Issue #6 - August 2018 News, Reviews & What’s On. Your monthly update on visual art in the Liverpool City Region

Cover image: Brigitte Jurack, Oxton Rock. 2018. At Williamson Art Gallery & Museum for Independents Biennial. c. Tony Knox

Independents Biennial 2018 commissioned artist, Cath Garvey presents her comics at Kirkby Gallery in a solo exhibition of comic art tying the library to the gallery. from 14th July - 1st September 2018

Art in Liverpool magazine is a monthly newspaper promoting visual art across the Liverpool City Region.

Art in Liverpool, issue #6, August 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:

Ali Harwood, #Tunstall30. 2018. on Tunstall Street, L7 for Independents Biennial. photo., c. Tony Knox

There’s a little way to go until we’re out of July, but we thought with so much happening mid-month it would be utterly unfair of us to keep it to ourselves until August.

patrick@artinliverpool.com On the 14th, Liverpool Biennial & Independents Biennial launched to the world, alongside Bloomberg New Contemporaries and the John Moores Painting Prize. Four of the UKs most significant festivals and exhibitions coming to one city, all at once. But it’s how the four work together that makes it worth seeing; worth getting on a train from the other side of the country to see a city at its absolute best. Liverpool Biennial

issue #6, August 2018 Editor: Patrick Kirk-Smith Photography: Tony Knox Contributors: Carol Emmas Laura Brown

A festival of international contemporary art, drawing on the best and most relevant artistic talent of the day from around the world, at Tate Liverpool, Open Eye Gallery, RIBA North, Bluecoat, FACT, The Playhouse, St George’s Hall, VG&M,LJMU, Blackburne House, The Oratory, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, Granby, Invisible Wind Factory, Exchange Flags, Great George Street, and Online.

John Moores Painting Prize The UKs most established, and most important painting prize, now in its 60th year, continues to discover household names of tomorrow, and create careers for artists based on nothing other than talent, through various stages of blind judging, at Walker Art Gallery. Bloomberg New Contemporaries A selection of the UKs most promising early career artists, from every town, city and village that make up the creative islands. New Contemporaries is an absolute must see for anybody wanting to understand the shape of the arts, now and in the future. The exhibition runs until September at LJMU’s John Lennon Art & Design Building. -We’re biased though. We run the Independents Biennial, celebrating 75 incredible venues, fostering over 250 new works, and (on average) just over 2 events every day until the 28th October 2018. There really isn’t an excuse to miss it, and the spaces currently occupied by artists are all entirely unique.

Independents Biennial Advertising, sponsorship, distribution, stocking & event enquiries should be sent to info@artinliverpool.com Art in Liverpool C.I.C. Company No. 10871320

Artists from the North West of England, making a name for themselves with international audiences, visiting the city for the four months of Liverpool Biennial. Exploring how local creatives understand their surroundings, and sharing the true voice of this wonderful place, in over 75 venues around the entire Liverpool City Region.

St John’s Market provides internationally significant art with audiences who would never have the chance to see it. George Henry Lee’s has been given a new start with nearly 80 artists taking over one of the most iconic buildings in the North West. Bridewell Studios hosts a continuing exhibition programme in one of Liverpool’s most intriguing spaces, while the Williamson Art Gallery & Museum in

Birkenhead hosts more exhibitions than any other venue for Independents Biennial 2018. There’s a new shape to the festival, one that embraces its neighbours, its geography, and the cultural backbone of a region that produces great art every day, and for Art in Liverpool it’s been a huge privilege to be at the centre of production and build a new beginning for a festival that deserves to rediscover its strengths. The beauty of this festival is summed up in no greater way than what has just happened while writing this. Sat on the top deck of my, now regular, rail replacement bus service, travelling at a snail’s pace down Smithdown Road, I’ve passed one of our core trails within the festival. #Tunstall30, an exhibition of poems and posters by Ali Harwood, sits proudly on a monolithic blue hoarding, covering 30 houses along an entire stretch of street. It’s impossible to cross the city without coming face to face with Independents Biennial in some way. A festival built by artists, councillors, galleries, networks, translators, writers, musicians, performers, developers, fundraisers, directors, marketers, coordinators, and normal human beings. Independents Biennial is part of a network of people who have come together at the start of something new, and it runs alongside Liverpool Biennial, John Moores Painting Prize and New Contemporaries until 28th October 2018.

c. Tony Knox

c. Tony Knox

c. Tony Knox

c. Tony Knox

c. Tony Knox

Dear George Henry Lee: A note on getting to know a gem Over the last few weeks, I’ve come to love this building. I don’t know if I did before, certainly not beyond its beauty.

My own experience was of being dragged around George Henry Lee’s looking for my uniform, never by choice. I’ve heard so many stories of love and adoration for the building, and the memories it’s been a part of, that for a while I started to think they were my own. But no, any love I have for this building has formed over the last few weeks. I’ve discovered the quirks of the lifts, the shop fittings, the doors; found objects that have been recycled by four different retailers and stood the test of time; but most of all, I’ve learned to avert disaster here. We started work the week of the festival launch. Six days to turn a department store into a gallery. Now we’re open and it’s day 12, two exhibitions are changing next week, and the end seems to be getting further and further away. But that energy, and constant change in the building that, for my generation, summed up a fairly mundane part of my childhood, has meant that as a festival we’ve become deeply connected to this space. Learned its ins and outs, and feel responsible for the mistakes – however big or small. Last Monday (9th July) Disparity Collective arrived to plan their space, on Thursday evening, half an hour before the launch event, the lights got working. Their exhibition is about power, and sits in a building that embodies it. Positions of Power, the travelling exhibition exploring what power means today, stands boldly up the stairs as you

