Aijaz. The Karachi born artist’s work reflects on individual ambition associated with the growth of the English language in Pakistan, and the shift away from Urdu. ‘Beautiful World Where Are You?’ a title I raved about when it was announced as this year’s Biennial theme, is nowhere better represented than here, at Open Eye Gallery, in a film which for me sets the spirit of the festival alight. I suppose it’s a very personal thing, answering that question; where is the world we long for; how do we find it; do we already live it? The question itself is more a statement or intent. Artists are always looking to answer it, but most of our worlds are very small; only really extending to those we love and those we loathe, and crossing paths with those we have no opinion of. Aijaz’s film has that introspection all over it, but one that has been affected by
My rough understanding of Montessori’s method is that it is one based in play, handson learning and a back seat approach from the teacher, who leads but doesn’t lend their voice to the development of ideas. While there is quite a strong Ryan Gander voice to this work, the benches are a fairly honest representation of the five children and their ability to make things that don’t necessarily make sense. I hope this installation stays put as it adds to the many many calm spaces around Liverpool, giving busy people places to sit and contemplate. More than anything they are a place to stop and observe the
cathedral from an angle which is often unseen. In my drive to find a calm place this month this is one of best spaces to recline. The installation is worth exploring beyond relaxation though, as the Bluecoat hosts an important part of the project. Slightly more Gander, and slightly more kids-of-Knottyash at the same time, than the Cathedral platform. The exhibition at Bluecoat gives insight into the project as a whole, the process, the films, the prints that the artist used as that Montessorian trigger point.
contemporary art. The installation looks more like a civic commission built not to offend, sat in grey on the grey platform. But this is why it is there; the work responds to its setting and bleeds out of the grey floor like an overspill of the cathedral itself. The greyness makes them usable, practical, things that fit. They feel like permanent objects which will watch as time moves around them. -until 28th October
One thing which is worth commenting on is that none of this looks like international
Words, Patrick Kirk-Smith
globalism, postcolonialism, and language; our language. The film, These Silences Are All the Words, focusses on librarians, who have used Urdu all their lives, continue to do so and uphold the traditions of the language within a changing literary landscape and catering for modern ambitious readers whose aim is to make a global reality for themselves. It’s a beautiful story told through personal reflections, but what gives it the context that sells it as this year’s stand out film at the Liverpool Biennial is it’s connections to national and international institutions. The story behind the work, and the commissioning breadcrumbs that have brought it to life lead from Karachi Bienniale to Liverpool Biennial via The Tetley, in Leeds. ROSL Arts, the commonwealth platform for career development for people working in the arts, and Hosptialfield in Arbroath, whose interdisciplinary residencies support artists from around the world working in Scotland, add to the list of reasons this film ticks so many global boxes. It feels global because it is global. Produced for Liverpool’s international festival of contemporary art, on a subject only truly understood by its participants, giving a context that informs everyone and anyone who stop and engages. -- until 28th October words, Patrick Kirk-Smith
Madiha Aijaz, These Silences Are All The Words (film still), 2017-2018. Image courtesy the artist
The Art Market
Liverpool’s art market has waned slightly in recent years, ousted by national sales galleries shipping out ever increasing celebrity artists for sale on the high street. It’s an odd place to buy art now, and but for a few stand out spaces like dot-art, Biennial editions, Editions Ltd. & Corke it’s hard to come across galleries selling brilliant work on a regular basis. The studio galleries do a brilliant job, and there are a small selection of fantastic independent spaces that host sales exhibitions, but I remember more. Perhaps I’m a pessimist, and I’ve just been spoiled for choice, but something is happening in the centres of Merseyside that is promising to reshape the vision of art, and how we buy it. Markets, the sort filled with grocers & CD stalls, are starting to find their creative side. They’re naturally creative places anyway, filled with retailers who don’t fit in standard units, and as a rule, spill over their boundaries into corridors, walkways and overhead space. But developments in markets around Merseyside in recent years has led to the whitening of these bustling hives, a move which the sellers are starting to push against. Since July, St John’s Market has been occupied by artists, testing out spaces in traditionally arts resistant places. Some for sale, some for display, some simply to test out new ideas, but what is apparent is that
it can work. The ongoing intervention in the market is a test for Independents Biennial, One thing that looks confident though, announced last week as opening to the world, is the new Arts Market in Knowsley. A collaboration between Kirkby Gallery and Kirkby Market which encourages artists and craftspeople to work in a public space, sell work, and find inspiration for the work they will hopefully come to sell in the market they occupy. They launched last week, and look set to keep rolling with a project that should have a serious long term impact not just on the artists in the space but on the character of Kirkby – a space which is fact becoming one of my favourites.
image courtesy, Knowsley Council
Out of the way and completely unique in character, the first time I visited I left feeling confused, the second, I spent the entire afternoon wandering the small town centre bumping into large public sculptures and intriguing exhibitions. Now there’s a market filled with traders & artists to enrich it further. One thing to do this year, if you’re looking for art outside a gallery setting is check out Kirkby Market and make yourself comfortable in St John’s, because you’ll not find anything quite like it anywhere else. -Words, Patrick Kirk-Smith
Mersey or Huangpu? Liverpool or Shanghai? Chapter Two of China Dream
Brigitte Jurack’s Scavengers, 2018, at St John’s Market. photo, Tony Knox
the magnificent Cunard Building the visitor is met by floor to ceiling iron fences to the left and the right built by artist Zhang Peili. There are three iron gates in each, creaking open and closing mechanically. As the visitor approaches their desire is ignored as the expected door opening sensors don’t exist. I watched to see people as affronted and disarmed as I was by freewill being taken from them by a machine (and by extension an individual or individuals controlling the machine to perform a not so random act). I metaphorically bowed to the will of the machine and entered. Nine life-sized individuals are projected on to the wall standing facing the viewer and railing at the world silently. This fury is shared by male and female, young and old, as nine more individuals take their place, similarly unheard. Ultra-urban dissatisfaction.
