Bluecoat Autumn Season 2022

Autumn Season 2022

Exhibitions

This Autumn the Bluecoat presents an exciting new exhibition breathe,spiritandlife Featuring work by six artists, the exhibition repurposes the gallery as a communal space for healing. breathe, spirit and life

Sat 08 Oct 2022Sun 29 Jan 2023

This exhibition takes the Bluecoat’s site history, originally a charity school for children in poverty built in 1716-17 with proceeds from the Transatlantic slave trade, as its starting point.

breathe,spiritandlife repurposes the gallery as a communal space for cleansing, detoxification and purification as a collective decolonial healing process. Together, the artists explore ideas in relation to Taoist practice of self-cultivation, meditation, rituals, and harmonisation with nature.

The exhibition features work by Soojin Chang (in collaboration with Georgie Rei-n Lo, Jade O’Belle, and Aditya Surya Taruna a.k.a. Kasimyn), Sulaïman Majali, Thulani Rachia, Roo Dhissou, Kiara Mohamed Amin and Emii Alrai. This exhibition is curated by guest curator, Katherine Ka Yi Liu .

The exhibition will be accompanied by a live programme of performances and events. Visit the Bluecoat website for further information.

Emii Alrai Reverse Defense © Matt Denham

Roo Dhissou JharuWaliperformancedocumentation 2022

Events at the Bluecoat

The Attic Child Sun 16 Oct

Part of Black History Month at the Bluecoat

The Attic Child by Lola Jaye is a hauntingly powerful, emotionally charged and unique novel about family, love and loss, identity and belonging, seen through the lens of Black British history. The book tells the story of two children, decades apart, and the connections between them.

These two events on Sunday 16 October explore the intersection of children’s voices and colonial legacies:

The Attic Child: Family Workshop 11am-1pm

Bring the family to this interactive multi-arts workshop with the author, facilitated by Collective Encounters.

Free, drop in.

The Attic Child: Reading by Lola Jaye 2.30-4.30pm

A special opportunity to hear a reading by the author of The Attic Child, followed by a Q&A facilitated by Carol Russell.

Free, Booking recommended

The Attic Child events are part of WoW’s Black History Month festival in collaboration with University of Central Lancashire, Collective Encounters and Bluecoat’s Echoes and Origins project.

Seke Chimutengwende ItBeginsInDarkness © Jack Barraclough and Karin Xiao

Seke Chimutengwende: It Begins In Darkness Thu 27 Oct 7-8pm

Part of Black History Month at the Bluecoat

In this powerful performance Chimutengwende creates an environment for processing the fear, anger and confusion arising from the histories of slavery and colonialism that haunt the present.

ItBeginsInDarkness is a dance full of ghosts. As if to exorcise the haunted house of history, five dancers whisper, jump, wrestle, shiver, wail and laugh, filling the space with horrors, both real and imagined.

The performance is followed by a Q&A with Seke Chimutengwende.

Tickets £8/£5

The 2022 Lowry Lounge

Sat 29 Oct 11am-4.30pm

75 years since Wirral-born Malcolm Lowry’s acclaimed Under the Volcano was published, and 60 years since his death, this year’s Lounge explores his continuing relevance.

The Lounge comprises presentations, discussions, films and sound recordings, including research project Hear Us O Lord FromHeavenThyDwellingPlace, led by artist Alan Dunn that reimagines Lowry through the climate crisis; a recorded conversation with Alberto Rebollo from the annual Malcolm Lowry Colloquium held in Cuernavaca, Mexico; writer Helen Tookey’s reflection on Lowry’s ‘last notebook’, written in the Lake District; and a Lowry audience Q&A.

Tickets £6/£5

Bus Regulation the Musical: Merseyside Edition

Sun 13 Nov 2pm & 3pm

BusRegulation:TheMusical by Ellie Harrison is inspired by the 1980s hit musical Starlight Express. Join us for a striking production featuring performers on roller skates as they re-enact the history of public transport provision on Merseyside, from the post-war period to the present.

Free, booking essential

Jackie Kay in Conversation

Tue 15 Nov 6-7.30pm

Celebrated poet, playwright and novelist Jackie Kay will share her experiences as a looked after child and the search for her family roots, as documented in her 2010 memoir Red Dust Road. She will be in conversation with Janaya Pickett, writer, researcher and project facilitator for the Bluecoat’s Looked After Children project.

Tickets £8/£5

Homotopia Family Weekend

Sat 19 & Sun 20 Nov

Various times throughout the weekend.

Join Homotopia and friends at the Bluecoat for a weekend of creative activities and fun performances, suitable for all the family (however you define yours). Featuring badge making, storytelling, live dance, and a huge family-friendly party!

Visit our website for full listings. Free, drop-in.

more events and the latest information, visit thebluecoat.org.uk/whatson

Heritage and Cultural Legacies

Formally established in 1927 as the UK’s first arts centre, the Bluecoat is housed in Liverpool’s oldest building which has a long and complex history. This season we continue to examine the Bluecoat’s artistic heritage with the opening of a new display.

Plotting the Course

18 Oct 2022-Sun 26 Mar 2023

Part of Black History Month at the Bluecoat

This archive display charts some of the developments that have taken place in visual art and performance by artists of colour, as reflected in the Bluecoat’s programmes since the 1980s. Comprising posters, brochures, photographs, publications and films, the exhibition offers a rich selection of material, relating to key exhibitions like BlackSkin/Bluecoat, TrophiesofEmpire, IndependentThoughts and seen/unseen, and performances of live art, dance, music and spoken word by artists, from the local to the international.

Display

from the Bluecoat archive © the Bluecoat.

Join in at the Bluecoat

Bluecoat Families

the Bluecoat

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Bluecoat Family Day Sun 06 Nov 1-4pm

Save the date for our RiverofLight themed Family Day, full of fun and illuminating arts activities. Our performance space provides the perfect space for your little artists to warm up and get creative, before exploring the trail after dark.

drop-in.