August 2009
KIOSK Koeln - Liverpool - Shanghai
August 2009
Issue 1
From Penia, Koeln to the Old Barber’s Shop, Liverpool
News The logo is now in action. A template – in English and Chinese is available for all participants. A sibling for the Cologne Kiosk has been 2 found.
The idea to start a newsletter came from Sabine Mueller who is a professional editor. She will be taking on responsibility for content and layout in the future. This one is a “test” version in which all mistakes that can be made will be made. And these mistakes are down to my inexperience. But I wanted to update everyone on recent events before the end of the month and Sabine is at the moment very busy.
Liverpool Bluecoat School The Old Barber’s Shop Lesen Sie weiter auf Seite
Issue 1 August 2009
Liverpool
In Liverpool – a city I did not know until Philip took me there in April 2009 – time is the most visible artist in action. The city is a montage:
of neglected buildings given new purpose as canvases
of 19th century Victorian architecture exuding vision and confidence
and of mid 20th century architecture hovering over the 21st
the street lights span future, past and present with ease
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Bluecoat School
The Bluecoat is above such ruminations; it dates from the early 18th Century and is the oldest building in Liverpool. Once upon a time there was a culture amongst capitalists that profits would be returned – during one’s lifetime – to the community. The pleasure of making money was enhanced and doubled by the pleasure of spending that money. The Bluecoat School is one of the manifestations of such a culture, built from 1717 until 1725 on the instigation of a Reverend and a master mariner, its purpose was to make education available to poor children.
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Issue 1 August 2009
At that time Liverpool’s wealth was closely linked to the transatlantic slave trade. The school grew rapidly and became famous for progressive education methods, including the recruitment of able pupils as teacher’s assistants. By the end of the 19th century the school moved to larger premises. Bluecoat was under threat of demolition, when a group of artists took it on and secured financial help. The Department of Architecture of the local university also moved in. World War I changed this and in the aftermath of the war the building was used as a car showroom until finally being put up for sale. The artist group made a public appeal to save the building and with huge effort managed to raise the funds to secure it in 1927. This group of artists continued to struggle to maintain the building until 1941, when the building was bombed during World War II. Another struggle ensued and by 1958 the building was at last restored and begun to flourish into the 1960’s and beyond. After three years of renovation work by bigArchitecten from Amsterdam at the beginning of this century, the building continues to host learning activities for all, young or old, poor or rich as a contemporary arts venue. www.thebluecoat.org.uk Bryan Biggs, the director of The Bluecoat is very supportive of the KIOSK project and will be actively involved in its further development.
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The Old Barber’s Shop
In 2009 The Old Barber’s Shop, a retail space adjacent to the Bluecoat, was renovated by a group of artists. Currently they have organised an exhibition called REVOLVER, which is curated by James Quin. Each of the artists involved has a solo exhibition for a limited time span. I met two of the artists, Bernadette and James. They are seeking to find ways of maintaining the space as an artist run venue. Bernadette was interested in the KIOSK project and I hope that together we will find ways of bringing KIOSK to the Old Barber’s Shop that will benefit all artists involved. Currently we are working on a funding application that will be based on links between Cologne and Liverpool City, which are twin cities. Hopefully we can then submit a similar application to Liverpool City for a Shanghai/Liverpool link. You can google Art in Liverpool for activities at the old barber’s shop.
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Koeln - Liverpool - Shanghai
KIOSK [Empf채nger] Adresszeile 1 Adresszeile 2 Adresszeile 3 Adresszeile 4
Koeln-Liverpool Shanghai
August 2009