Shanghai has been twinned with Liverpool since 1999 and in the interim there has been a building of cultural links between the two cities. Apart from the huge disparity in population, Liverpool hovering around half a million and Shanghai’s whopping 24 million people, they both share magificent waterfronts. Liverpool’s stunning World Heritage buildings and The Bund, in Shanghai, front the rivers Mersey and Huangpu respectively, with Liverpool also having the
oldest Chinatown in Europe. Both cities have undergone change in recent years with development around Liverpool One and the rapid and ruthless development of Shanghai. The curator of this exhibition Jiang Jiehong, a native of Shanghai, said that the area where he spent his childhood has changed beyond all recognition. Malls and office buildings, skyscrapers and eight-lane highways have replaced older residential areas. Descending the steps into the basement of
Yang Fudong’s work had me returning three times to watch it again. An actor is dressed as a 1930s film star. In this silent, black and white video, heavily lit from her left, she is asked to pose as if she’s in a still photograph. Her shoulder, neck and most of her head are in shot, and for 3 minutes and 30 seconds she has to try to hold this position; which is no easy task. I found it mesmerising. Inadvertently, there was an odd soundtrack to this silent movie. A Lynchian, Eraserheadesque industrial soundscape of randomly creaking iron
gates and the repetition of a bicycle wheel crashing rhythmically on metal. Both from other installations. Sometimes chance adds a level of meaning to a piece with the mechanical sounds contrasting the human beauty. Amongst other work was one piece that sums up the whole thrust of this exhibition for me. A single screen video of river water rippling and glistening in the sunshine. Mersey or Huangpu? Liverpool or Shanghai? Or none of the above. It matters not. We are all in this life together and an exhibition like this helps to realise that art can break through the barriers of language and distance and give us a better understanding of each other. Ultimately this exhibition is no tourist guide persuading one to visit Shanghai, but a glimpse into the mind of ten artists who are concerned with exploring the intricacies of the human condition and, mostly without the need for verbal language, the visitor can relate with empathy and understanding. -Hurry down to the Cunard Building, Water St side basement as it finishes on 7th September. Words, Ian Fallace
song of the birds / festival gardens - after pablo casals1
“the birds in the sky in the sky in the space in the space sing peace by Bernadette peace peace” we sing when she opens us we McBride, are declared Independents Biennial open 1984 pablo Writer-in-Residence 2018 you played for her great great-grandmother 1899 yet everyday queens walk under our chinese pagoda “what’s up queen?” we sing to them out loud pablo us we’re instruments of peace other people’s peace we play for those who grant us entry existence and place but not for our own peace freedom at a price ribbon cut showpiece made a press photograph riots renaissance cuts lost habitat disrepair decay and disarray we leave migrate do not show hate a fenced-up gate “why should love stop at the border?” we tweet his words tweets into the atmosphere particles of ip freefalling like fine wet drizzle landing light no sogginess no lasting impression torn paper nor smudged ink just the wet on your face that you wash off with the day’s newsfeed showcase and it’s no longer about place place is an abstract concept through the kaleidoscope of a device twitchers twitching under bedcovers a lookout hut where you can see humanity from a safe space what is this space? you weren’t watching us our friend the gull stole your chips whilst you were heavily engrossed what did you notice the most? headlines weeks later “supersize gulls prefer chips” and we were still singing our heavenly dawn chorus for pablo for all those pablo sets free via violoncello we cry “peace peace peace” Song of the Birds is a Catalan folk song and a signature piece performed by the great Catalan cellist Pablo Casals in recognition of the plight of refugees around the world. In recognition of this Casals was offered the United Nations Peace Medal in 1971, two months before his 95th birthday. At that occasion, Casals made a speech in addition to performing Song of the Birds, his first public performance in almost forty years. This poem responds in form and sound to a mixed audio track featuring Casals Song of the Birds and a personally collected audio clip of birdsong collected at Festival Gardens, Liverpool. Audio link available here and via the QR code: https://tinyurl.com/y7e87d7b
1
Review: Sean Scully at Waker Art Gallery “The stripe can do anything in any direction and since it is so common, it corresponds to everything around us.” Sean Scully Looking around for evidence of this I can see the old Lewis’ building in front of me; four vertical columns flank the doors, horizontal decorative stripes from the first floor to the roof, the diagonal arm of ‘Dickie Lewis’ in Epstein’s Liverpool Resurgent, lattice windows, metal fences and road markings to cut a long list short. Stripes are most definitely lurking in our urban subconscious. Scully has painted stripes for more than forty years and this exhibition covers a period of four years from 1969-74 spanning his degree show in 1971. He has always maintained that his work is accessible to all. Language is no barrier to enjoying the paintings and no previous knowledge is needed to respond emotionally to what’s in front of you. But these, as Scully himself admits, are lacking the emotional beauty of his subsequent work. These are the large hard edged, abstract paintings of a young enthusiastic painter at the beginning of a long career. They represent his enthusiasm for this genre of seemingly non-narrative painting. What’s interesting about this show is picking out the
evidence of the beginnings of a shift from industrious and industrially made, hard edged paintings (whilst single handedly keeping masking tape manufacturers in business) to works that are more expressive of human emotions. Do they show the kernels of what was to come? The softening of edges? ‘Red Light’ and ‘Bridge’ are two starkly architectural, highrise, vertical, and horizontal dominated works. Theykeep the viewer at a distance which is the antithesis of his painting from the 80s onwards. In contrast are the far more intimate ‘Red’ and ‘Inset #2’, both painted a year later. In one, the surface is divided into nine squares, three by three, with two left to allow us to peep at the first layers of paint, squeegeed across the whole canvas like a screen print. The other seven are worked over with a diagonal lattice of hard edged stripes.