enter through the beautiful grand Houghton Street façade, with photographs of kids with sticks. Simple enough, but evocative of a primal instinct to defend ourselves. The day we opened to the public we discovered something rather odd – half the people in the building had spent their afternoon seeing art, but weaving their own narratives around its connection to the building at the same time. Even the Liverpool Hope Graduate Award Exhibition, which sits on the 2nd floor, flooded by daylight through the void in the building’s centre, made up mostly of abstract painting, hit a chord with visitors who were desperately trying to find a connection that was never intended. But walking down the stairs, it’s impossible to ignore the history. Signs hang, pointing to cafes that no longer exist, to discounts that have far gone by their sell-by-date, and in their place sits some of the most astounding painting and photography that has been produced in the city for years. One highlight of my week so far, spent mostly in this building, frantically trying to keep it standing and look its best, was touring around the ground floor exhibition by Tony Mallon with the Big Issue seller who has been asking all week what is going on inside. The exhibition by Tony Mallon downstairs is a deeply emotional response to his experiences working with Crisis Skylight. The images, left luggage, not claimed by any next of kin once the homeless client has passed, are hard to take in. On my way in that day I passed the same six rough sleepers I pass every morning from Lime Street, felt the same guilt as usual, and gave the

same apology I always give, and being in the gallery with these works hit really quite hard. The stories being told in this department store, one that is now inseparably placed in my heart, are ones that everybody can find their own relationship with. It’s been a privilege to be here, and to remain here even more so. Until the 28th of October this year, we will continue to occupy this grand building with artists who deserve to be here, and deserve a voice within this year’s Independents Biennial. From the 5th August, Empty Spaces Cinema launches a programme in the basement, and the ground floor, 1st floor and 2nd floor exhibitions continue to shift around the building and take on new lives. So if you haven’t been, visit before it’s too late, and if you have, keep coming back and find something new to see. Even today, I went up to the 2nd floor and found a contribution, left by a local arts group, which will continue to be cherished. -The exhibition contunies and evolves until 28th October 2018 Words, Patrick Kirk-Smith

Ari Benjamin Meyers rethinking musical portraiture for Liverpool Biennial

Lord of the Flies was the last thing I saw at the Playhouse. It was ok, but nothing on Educating Rita. The theatre, which has been boarded up for weeks in preparation for Liverpool Biennial, is at its best when the stories told reflect their audience back at themselves. The venue opened in 1866 as a music hall, and in 1911 relaunched as a reparatory theatre, as it remained until 1999. As a reparatory theatre it probably saw more Liverpool writers and actors come through than anywhere else in the country, standing in as the voice of the city when it couldn’t find its own from time to time. 1999, the year it became part of the Liverpool and Merseyside Theatres Trust with the Everyman, was also the year Liverpool Biennial met the people of the city for the first time. So for the 10th edition of the Biennial, the Playhouse seems a near perfect space to open up to a new kind of performance, and a new kind of music hall. The history of the building, and the people of the city are very well reflected back at themselves. The work of Ari Benjamin Meyers works here. His four compositions form the basis for four film portraits of four musicians with ties to the city. In the theatre itself, sat above the stage, it’s an almost uncomfortable experience, slightly

too intimate, but necessary to immerse yourself in the nature of the films, all of which are incredibly involving. I’m unfamiliar with any of the four musicians (I’ll likely come to regret admitting that) so I’m discovering them through this work, not trying to compare them to it. The journey from knowing nothing to near absolute trust of the performer is exciting. But downstairs, revisiting the sheet music the performances were built from, everything makes sense. Everything clicks. Now none of what I’ve listened to seems relevant – like I’ve heard everything they wanted to say, but to really listen to the compositions, it’s the intimate, behind the scene detail that makes it worthwhile. It’s been years since I’ve read sheet music, a skill I’ve all but lost, but reading back on Bette Bright, you feel the rhythm from upstairs and it fits back in its bars. For a theatre to hand over to visual arts for such a long stretch of time is incredibly generous, but for visual art to understand and sympathise with the true nature of the theatre, and show it as its best, is a rare gift. -At The Playhouse until 28th October Words, Patrick Kirk-Smith

The Playhouse Theatre. Photo: Brian Roberts. Courtesy of Liverpool Biennial

Anywhere can be a cinema: Empty Spaces Cinema Anywhere can be a cinema. As pop up cinemas become intertwined with public programme, the spaces these cinemas are in becomes as important as the films themselves. If we are using cinema programming as a political statement because spaces, both public and private, are always strumming with politics - what are the films telling us about the space, how we should feel, how we should react?

c. Tony Knox

As part of Independents Biennial, two spaces become cinemas - for Thursdays and Sundays at least in August - by virtue of Empty Spaces Cinema, a project set up by former volunteers of Liverpool Small Cinema (soon to become part of the Dixie Dean Hotel). In George Henry Lee’s the site of exhibitions by Disparity Collective, Tony Mallon and art student graduates, the basement screens films under the theme of Don’t Cry, Shopgirl in its first month. Inspired by Saturday jobs, working in retail and school days, the programme includes The Craft, Shop Around the Corner, Clerks and Little Shop of Horrors.