experimentation. There is no clearly defined chronological development but a continual fluctuation of approaches and, subsequently, decision making leading to the creation of beautifully emotional work in later years. The paintings that came afterwards which make up the bulk of his oeuvre, adopt the language of relationships; cooperative and empathic. And like Morandi and his dogged interrogation of the possibilities of a small collection of bottles and vases, Scully’s are still made of stripes. -Walker Art Gallery 14.07-14.10 Words, Ian Fallace
‘Soft Ending’ seems to be a nod to Op Art as it vibrates vertical burgundy stripes and mid-green horizontals. The spray paint blurs the edges of the burgundy and you are almost forced to look beyond their lack of visual focus to the sharp green striped horizontals playing with your usual nearer-clearer understanding of how to see images in space. Even though the paintings in the show don’t have the emotional power of later work it’s a fascinating insight into the subtle development of a young painter through
Sean’s Scully’s ‘Red Slide’ (1972) is installed at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool ahead of a new exhibition of the artist’s paintings opening on 14 July. Images by Gareth Jones
Collage, comedy & nostalgia. Thomas James Butler’s latest show opens this month for Liverpool Comedy Fest Liverpool Comedy Festival launches in September, with a line-up of the biggest, and smallest, talent in comedy. This year though, alongside the laughter is an exhibition of comedy legends from an artist whose semi-surreal, uniquely collaged, work has been bubbling away over the last ten years.
Working as a garden designer for those years, after a disillusioned spell at art
college, Butler created his style of collage and painting in his spare time, quietly enjoying what he would create. Finally showing his work in a public setting is a release for him as much as it is his work. There’s a relevance to his background to that of many modern day stand-ups. The bubbling desire to do something else, to add to his repertoire, knowing he had something to say that people would listen
to. But rather than the fairly tired story of teacher-turned-comedian (though it’s an understandable career trajectory) his creativity and rebellion came out on canvas. For this exhibition, Butler draws on comedians who have had an impact on him, referring to them with clarity, as artists. Spike Milligan is probably the comedian (sorry, artist) who crosses that comiccreative boundary, and features in one the collages going on show, but it’s the portrait of the late great Ken Dodd who will probably receive the most praise, being unveiled at the exhibition on 14 September.
NEWS The Big Draw Festival 2018 Launch Partners Announced
Art in Liverpool and National Museums Liverpool will join The Big Draw as launch partners of The International Big Draw Festival 2018. Free and open to the public, the launch event at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool will present a packed programme of drawing activities that invite visitors to let loose, embrace happy accidents, discovery, and most importantly to have fun! The launch event will take place from 1-4pm on Saturday 29th September l, and will mark the start of a month-long international festival celebrating the importance of drawing and play. Kate Mason, Director of The Big Draw said: “I am delighted to announce that Art in Liverpool and National Museums Liverpool will be partnering with The Big Draw to host the launch of The Big Draw Festival 2018 and Awards Ceremony at The Walker Art Gallery. “The launch will be the first of hundreds
of drawing events taking place across the globe throughout the month of October as part of the festival. “This year we will be celebrating the importance of Play!, and we encourage people of every age, background and
Bluecoat and National Trust announce Serena Korda co-commission for Liverpool’s Speke Hall Bluecoat are working with award-winning British artist Serena Korda and Trust New Art, the National Trust’s programme connecting people to places through contemporary art. Drawing on her interest in folklore, feminism and the fantastical Korda will create a new work for Speke Hall’s ancient woodland with a smaller related installation in Bluecoat’s courtyard garden.
artistic ability to join us on the day, register their own event as part of the festival, or to check The Big Draw website to find an event near them.” Founded in 2000, The Big Draw Festival is an international month-long celebration of
A new online archive brings Bluecoat’s 300 year history to life Bluecoat is launching a new online archive, giving people access to its 300-year history via documents, photographs and film. My Bluecoat, contains the earliest record of the building in 1717 and brings it up to date with details of its current arts programme. Developed in partnership with Liverpool Record Office at Liverpool Libraries, and the Liverpool Blue Coat School in Wavertree, where the original charity school relocated to in 1906, the new archive is a legacy of Bluecoat’s heritage participation project in 2017, funded largely by the Heritage Lottery Fund, which comprised a year-long programme of exhibitions and events celebrating the building’s 300th birthday.
drawing, which will take place from 1-31 October, this year. For kids and big kids alike, The Big Draw Festival 2018 will be a foray into the world of ‘Play!’ – this year’s festival theme.
UK Parliament artist creates artworks with Liverpool residents to explore impact of race relations laws Artist Scarlett Crawford has been appointed by the UK Parliament for a new project entitled First Waves: Exploring the impact of race relations legislation in the UK. Over the course of her artist residency, Scarlett is holding workshops at partner organisations across the country, including Bluecoat, Liverpool’s centre for the contemporary arts. The project is timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Race Relations Act, which made unlawful acts of discrimination within employment, housing and advertising. It was part of a series of Acts that sought to outlaw racial discrimination in Britain.
Putting Merseyside artists on the map
Independents Biennial 2018
GUIDE supported by
in partnership with
What’s On : September
DO NOT MISS
The Independents Biennial returns in 2018, ten years after Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture, to profile artistic and creative talent across Merseyside. The return of the Independents Biennial includes 8 new project spaces, occupied over 4 months, by over 80 artists; two group exhibition awards for LJMU and Liverpool Hope graduates in the former George Henry Lees; four public art trails; and over 200 individual events. Headed by four new festival commissions in St Helens, Knowsley, Wirral and Sefton, this year’s Independents invited galleries, studios and artists to exhibit in every town, city and borough of Liverpool City Region. In a take over of Art in Liverpool’s regional art listings pages, the 2018 festival is a mission statement for its own future, supporting and promoting local artistic talent and outstanding creative spaces in Merseyside.
Brigitte Jurack, Matrin Parr and Tom Wood exhibit alongside the most exciting emerging artists in the region, including Kiara Mohamed, Ellie Woods (centre image), Redeye Network photographers and countless others. With an average of two events every day, there’s plenty to see. Explore our programme of workshops and events as over 250 artists open the doors of their studios, and are invited into galleries to inspire the next generation of Merseyside’s creatives. It promises to be the most packed Independents Biennial programme yet. Follow the guide on these pages for the highlights of the rest of the festival, but head to www.artinliverpool.com for the full listings to plan your visit.
Internationally renowned artists including
image credit: Ellie Woods, Coffee Shop (centre), Brigitte Jurack, Scavengers (top), Mark Hobbs, Positions of Power (right)
In partnership with Heart of Glass, The Atkinson, Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Kirkby Gallery & Prescot Museum, Metal Liverpool & Liverpool Biennial. Funded & supported by CVAN North West, Liverpool City Council and Arts Council England.
Writers-inResidence
Independents Biennial’s Writers-inResidence have been producing new poems, plays, essays & interviews since the start of the festival. Now half way through the festival, their writing has begun being published on www. artinliverpool.com Until 6th September, the writers will be in residence at Tate Exchange, with displays of their writing, recordings & plays in a reading room, where visitors to the most popular UK art gallery outside London are encouraged to stop, read and reflect.
Commissions In a first for Independents Biennial, four artists have been commissioned to make new work in the boroughs surrounding Liverpool. Their work is in response to their region and each use their own perspective to share a unique story. In Wirral, Brigitte Jurack responds to Oxton Road, a culturally diverse road in Birkenhead, for the first installation in the In St Helens, Kate Hodgson is working with local groups to produce a new exhibition of print inspired by St Helens in tis 150th year. In Knowsley, Cath Garvey has been working with young people to create new female comic book characters alongside an exhibition of her work tying the gallery to the library. In Sefton, Threshold Festival hosted a oneday-only version of their annual Baltic Triangle festival.
Tate Exchange
From 14th-19th September, Independents Biennial returns to Tate Exchange for workshops & Talks with local, regional and national networks, including Liverpool Artists Network, Disparity Photography Network and Contenporary Visual Art Network (CVAN). Talks & Workshops all run between 1-4pm, with a return to the Writer-in-Residence reading room format for quiet reflection. Most events are drop-in, but head to www. artinliverpool.com, or www.tate.org.uk for specific dates & times.
TEST!
Artists working under Material Matters, a series of exhibitions by local artists working collaboratively to try out new materials, extend their explorations into an ongoing TEST! space at George Henry Lee’s. On the 2nd floor of the former deparment store, the artists respond to the building, the festival, and each other’s work to generate a connected conversation of new art works. The first in the series is by Angelo Madonna. Jugglers, his new kinetic work uses plastic cups, a soundsystem & contact microphones to generate a powerful and immersive soundscape in the upper floor gallery.
The Big Draw Launch
For the first time ever, the Big Draw’s international launch is paired with the announcement of the Ruskin Prize Award Ceremony. It is also the first time the Ruskin Prize has been announced outside London. In a new partnership with Art in Liverpool & National Museums Liverpool, The Big Draw opens as part of Independents Biennial at Walker Art Gallery on Saturday 29th September. Join us for workshops in Walker’s galleries, outside on St George’s plateu, and over the road in St John’s Market for the launch events during the day.
St John’s Market
One of Liverpool’s most fascinating spaces, year round. St John’s Market holds on to the traditions of the marketplace, with independent retailers selling wares in a one-of-a-kind market. For Independents Biennial, artists work in residence & host exhibitions which change over on a fortnightly basis. Drop in between 1-4, Monday-Saturday, and search between shops & trees to find art in unsual spaces. This September, between 6th-19th, studio groups from around Merseyside will take up a period of residency to create new work in and around the market.