Meanwhile at OUTPUT Gallery, the focus shifts to Liverpool, stories about the city from various gazes. Who tells the story of a place and how does that impact on its people? Films start with Showgirls (18) programmed by Liverpool Pride. An unusual trio of shorts, Liverpool Sounding and Turn of the Tide, commissioned by Liverpool’s Public Relations Office in 1966, about Liverpool’s music and its docklands industry, reflect on the tension there always is for a city to define itself from the top down, rather than bottom up. They are paired with Roisin Burns short Passing Tides, a heartfelt film about creative spirit featuring Bill Ryder Jones. The last screening is You’ll Never Walk Alone, a rare chance to see the French documentary about Liverpool’s 90s music scene, featuring Echo and the Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch, Pete Wylie and Jayne Casey. The film programme begins in August. Tickets are £5/4 and can be purchased at emptyspacescinema.com

Jaqui Hallum wins the John Moores Painting Prize 2018 Hallum wins £25,000 first prize, as the Prize celebrates its 60th anniversary The Walker Art Gallery has announced the winner of the John Moores Painting Prize 2018: artist Jacqui Hallum with her painting King and Queen of Wands (2017). Hallum is the 30th winner of the £25,000 Prize, held biennially, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. King and Queen of Wands is a multi-part work comprising three loose cotton sheets which have been stained, dyed and painted with inks. It is part of a large body of work by the artist which draws inspiration from the Rider-Waite tarot deck. Illustrations of a king and queen can be seen at either end of the artwork. Hallum describes the space in between the figures as akin to ‘a reading’. Hallum’s painting was selected from more than 2,700 entries which were judged anonymously by an esteemed panel of jurors including the artists Monster Chetwynd, Lubaina Himid CBE, Bruce McLean and Liu Xiaodong, and curator Jenni Lomax.King and Queen of Wands is one of 60 paintings to be exhibited in the John Moores Painting Prize 2018. This free exhibition will be held at the Walker from 14 July to 18 November

as part of Liverpool Biennial 2018. Juror Jenni Lomax, said: “Amidst the passionate and heated selection process, Jacqui Hallum’s painting emerged as the clear winner. There is something about the provisional and nomadic nature of the work that makes it feel very current. At the same time, an initial sense of lightness belies historical and personal references that collapse within its folds.” Born in Wembley, London, Hallum is now based in Totnes, Devon. She attended Coventry School of Art and Design 1996-9 and the Slade School of Fine Art 2000-2. Her work has been exhibited widely across the UK. Hallum recently trained to become a gardener and her artworks regularly move between her own garden and studio. She is interested in organic growth and decay, acknowledging that her artworks are themselves subject to change, decay and entropy. Describing her approach to painting, Hallum said: “I have a studio in the front of my flat and a garden at the back; these are both places where my paintings are made, often going back and forth between the two, or spending a night, or a week, out

of doors. I like to see them differently, but I also like to watch what happens as they take on a rain storm or the piecing sun. If they survive then they have what it takes.” In celebration of the Prize’s 60th anniversary year, an additional award will be offered to Hallum as the first prize winner – a threemonth fellowship at Liverpool John Moores University, together with an in-focus solo display at the Walker Art Gallery in 2019. Sandra Penketh, Director of Art Galleries at National Museums Liverpool, said: “We’re thrilled that Jacqui has been awarded the John Moores Painting Prize in its 60th year. Her approach to painting is very special, resulting in highly individual artworks inspired by a wonderfully diverse range of stimuli. There is something truly captivating in the way that her beautifully illustrated sheets reveal and conceal stories within their folds.” King and Queen of Wands was selected from a shortlist of five paintings, which also included Quilt by Billy Crosby; The Thunderous Silence of Your Presence by Tom Howse; GIANTS by Joseph O’Rourke and The Divide, Beyond Reasoning by Shanti Panchal. Each of these shortlisted artists

will receive a prize of £2,500. Visitors to the exhibition will also be invited to vote for their favourite painting to win the popular Visitors’ Choice Award, sponsored by Rathbones, the winner of which will receive £2,018. Established by Sir John Moores in 1957, the Prize has awarded more than £605,000 in prize money across 29 exhibitions, which have showcased more than 2,200 works of art. The Prize presents a rich history of postwar painting in Britain. The firstexhibition was held only six years after the Walker Art Gallery re-opened following the second world war. Hallum joins its esteemed alumni including David Hockney, Mary Martin, Peter Doig, Keith Coventry, Sarah Pickstone and Rose Wylie among others. -The John Moores Painting Prize run at Walker Art Gallery from 14 July to 28 October Newsdesk

Beats, Rhymes and Fabric: An Exploration of the Relationship Between Street Wear and Urban Music Culture

by Michelle Pratt, first prize recipient of the Art in Liverpool Critical Writing award 2018, a new award with LJMU & Liverpool Hope University profiling the best pieces of academic and critical writing produced by BA & MA students. This full dissertation, along with runners up can be read at www.artinliverpool.com. Introduction Urban music and Hip-hop culture’s dynamic relationship with society requires an in-depth evaluation of the roles it plays in the continuing evolution of American and UK street wear. The term ‘street wear’ is described by Steven Vogel as ‘clothes created or inspired by urban living’ (Vogel, 2007, p1) in Street Wear. This study will explore and analyse the concepts of street wear and urban music culture of the past 40 years, and how urban music figures such as Wu Tang Clan, A$AP Rocky and Skepta make a variation of statements through the representation of street wear, which reflects the concepts of their music.

as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5 (Figure 1), fashioned outfits reminiscent of street gang style to their concerts and video shoots

undoubtedly maintain a standing in the fashion and music industry.