Ed’s Place comes to George Henry’s
People will imagine how Liverpool city centre could become a greener and more vibrant place for everyone at the city’s old George Henry Lee building this summer. Ed’s Place will pop-up on the ground floor of the much-loved building during Liverpool’s Independents Biennial festival. Workshops, events and exhibitions will be open to the general public, with special activities for young people and families. (more info on everything happening on the next page)
SCI at George Henry Lees
Following their exhibition at St John’s Market, SCI artists move their work to George Henry Lees to build new exhibitions & pod galleries until the end of the festival. The group of material orientated artists working collaboratively to build a portfolio of international exhibitions have found huge success over recent years, and now host an ongoing and evolving exhibition as part of Independents Biennial
Knowsley Commission Cath Garvey’s Girl Comics workshops have officially finished at Kirkby Gallery (unless you get your hands on an early copy of this paper - the exhibition ends 01.09.18) but keep up to date with the zines, exhibitions, and our Knowsley commission artist online, at @indybiennial & @cath_garvey Her workshops, inspired by a lack of female characters in mainstream comics, prompted young people from around Knowsley to imagine their own, and create new characters, stories and zines.
PLACED at George Henry Lee’s: Workshops, events, sharing & story telling Last summer, PLACED toured Liverpool in Ed the Campervan, giving people their say on regeneration plans and how places such as Williamson Square could be improved. People told PLACED that they want to be more involved in planning and decisions, but don’t feel listened to. This summer, Ed’s place comes to George Henry Lee’s to build on that and get everyone involved. Sat 1st & Sat 2nd: Join us for our launch with games and family craft activities. Sun 2nd, 2pm-4.30pm. Breathing Spaces Walking tour with Sense of Place*: A walking tour thinking about ways we could make more of the spaces that surround us in the city centre. Wed 5th, Drop in: Share memories and stories over a cup of tea. Thurs 6th 12.30pm-1.15pm, Literature at lunchtime with the Reader: Shared Reading taster session. Thurs 6th 2pm-4pm, Liverpool & 1919, Walking Tour with University of Liverpool*: Explore the story of the race riotsof 1919 and how we can maintain diverse communities and neighbourhoods today. Sat 8th, 2.30pm-5pm. Afternoon Tea in George Henry Lee. £7 p/p including Afternoon Tea*: Join us for Afternoon Tea whilst sharing memories and stories of George Henry Lee. Food provided by Happy Go Cooking with dancing afterwards from Ronald McDonald House. Sun 9th, Family day: Games, crafts and plenty of fun for everyone. Wed 12th, Drop in: Share memories and stories over a cup of tea. Thurs 13th 12.30pm-1.15pm, Literature at lunchtime with the Reader: Shared Reading taster session. Thurs 13th 3pm-5.30pm Breathing Spaces
Walking tour with Sense of Place*: A walking tour thinking about ways we could make more of the spaces that surround us in the city centre. Thurs 13th 5.30pm-8.30 Rotating Debating*: A debate with a difference! Join us for an evening where the panel rotates and the questions are set by the audience. You can join the panel or simply be in the audience. Fri 14th, 2pm-3.30pm. What’s the value of our green spaces? Urban Green Up, University of Liverpool*: Join the discussion about green spaces and greenery in the city with a creative workshop. Sat 15th and Sun 16th, Family Day: Games, crafts and plenty of fun for everyone. Wed 19th, Drop in: Share memories and stories over a cup of tea. Thurs 20th: 12.30-1.15pm, Literature at lunchtime with the Reader: Shared Reading taster session. Thurs 5.30-7pm, Running Tour with the University of Liverpool*: A tour with a difference, this running tour involves a gentle run around Liverpool’s public squares and green spaces. Sat 22nd Exploring new models of city living, A Fairer Society, Buttress Architects, PLACED*: Two drop in creative workshops looking at how to make the city centre a better place to live. Sun 23rd Family day: Games, crafts and plenty of fun for everyone.
St Helens Commission Kate Hodgson, printmaker, artist & Director of The Royal Standard is running pop-up print workshops in St. Helens, inviting artists, creatives and residents of the town to come and make screen-prints in the town centre, in response to St. Helen’s 150th anniversary. The participants have the opportunity to print onto T-shirts, with inspiration drawn from St. Helens’ rich and industrial past, reflecting the participant’s own connection to St. Helens.
Wirral Commission In the newly landscaped courtyard garden of the Williamson Art Gallery, Brigitte Jurack has placed large multi-coloured and highly patterned sculptures, one on the floor and one raised off the ground by the brick wall. Inspired by Oxton Road, one of the most culturally diverse roads in Wirral, Brigitte Jurack’s new work is made up of highly patterned multi-coloured sculptures. The road is home to the much-loved Iranian fruit seller K&K, the new Thai food store, Polish and International food shops, the popular record shop Skeleton and numerous charity, hardware, modelmaking and electrical shops.
Politics of Beauty, Corke Art Gallery, 30.08-29.09
Ula Fung, Mum Said, St John’s Market, 04.10-17.10
Chrissy Collinson, Paul Collinson, John Elcock & Josie Jenkins. This exhibition brings together four artists from both ends of the M62 whose works can be said to deal in some way with the idea of beauty and its political connotations.
Mum Said’ is an exhibition combining paintings and diaries with objects from every day life, focusing on a generation of Women that changed their identities from Chinese to Hong Kong (British) between the 1950’s & 1970’s.