‘It’s like a jungle sometimes It makes me wonder how I keep from goin’ under Broken glass everywhere People pissin’ on the stairs, you know they just don’t care I can’t take the smell, can’t take the noise Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice

Since its emergence in London in the early 2000s, the multifaced phenomenon of Grime has surfaced in and out of mainstream popular culture, delivering controversial topics, mostly focusing on London life and politics, to its global audience. (Cafolla, 2016, p1) As an innovative genre that incorporates vivid rapping, abstract beats and a lyrical content relating to the UKs

Roadman Chic

Hip Hop Wear Since its emergence in the 1980s, the evolution of hip-hop has been a truly multifaceted phenomenon and though many factors have contributed to the growth in popularity of the culture, few are more noticeable than its evolving relationship with the world of fashion. (Smith-Strickland, 2016, p1) Andre Leon Talley, former American Vogue editor, states in Fresh Dressed, ‘Hip hop culture is about life style, it’s people who are free, who are exploring their creativity through a free format of language, motion, music or visual style.’ (Jenkins, 2015, 1:40) As Hip-hop culture became visible, so too did the sartorial choices of its earliest influencers, most of whom maintained some visible link to the life they lived in the communities of the inner-city. Even today, the myriad of stylistic preferences that have come to define Hip-hop culture have their origins in the disenfranchised communities that first birthed the genre. The reality of extreme poverty and violence within the disenfranchised communities of New York City, particularly in the South Bronx, was arguably a catalyst for the creative expressions that became known as Hip-hop; ‘when times are bad, a lot of people tend to gravitate towards art’ (Jenkins, 2015, 22:53). Succeeding a truce in the late 70s, Bronx based gangs found peaceful, productive ways of competing, which led to the rise of rapping, break dancing and turntablism in the city of New York. Violent gangs would become ‘crews’ and practise these creative expressions to settle disputes and gain respect within the community. Prominent Hip-Hop artists of the early 1980s, such

of the album artwork is emphasized by the Nike tracksuit and trainers, which communicates a sense of immateriality and self-effacing authenticity. Grime’s informal, practical and minimalist approach to fashion is representational of the active lifestyle of the urban communities in London. Although the culture and its visual styles originated in the ruins of post-Thatcherite Britain, ‘a wasteland of broken down communities’ (Cafolla, 2016, p1), Grime’s influence on fashion is extremely innovative, principled and cultural. It seems the modest Grime staples of a black tracksuit, puffer jacket and hoodie are gradually becoming acknowledged as non-threatening, valuable pieces of fashion design, which reflects the process of cultural acceptance of urban music genres and street wear in UK society and beyond. Conclusion

Leone, Lisa (1982) Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5

Rats in the front room, roaches in the back Junkies in the alley with a baseball bat’ (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5, 1982, The Message) This concept of protective leather and denim street armour is emphasised by the anonymising low fitting hats and large tinted lenses that the group often fashioned, as well as the tears and revealing garments that expose the muscular physique of particular members. (Figure 1) Here, the group exhibit an aesthetic that communicates their ability to overcome the difficulties and dangers that the urban environment and its law enforcement presents. It is also identifiable in the lyrics and the beat of Hip-hop music. It’s this reaction of authenticity, resourcefulness and creativity to the negative conditions of society, that are rooted Hip-hop music and fashion, that distinguishes and popularized the movements in wider culture. Although the culture is often imitated and manipulated as a commercial gimmick, authentic, profound expressions of Hip-hop will

urban environment, Grime’s relationship with street wear is as interesting, unique and raw as its musical disposition. Photographer and ‘pop-ethnographer’ Nina Manandhar traces the style of the firmly underground, east London movement in What We Wore: ‘While the sound of Grime was hard, edgy and ‘aggy’, the feel of its trademark garments was soft and probably smelt like Lenor. These were clothes for comfort, clothes for a generation of burgeoning bedroom producers, to sit around and make beats in. Not so much about getting dressed for the rave but getting dressed for the home and neighbourhood.’ (Sama, 2014, p.1) The casual, urban style, representational of Grime culture, is exemplified by the combination of a staple all-black tracksuit and Nike Air Max trainer shoes. Original Grime artist, Dizzee Rascal, models this fundamental aesthetic on the cover of his breakout debut Boy In Da Corner (Figure 16). The minimal, highly informal appearance

The impact that Hip-hop and Grime have on street wear and high fashion brands is discussed in this study via the formal analysis of the fundamental clothing worn by leading artists of each genre, in relation to a selection of apparel by designers including Wood Wood, Nasir Mazhar and Tommy Hilfiger, which communicates the way that the urban street styles of Hiphop and Grime have influenced the fashion industry. The exploration of multiple concepts of street wear and the urban music genres, in relation to each other and with reference to societal and political circumstances, has revealed interesting dynamics regarding urban culture, fashion and music. This special study has highlighted the way in which social, political and environmental factors, such as disenfranchisement, classism and gang warfare, have affected the contents of urban music and street wear. The study also communicates each genre’s different approach to street wear and their reception in society, the fashion industry and wider culture.

-Written by Michelle Pratt, graduating from Liverpool Hope University, 2018 Read the full dissertation online at www.artinliverpool.com/category/ features/critical-writing-programme/

Review: Tom Wood & Cian Quayle at The Williamson

C. Cian Quayle, Detours and Dislocations

Photographer, Tom Wood seems to be on-trend currently having had a plethora of exhibitions over this past year. His exhibition at the Williamson Art Gallery, (alongside photographer colleague and friend Cian Quayle) depicts another string to his creative bow. This current body of work comes from the years he spent photographing Cammell Laird Shipyard in the 1990s. While Cian Quayle’s photographic work follows the tracks of the New Brighton-born Malcolm Lowry, most notable for his Under the Volcano fame. A departure from Wood’s overt street photography style, this current exhibition is a bit more of a closed-shop, so to speak. Throughout much of Wood’s work, there is a subtle thread of humour and a tinge of sadness. No more so than in this showing. Commissioned by the Documentary Photography Archive DPA, (to capture a definitive phase in the social and political history of the region) his aim was to portray the working lives of Birkenhead shipbuilders at a time when they were fighting to save the yard from closure.

C. Tom Wood, Cammell Laird

I wonder if Wood knew back then just how much of a social history document his work would become. His images show just how much working practices have changed in terms of technology. We see black and whiteboards with chalk-written calculations and not a computer in sight. In the background, we also see working spaces plastered with buxom ‘page three’ models in many levels of undress. The then ubiquitous Samantha Fox is widely

included. The gallery’s strategically placed post-it note over a part of genitalia is amusing (of course, remember the gallery is council-run and not NML). One also wonders if the commissioners welcomed the inclusion of such behind the scenes grittiness. However, to leave it out would have been whitewashing. To leave it in has captured the entirety of an era now considered a sexist anachronism. An anachronism that could have so easily been lost from history. It’s healthy to have a reminder. Droll scouse humour is very much prevalent throughout. For instance, a notice in one of the workroom images says: “The man who does favours is on holiday this week. The man who lends tools went with him.” Likewise, a response, to what must have been a very frequent question is posted on a wall: “I don’t know where Sammy is – try the shop.” The Cammell Laird Shipyard had its ups and downs over its 160 years. But it was a sad loss when the boatyard (which had been the mainstay of the town employing 40,000 men at its peak) closed its doors with the loss of 900 jobs. The jokes and the jibes all pointed to Cammell Laird being a boysclub workplace. Still, it was a place where the men enjoyed the craic and it’s good to keep sight of such social history. In the next room, with Detours and Dislocations, fellow-photographer Cian Quayle (who has edited andco-designed the book with Tom Wood of his DPA work) has a showing of his own work on the back of tracking the footsteps of Malcolm Lowry. Lowry was born in 1909, to relatively well-off parents. They moved in 1912 to Caldy. Prior to going to Cambridge to study, Lowry persuaded his father to allow him to travel to the Far East as a deckhand so he could experience the world. In 1927, he set sail from Liverpool on the freighter S.S. Pyrrhus. Lowry had no romantic illusions of Liverpool, and called it that: “Terrible city whose main street is the ocean”. The fact he never returned presumably means he was keen to stay away. Slightly more abstract, multi-media-based and experimental in his depiction of Lowry’s life, Quayle portrays Lowry’s Liverpool connections as a thoughtful exploration. It’s timely that this exhibition partners the launch of RRS Sir David Attenborough. Lowry called his full body of work, The Voyage That Never Ends. Let’s hope this sentiment continues to ring true for our local shipbuilding industry. -Both at Williamson Art Gallery & Museum: Tom Wood, Cammell Laird, until 8th September Cian Quayle, Detours and Dislocations, until 26th August Words, Carol Emmas

NEWS

Get On (card)Board for Castle Creations SIX extraordinary structures made of cardboard, tape and community spirit will be created in each borough this summer in what is a cultural first for Liverpool City Region. Lost Castles will see hundreds of volunteers work with thousands of cardboard boxes to build monumental castle-inspired structures, some of which will be based on actual medieval forts or historic structures which were in the region at one time. Members of the public – individuals and community groups – are being urged to get involved in the event which is set to take place from Thursday 9 to Sunday 12 August*.

Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018 launches at Liverpool School of Art & Design New Contemporaries offers an insight into today’s creative practices, showcasing some of the most dynamic work being made by emerging artists. As part of this year’s Liverpool Biennial, New Contemporaries will launch at Liverpool School of Art & Design, Liverpool John Moores University, from July 14, 2018–September 9, 2018. The exhibition will then travel to the South London Gallery in December 2018, where the exhibition was last hosted in 1999.

Some of the creations are expected to be as tall as 20 metres and will be located in: Williamson Square (Liverpool) Knowsley Safari Park Norton Priory Museum (Halton) Ashton Park, West Kirby (Wirral) North Park, Bootle (Sefton) Victoria Square, near the Town Hall (St Helens) The concept is the brainchild of French artist Olivier Grossette and is the first creative project to take place across the entire city region.

New Public Artwork by Ugo Rondinone for Liverpool Waterfront

Liverpool Biennial and Tate Liverpool unveail a major new joint project with internationally acclaimed artist Ugo Rondinone – his first public artwork in the UK. The large outdoor sculpture, called Liverpool Mountain, will stand at over 10 metres tall next to Tate Liverpool in Royal Albert Dock Liverpool. The work is planned to be unveiled this autumn. The artwork celebrates Liverpool City Region’s commitment to supporting bold, contemporary art and its status as a world renowned cultural destination. Part of the Liverpool 2018 programme, the project marks the 10th anniversary of Liverpool European Capital of Culture, the 20th anniversary of Liverpool Biennial and the 30th anniversary of Tate Liverpool. Ugo Rondinone is known for creating large-scale public sculptures. His work for Liverpool is part of the artist’s mountain series and will be similar to outdoor sculptures he has created in Miami and Las Vegas which are designed to elevate their surroundings. Liverpool Mountain will be Rondinone’s first public artwork in the UK and the first of its kind in Europe.

Shanghai artists take over Liverpool waterfront

Liverpool city region’s best young artists announced

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.

Two budding young artists are celebrating after battling it out with more than 900 pupils from 56 schools across the Liverpool City Region to be named the area’s best young artists.

This is Shanghai will bring together the work of ten leading contemporary artists from China, reinforcing a creative link between the two cities which are often compared due to their recognisable waterfronts and their shared architectural and emotional characteristics.

Jacob Crummey, a Year 9 student from St Margaret’s Academy and Harrison Fair a Year 5 student from Eaves Primary School, were crowned the overall winners of the dot-art Schools competition at a special prize-giving ceremony at LJMU Liverpool School of Art and Design on Thursday 21st June.