Exhibitions
Ali Harwood: #Tunstall30 Haiku’s and painting inspired by 30 empty homes in L7 Tunstall Street (L7), 14.07-28.10
Humanscapes, Kiara Mohamed Aerial photographs looking down on Liverpool. Do we really know what’s going on in our communities? St John’s Market, 14.07-28.10
--Not Just Collective Residency by former Liverpool Biennial volunteers & their collaborators Fulwood Community Garden, 14.07-28.10
LIAS Studio Open studio, exhibitions & workshops from Liverpool Independent Art School St John’s Market, 14.07-28.10
--Cyanosure Local photographers present a new exhibition for Wirral Festival of Firsts Williamson Art Gallery, 30.06-28.10 -A Window on the World Exhibition arranges through the work of Edsential with Wirral schools Williamson Art Gallery, 14.07-02.09 -Rimrose Valley Friends Environmental Art Trail Artists protesting against the new bypass planned through the Bootle park. Rimrose Valley Country Park, 14.07-28.10 -Ellie Woods, Caffeine Moments captured & turned into a physical & personal exprience. St John’s Market, 14.07-28.10 -Art on the Prom Public exhibition following on from this year’s Festival of Firsts Hoylake Promenade, 14.07-28.10 --
On the Edge of.... Exhibition of sails & textiles from Textile 21, a group of artists from around the North West Williamson Art Gallery -YAW Residence Ongoing residency programme, led by the new LJMU graduate collective, Your Arts Worth George Henry Lee’s, 14.07-28.10
On the Edge of…, Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, 14.07-09.09 Textile 21 is a thriving North West contemporary textile group which has staged a number of successful exhibitions throughout the area. Members come from a variety of backgrounds but all share a common passion – textiles.
-Liverpool Hope Graduate Exhibition Award Five outstanding graudates from Liverpool Hope University 14.07-28.10 -Ali Harwood, Kids That Fly 23 young pioneers take flights beyond the streets of L7. Photography by Ali Harwood 14.07-28.10 -Tony Mallon, Quiet Room Tony Mallon presents two exhibitions, each uniquely framing different perspectives on homelessness in Merseyside. George Henry Lee’s, 14.07-28.10
The Wall Dedicated to Lost Places, George Henry Lee’s, 11.08-28.10 Artists Trish Bermingham and Clare Brumby take the humble sofa – a traditional symbol of domestic life, as their muse for a collaborative and playful site specific performance; weaving their way through ideas of space, random acts and repetition
-Brigitte Jurack, Oxton Rock Inspired by the culturally diverse Oxton Road in Birkenhead. One of four festival commissions Williamson Art Gallery, 14.07-28.10
Williamson Art Gallery, 08.09-14.10 -Trevor Winterbottom Solo Exhibition Abstract paintings ArtHouse SCA, 18.09-29.09
--
--
Positions of Power, Disparity Collective Overt & unconventional power, explored by seven North West photographers George Henry Lee’s, 14.07-28.10
Nina Edge, The Hundred Year Harvest New work examining food and time, produced and shown at Squash and wider L8 venues Squash Food Hub, 21.09-28.10
--Carter Preston Prize Exhibition Biennial exhibition prize in memory of potter, Julia Carter Preston. Bluecoat Display Centre, 04.08-22.09 --
Alternator Studio & Project Space, St John’s Market, 06.09-19.09 A group show curated by Alternator, including works by resident artists Brigitte Jurack, Wendy Williams, Carol Ramsay, Julie Dodd and newly commissioned audio visual pieces from the ‘Translating the Street’ residencies.
Trish Bermingham & Clare Brumby, The Wall Dedicated to Lost Places A collaborative and playful site specific performance, weaved around a humble sofa. Installation continues. George Henry Lee’s, 11.08-28.10
The Great Dominions Multi-media work by Nick Jones ABC L1, 21.09-28.10 -The Liverpool & Knowsley Book Art exhibition: Frankenstein 2018 Marking 200 years since the first edition of Mary Shelley’s Frenkenstein Kirkby Gallery, 26.09-26.01 --
-Pamela Holstein, Extinction Drawings & paintings looking at how humans behave in the world. ABC L1, 17.07-16.09 -Baltic Clay Open Studios 11am-3pm every day, join studio members for demonstrations, workshops Baltic Clay, 23.08-05.09 -Culture City 10 LIAS Studio present an exhibition from Liverpool Urban Sketchers commemorating 10 years since European Capital of Culture St John’s Market, 23.08-05.09 -Angelo Madonna, Jugglers, George Henry Lee’s, 11.08-28.09 A kinetic sculpture consisting of an elegant pair of motorised structures delicately balancing two plastic drinking cups, whose carefully synchronised movement resonates to fill the space with the distinctive sound produced by the sculpture itself.
RELIC, Bluecoat Display Centre, 29.09-10.11 This is Metalsmith Rebecca Gouldson’s first foray into curating with this exhibition entitled RELIC. The exhibition draws on Rebecca’s interpretation of the theme as “a collection of objects which capture my imagination, chosen for their appearance of being found, rather than recently made; aged rather than new. They appear to have a history, told through their form, their surface marks and sometimes in their arrangement or display.”