Master abstract painter returns to the Walker Art Gallery An exhibition of paintings by Sean Scully, renowned globally as the master of postminimalist abstraction, will be held at Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery from 14 July to 14 October 2018. Sean Scully:1970 opens in line with Liverpool Biennial and the John Moores Painting Prize, in which Scully was a prize winner in 1972 and 1974.

Putting Merseyside artists on the map

Independents Biennial 2018

GUIDE supported by

in partnership with

11 pages of What’s On

These commissions have been supported and funded by Williamson Art Gallery & Museum (Wirral), Kirkby Gallery & Prescot Museum (Knowsley), The Atkinson (Sefton), and Heart of Glass (St Helens) A pop-up print workshop in St. Helens, inviting artists, creatives and residents of the town to come and make screenprints in the town centre. In response to St. Helen’s 150th anniversary Kate Hodgson, Director of The Royal Standard. 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.

Kate Hodgson, St Helens in Print

Hodgson’s practice explores the nature of print as a tool of commerce, craft

Mini Outdoor Threshold Festival at The Atkinson, Southport as part of Independents Biennial coinciding with the launch of Sefton Open 2018. Grass-roots, multi-arts festival Threshold have teamed up with Independents Biennial & The Atkinson, Southport, to deliver a free, family friendly outdoor mini-festival on Saturday 28th July 2018. The event is one of the Independents Biennial’s four special commissions taking place during the visual arts festival, which runs until 28th October in Liverpool, Sefton, Knowsley, Wirral and St Helens. The sister festival to Liverpool Biennial, it champions and supports emerging and grassroots art and artists on Merseyside.

The line-up of offerings, open to all, includes the following: Interactive performance and theatre shows from ‘Funny Looking Kids’ Comedy Club and Storytelling from the magically talented Gav Cross. A visual arts programme including interactive live sculptural and drawing workshops, using live performances on the day for inspiration from: Pamela Sullivan (creator of detailed and fascinating installations); and Jazamin Sinclair (creator of satirical acerbic storyboard illustration series Illustrated Prosody). --

The day of events by Threshold, including a mix of visual arts, performance, storytelling and music, will take place at the renowned Atkinson arts centre from 11am until 3pm.

and art. Primarily interested in print’s role as a ‘democratic art form’ that can be taken away from the confines of the gallery and used to spread messages and information. In her most recent work, prints and performances draw upon slogan T-shirts highlighting both their absurdity and ability to disseminate (often pointless) information. -Once the workshops have concluded, details of exhibitions & pop-ups will be available at www.artinliverpool.com

28 July The Atkinson

Threshol

Cath Garvey, Girl Comic

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.

ld Festival mk.2

Oxton Road Rock, Brigitte Jurack

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Free Comic Book Art Workshops with Cath Garvey Tuesdays at Kirkby Gallery this Summer 31 July, 7, 14 & 21 August 10.30am 12.30pm Local comic book author and illustrator Cath Garvey will be leading free workshops where younger visitors can create their own characters and a mini ‘zine to keep! We’re delighted to announce that Kirkby Gallery have selected Cath as Knowsley’s emerging artist for Merseyside’s Independents Biennial 2018. Cath is a freelance Illustrator and Comic Artist from Huyton. She studied Illustration at Plymouth University and graduated in 2016. Cath’s self-published satirical comics quietly empower women and also offer humour on very real subjects. As well as her workshops, there is also a small exhibition of her fabulous work at Kirkby Gallery to enjoy. Places on the workshops are free, but numbers are limited so booking is essential - email tina.ball@knowsley. gov.uk

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.

decorative work and Peter Blake’s Dazzle Ferry. It is bright and glossy, with a similar feel to Della Robbia Pottery that it will contrast beautifully with the stone tones of the hard landscaping in the new Green Gallery.

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.

Jurack’s other recent projects in Wirral are displayed in the company of the rock, raised up over viewers’ heads pulling focus back to community groups around Birkenhead.

The multi-coloured and modern, audacious, vibrant ‘rock’ sculpture is solid enough to sit. It is a cross between jazz, Acid House, the Singh Twin’s

Her career started studying sculpture at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Glasgow School of Art and Chelsea College of Art. As co-founder of international performance group Foreign Investment Jurack has exhibited widely, including time as Henry Moore Sculpture Fellow, shortlisted for the Liverpool Art Prize and exhibitions/projects in Rio de Janeiro,

Kiev, Oslo and New Delhi. The gallery is the latest addition to the Williamson Art Gallery’s exhibition space, launched in June 2018, and occupied for the first time by Brigitte Jurack for Independents Biennial 2018. Visitors to the gallery for the commission will also see a major exhibition by Tom Wood and Cian Quayle as part of the festival. -14 July - 28 October Williamson Art Gallery & Museum

Not Just Collective at Fulwood Community Garden Throughout the Biennial, Not Just Collective will undertake a residency at the Fulwood Community Garden, a woodland space in Aigburth, Liverpool. The collective will create works that respond to the woodland, and will survive or succumb to the elements, the exhibition growing and changing with time. A series of events will take place featuring music, storytelling and interactive art, and showcasing work created over the course of the residency.

The Fulwood Garden can be accessed via Fulwood Drive or Galbraith Close, L17. Further details about the project and future events will be found on Not Just Collective’s website and social media: notjustcollective.weebly.com/ facebook.com/notjustcollective Instagram @notjustcollective Twitter @notjust_

Rimrose Valley Friends Environmental Art Trail A stunning haven of wildlife and tranquillity, Rimrose Valley Country Park hosts an Environmental Land Art Trail throughout the Independents Biennial 2018. From 14th July – 28th October with 6 artists confirmed, all of them passionate about the environment, working only in natural and recycled materials. From static art and sculptures to informative trails. Rimrose Valley, once a local council tip and landfill site, is a 3.5km country park and valley in North Liverpool which provides a vital mosaic of habitats for wildlife in an urban built-up area. Often referred to as a ‘green lung’ it is a sanctuary used by the local community to connect with nature, vital for good health and well-being. THE SITE IS IMMINENTLY EARMARKED FOR A DUAL CARRIAGEWAY TO BE BUILT RIGHT THROUGH ITS CORE, to facilitate the swift ease of HGV transport to the nearby Liverpool docks. The local community, in their thousands, are determined to stop this and protect their amazing, precious jewel.

This installation, is one of the many projects that Rimrose Valley Friends is currently hosting, to celebrate its beauty and protect its existence. Come along and be part of something wonderful. Artists confirmed include Alice Lenkiewicz, Karen Evans, Nicole Bartos, Sarah Nicholson, Lee O’Brien, Alison Little Location: Rimrose Valley Country Park Website: rimrosevalleyfriends.org

Art on the Prom 2018 Art on the Promenade will feature outdoor stalls, exhibits, live music and other attractions including art displays, pavement art, 1000 wishing flags, other community art projects, recycled art, trolls and AHOYlake decorated gardens along North Parade.

This year, in partnership with Independents Biennial, the public arts trail along the edge of the Wirral Peninnsula continues until 28th October 2018.

Produced by Festival of Firsts, an annual community arts festival which takes over the Wirral every year. It is 100% volunteerrun and received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2017.

Get off the train at Hoylake or Meols and head to the sound of seagulls.

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Working with local partners, the Festival aims to celebrate the arts, inspire creativity, encourage participation by all, showcase local talent, bring outstanding performers to Wirral and offer something for everyone.

Another first for the Independents Biennial. In 2018, four public arts trails open in and around Liverpool, in Picton, Hoylake, Bootle and St Michael’s. Some evolve as live residencies, with some installed as permanent exhibitions.

Ali Harwood, #Tunstall30 During the Independents Biennial 2018, look out on Tunstall Street in Wavertree for artwork to adorn its surroundings. Here, wonder may soon be welcomed independently. Artist Ali Harwood has been making a point of spending time with the thirty houses on Tunstall Street since 2014. He has made art about his conversations with these buildings. Some of this art will be displayed again where it was conceived. You may witness posters, haikus, paintings, collages or something else around the boarded up blue walls. Ali Harwood on his work: “This street helps me to contemplate on the passing of time and the importance of making the most of it. Whilst I’m making my art here, I aim to make respect this place. When I’ve been making my art here over the years, I notice how many different people pass through it, most in a hurry to get somewhere else. When creating #Tunstall30, I hope to encourage others to take notice of the potential for seeing the good in their surroundings.”

Over the four month festival, St John’s Market, Liverpool’s most multi-cultured, vibrant covered market, will be occupied by over 80 artists working in 8 project spaces.

26 July - 8 August Pride Placards, Lois Tierney And exhibition celebrating, and working towards the city wide festival of LGBT+ Pride Workshops (25th), march (28th), & exhibition.

the first fortnight looks something like this:

Rimrose Valley Sample, A scaled down exhibition of wildlife and environmental artwork in the Country Park running between the railway & the Leeds-Liverpool Canal.

Ivy Kalungi, will install new spaces focussing on her identity as a Ugandan, Irish artist in Liverpool. Initiated by a personal encounter with the new environment. Humanscapes, Kiara Mohamed. We are a kaleidoscope of human experiences, messy, colliding in and out of each other’s lives. Do we know or care that forced marriage or female genital mutilation takes place in our communities?

Brigitte Jurack, Scavengers. The installation explores the interdependence between humans and other species of the animal kingdom within large conurbations such as New Delhi, London and Liverpool

Kids That Fly, Ali Harwood

Reading Room

Ellie Woods, untitled

Artists & Writers-in-Residence curate a library of artist publications, zinez, essays and books, open to the public to drop-in and discover something new.

A snapshot from a coffee shop, with the sounds, scents and views to match. Audience interaction is encouraged. sit on the chairs and read through photobooks

Join 23 young pioneers, explorers and innovators framed in flight as they elevate beyond the streets of L7. Alongside its words that aim high, ‘Kids That Fly’

9 - 22 August ROOT-ed Zine

Jubeda Khatun: The Forgotten Partition of 1971

One of the most important recent additions to Liverpool’s art scene. ROOT-ed Zine curate an exhibition reflecting on their work giving a voice to black North West artists. SCI: They sail across the mirrored sea Artists based in the North West. They have kept a strong relationship and have continued to collaborate with artists met on their travels. Reading Room Artists & Writers-in-Residence curate a library of artist publications, zinez, essays and books, open to the public to drop-in and discover something new.

An exhibition that will engage the audience in discovering the Bangladesh Liberation War and the 1971 Bangladesh genocide. East Pakistan seceded from West Pakistan with the help of India. Kids That Fly, Ali Harwood Ellie Woods, untitled

The audience will hear and see recordings of spoken word and poetry, visual art, and learn about Bangladeshi culture. From food, songs and traditional displays of ornaments and furniture typically found in Bangladesh.