Politics of Beauty Four artists from either end of the M62. Corke Art Gallery, 30.08-29.09 -Asiye Inal, Hope University Graduate Prize Winner Bluecoat Display Centre’s graduate exhibition on 2018 in a new window display 01.09-30.09 -Alternator Studio & Project Space A group exhibition & residency by Alternator Studio artists St John’s Market, 06.09-19.09 -Cammell Laird 1993-1996, Tom Wood Photographer commissioned by the Documentary Photography Archive. Exhibition continued & rehung
DLASC featuring SEAN VEGEZZI and DMYCC A dialogue about art in Liverpool and the pace of its production and presentation OUTPUT gallery, 27.09-20.09 -RELIC Objects selected for their apprearance of being recently found Bluecoat Display Centre, 29.09-10.11 -Srash Gilman, Entangle Paintings of overlooked objects Beechams Gallery, 01.10-11.10 -Discordia Exhibition Blurring the realms of art gallery & theatre The Hope Street Theatre, 04.10-06.10 -Ula Fung, Mum Said An exhibitions combining paintings and diaries, focusing on women who changed their identities from Chinese to Hong Kong (British) from the 50s-70s St John’s Market, 04.10-17.10 -Kerry Baldry Installation of short films by artist/ filmmaker Kerry Baldry ROAD Studios, 05.10-14.10 -JMPP Winners Return Martin Greenland & Nicholas Middleton return to Liverpool for a new exhibition, jhaving won the John Moore’s Painting Prize & JMPP Visitors Choice resprectively Corke Art Gallery, 05.10-27.10
Film Gaslight (PG), 1944 Empty Spaces Cinema presentGaslight, a mystery thriller. Part of their Women on the Edge Season. George Henry Lee’s, 02.09, 2pm -The Long Day Closes (PG) 1992 Empty Spaces Cinema present the 1992 film, directed by Terence Davies, set in Liverpool in the mid-1950s OUTPUT gallery, 06.09, 7:30pm -Sunset Boulevard (PG) Empty Space Cinema present Billy Wilder’s story of a screenwriter, hired to rework a faded silent film star’s script. George Henry Lee’s, 09.09, 2pm -Thelma and Louise (15) 1991 Empty Spaces Cinema present one of the most iconic feminist films of all time as part of their Women on the Edge season. Starring Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon. George Henry Lee’s, 16.09, 2pm -Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (18) Feminism meets the grindhouse in this 1970s American exploitatin film. Empty Space Cinema. George Henry Lee’s, 23.09, 2pm
WORKSHOPS Drawing & Mark Making workshop Part of dot-art & Cass Art Liverpool’s summer workshop series for IB18 Cass Art, 01.09, 2pm
Public Trails Rimrose Valley Environmental Art Trail 14.07-28.10, Rimrose Valley The 3.5km country park is taken over by environmental artists hoping to prevent the building of a new major highway. Continuing their work in Rimrose Valley after a residency at St John’s Market, the artists build on their installation & intervention work in the park, with the main aim of getting as many signatures as possible towards their Save Rimrose Valley campaign. Sign the petition to save the wildlife haven here: https://www.change.org/p/ secretary-of-state-for-transport-stopthe-dual-carriageway-through-rimrosevalley Art on The Prom 14.07-28.10 Hoylake Parade Professional and amateur artists install a long running exhibition of new work on Hoylake & Meols promenade, coordinated by Wirral Festival of Firsts. Running bewteen the two Wirral towns along a beautiful stretch of Wirral Peninsula coast is a public display of painting and photography by local artists. Tunstall30 14.07-28.10, Tunstall Street, L7 Ali Harwood shows work from 2014, 2015 and 2016 on and around Tunstall Street, Wavertree. Haikus & paintings responsing to each of the 30 houses left standing empty as a result of development in L7. An intimate & honest installation by a artist with an ongoing connection with his space. Fullwood Community Gardens 14.07-28.10 Fulwood Community Garden Throughout the Biennial, Not Just Collective will undertake a residency at the Fulwood Community Garden, a woodland space in Aigburth, Liverpool. Search for Not Just Collective in google to find their upcoming events now.
Residencies & Production Independents Biennial, Writers-inResidence 14.07-28.10 A team of 8 writers from around the North West collaborate on a new publication for Independents Biennial 2018, documenting the festival through review, poetry, short fiction and script. Follow their writing at www.artinliverpool. com and keen a look out for events, talks and new print works around the festival as they build a new programme within their dedicated writing space on Seel Street. St John’s Market, Studio takeover 06.09-19.09 Eight groups of artists begin work in St John’s Market, Liverpool’s most multicultured, vibrant covered market. Artists will work with stall holders, and exhibit previously unseen work. Continuing the ongoing residency series at the market, studio groups take over, working with stall holders, visitors & shoppers to create new work & develop new relationships that exntend beyond their usual walls. For one fortnight in September, artists from Arena Studios, Alternator Studios, Crown Building Studios, Make. Liverpool, Bridewell Studios, Liverpool Independent Art School and more will set up examples of their ongoing project work and have access to open studio space. All units are open to the public for the duration of the residencies from 11am-4pm every day apart from Sundays.
-Make Your Own Stained-Glass Window Part of dot-art & Cass Art Liverpool’s summer workshop series for IB18 Cass Art, 02.09, 10am -Drawing & Mark Making workshop Part of dot-art & Cass Art Liverpool’s summer workshop series for IB18 Cass Art, 02.09, 2pm -Plus regular drop in workshops by Placed at George Henry Lees through September & ongoing classes at LIAS Studio in St John’s Market
Nina Edge: The Hundred Year Harvest, Squash Food Hub, 21.09.28.10 Nina Edge and Squash will create a large scale drawing examining ‘A Hundred Year Harvest’ exploring food and time. The work will be produced and shown at Squash and wider Liverpool 8 venues and may be toured to other similar groups over time.
Also showing... Unmissable events around Merseyside this September
Liverpool Biennial 2018, Beautiful World Where Are You? 14.07-28.10 Liverpool Biennial is the UK biennial of contemporary art. Taking place every two years across the city in public spaces, galleries, museums and online, the Biennial commissions international artists to make and present work in the context of Liverpool. Beautiful world, where are you? invites artists and audiences to reflect on a world in social, political and economic turmoil. The artistic concept and title for the 10th edition of Liverpool Biennial derives from a 1788 poem by the German poet Friedrich Schiller, later set to music by Austrian composer Franz Schubert in 1819.
Aurora, by Invisible Flock 21.09-07.10 For over 100 years it held 2 million gallons of water…
John Moores Painting Prize 2018 Walker Art Gallery, 14.07-18.10
Aurora is an experience like no other. Step inside the cave-like vaults of Toxteth Reservoir for a 40-minute ‘walk on water’. Through dark chambers and between towering iron arches, water surrounds, floods and falls around you, both beautiful and terrifying. The sights, sounds and wonder of an ice cave, a tropical rainforest and monsoons unfold before you. Because when we understand that water is more precious than oil or gold, we view everything differently.
The internationally-renowned John Moores Painting Prize is the UK’s longestestablished painting prize, founded in 1957. The competition culminates in an exhibition held at the Walker Art Gallery every two years, and 2018 will mark the art prize’s 60th anniversary and its 30th exhibition, having championed contemporary British painting for over two decades longer than any other art prize of its scale.
Venue: Toxteth Reservoir, High Park Street, L8 8LU Tickets: £12-£10
Forming a key strand of the Liverpool Biennial, the John Moores exhibition is held in partnership with the John Moores Liverpool Exhibition Trust. Although the appearance of each exhibition changes, the principles remain constant: to support artists and to bring to Liverpool the best contemporary painting from across the UK.
The Biennial programme is presented in locations across Liverpool including public spaces and the city’s leading art venues: Bluecoat, FACT, Open Eye Gallery, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University’s Exhibition Research Lab, National Museums Liverpool, RIBA North, the Liverpool Playhouse, Victoria Gallery & Museum (University of Liverpool), and Blackburne House.. Also showing as part of Liverpool Biennial 2018 are the John Moores Painting Prize, Bloomberg New Contemporaries and the Independents Biennial.
Sean Scully 14.07-14.10, Walker Art Gallery The exhibition presents, JMPP winner, Scully’s paintings from 1969 to 1974. They demonstrate the remarkable confidence of his work at this earliest stage of his career.
Thomas James Butler 14.09-30.09, The Buyers Club The Buyers Club Gallery and and RedHouse Originals Gallery are excited to present an exhibition by Thomas James Butler to coincide with the launch of the 2018 Liverpool Comedy Festival. This is Shanghai 12.07-07.09, Cunard Building TEN acclaimed Chinese artists, living and working in Liverpool’s twin city Shanghai, will showcase their work in a brand new free exhibition taking over the waterfront.
The exhibition features surreal portraits of legendary faces from the world of comedy including Laurel & Hardy, Spike Milligan and Victoria Wood as well as new works including Richard Pryor and Liverpool's own Ken Dodd. Butler has created a series of original collages in his trademark featured in this special exhibition, which will open to the public on Tuesday 11th September.
JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES
For up more details on all opportunities, including links on how to apply, head to www.artinliverpool.com/opportunities-2/ To send us details on jobs or opportunities for artists, email info@artinliverpool.com
JOBS
Community Arts North West (CAN) – Creative Director DEADLINE: 20th September 2018 --
Production Manager, Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse DEADLINE: 5th September 2018 -Sales Officer, Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse
CALLS CreArt OPEN CALL – CURATORS SEMINAR IN AVEIRO
DEADLINE: 5th September 2018
Rebecca Vassie Memorial Award
DEADLINE: 10th September 2018 -Partnerships and Participation Officer – Imagine Wirral DEADLINE: 4th September 2018 -DaDaFest – Ensemble Engagement Coordinator DEADLINE: 10th September 2018 -North West Network Manager, Contemporary Visual Arts Network North West DEADLINE: 13th September 2018 --
Photo competition – Celebrating Business in Ellesmere Port DEADLINE: 10th September 2018 --
DEADLINE: 30th September 2018 --
DEADLINE: 16th September 2018
Head of Programmes, Liverpool Biennial
DEADLINE: ongoing
Call for Participation – Byewords
Tomlinson Assistant Curator of Fine Art (Documentation) Art Galleries, National Museums Liverpool
--
YAW Monthly Residency Program – OPEN CALL
--
DEADLINE: 10th September 2018 --
--
Metal – Time and Space Residencies -DEADLINE: 30th September 2018
DEADLINE: 19th October 2018 -Micro residency, LeftCoast DEADLINE: 30th September 2018 -North Wales PRINT FAIR 2018 – call for printmakers DEADLINE: 16th September 2018 -Calling all Creatives!! MOSTYN Christmas Window Commission 2018 DEADLINE: 9th September 2018 -Call for entry – Fulwood Community Gardens outdoor exhibition DEADLINE: October 2018
Festival of Contemporary Art 14 July – 28 October Free
Liverpool Biennial is funded by
biennial.com
Founding Supporter James Moores