Two exhibitions continuing and evolving throughout the festival. Find them around “As a spoken word artist, I have written corners of the market, hung from trees, and hidden in stalls. bilingual texts around my dual identity of being British born and coming from a Humanscapes by Kiara Bangali background. Mohamed continues, rehung There is much that is unknown about the until the end of the festival in culture of Bangladesh and its partition. locations around the market. There is a small minority of Bangladeshi families in Liverpool and the diaspora is growing.” - Jubeda Khatun

For 10 years, photographic artist, Tony Mallon has lived & worked as an artist in residence in the Kensington New Deal for Communities (NDC) area of Liverpool. The NDC was the Government’s strategy to tackle deprivation in some of the poorest areas in the country. The main aim was reduce the gap, in terms of deprivation and inequality, between those areas and the rest of the country. Since January 2012 he has been employed by Crisis Skylight Merseyside as a Photography Tutor, delivering weekly workshops at various homeless hostels in Merseyside. Quiet Room is a collaboration between Tony Mallon (Digit in the Rib) & The Salvation Army International Heritage Centre. Mallon reflects the interaction between the Heritage Centre’s photographic archives & his project, Homeless, which moved beyond the human presence to explore & examine the spaces & experience of living in homeless hostels in Merseyide.

LJMU Graduate Award exhibition 14.07-28.10

Empty Spaces Cinema is a new project in Liverpool.

Liverpool Hope University Graduate Award exhibition 14.07-28.10

Using community to pull together bespoke cinema events across Merseyside utilising empty or disused spaces to free them up for cinemas. Head to www.artinliverpool.com for the full cinema listings

1st Floor Disparity, Positions of Power 14.07-28.10 Disparity Collective’s Positions of Power examines both overt and unconventional power, with photographers Keeley Bentley, Drew Forsyth, Claire Griffiths, Mark Hobbs, Jamal Jameel, Abbie Jennings and Conrad Ohnuki questioning and interpreting what ‘power’ means in 2018.

Twelve graduates from Liverpool Hope, and Liverpool John Moores University were selected for exhibition in the first Indepednents Biennial graduate exhibition award. The award grants the artists a huge exhibition venue to show new work, as well as a four month residency and working exhibition space to use as their studio. The groups have curated two seperate exhibitions between them, with clear social and personal narratives coming through their painting, installation and video work.

Artists: LJMU:

Liverpool Hope:

Liz Smith Danielle Waine Sally Slingsby Rachel Turner Hassnat Sikander Jasmine Eccles

Stephanie Carr Louise Stewart Jessica Rowlands Rikkilee Taylor Amy Wain

�Expect to stumble accross artists at work.�

Tony Mallon, Quiet Room 14.07-28.10

Empty Spaces Cinema 14.07-28.10

George Henry Lees, one of the region’s best loved buildings is being reoccupied with new exhibitions by the North West’s most intriguing artists and collectives using the venue to make new work, and exhibit some of their best, between July and October.

2nd Floor

Basement

Malene Hartmann Rasmussen installation 01.08-31.08, Bluecoat Display Centre For the month of August, our window will be brought to life with a unique installation by Malene Hartmann Rasmussen. This is very generously supported by Granada Foundation and local art supplies retailer, Cass Art. “I am working with mixed media sculpture, making and arranging multiple components into complex narrative tableaux of visual excess. The dialogue between components and the way one’s unconscious can direct the composition interests me. I try to create a place beyond reality, a deceitful echo of the real world, that bends the perception of what is real. I want my work to look like a very skilled child could have made it, clumsy and elaborate at the same time. Initially the viewer may, mistakenly, be drawn to my figures thinking them to be toys; however closer examination reveals their rather darker narrative. They invite you into an absurd and surreal world where things are not what they seem…” - Malene Hartmann Rasmussen

Exhibitions

Barely There: Nude drawings and kiln formed glass by Cait Walker 14.07-14.08, Domino Gallery Cait Walker obscures observation in a new series of life drawings encased in kiln formed glass. Anton Dolders, Merseyscapes 14.07-12.08, ABC L1

LIAS Studio: Culture City 10 23.08-05.09, St John’s Market An Exhibition Paintings and drawings by members of Liverpool Urban Sketchers commemorating 10 years since Liverpool’s reign as European Capital of Culture

Dan Carden, local Walton MP has kindly agreed to let Dead Pigeon Gallery take over his office space for a three month period. This will be DPG’s second group show and continues our developing theme of exhibiting art in unexpected places. It’s a unique collaboration; housing art and politics together under one roof and offers many avenues for discussion, particularly the value of art and culture to a community. It also demonstrates a new and welcome attitude from our local MP and shows the community that new ideas are welcome and encouraged.

Williamson Art Gallery & Museum Cammell Laird, Tom Wood 14.07-02.09 (details opposite page)

George Henry Lees building 14.07-28.10

Detours and dislocations, Cian Quayle 14.07-26.08 (details opposite page)

Tony Mallon, Photos of homeless spaces created in collaboration with the Salvation Army

On the Edge of..... 14.07-09.09 an exhibition from Textile 21

LJMU & Liverpool Hope Graduate Award exhibition, Twelve exceptional students from LJMU & Liverpool Hope exhibit new work. The exhibition brings together Liverpool’s most confident graduate work.

Will Penn 18.07-09.09 Celebrating the life and works of William Charles Penn 1877–1968, fifty years after his death

Disparity Collective, Positions of Power A photographic exploration of what ‘power’ means today

Wirral Commission (Brigitte Jurack) 14.07-28.10 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.

‘Making Connections’ by Veronica Cay and Pauline Hughes 20.07-18.08, Editions Ltd. Two of Liverpool’s leading ceramic sculptors come together for a new exhibition Summer Open Exhibition 24.07-18.08, ArtHouse SCA An open submission exhibition

Dan Carden MP hosts Dead Pigeon Gallery 21.07-26.07, 12-5pm The office of Dan Carden MP, 66 Priory Road,

Tessa Eastman, Joanna Hejmej, Irina Razumovskaya and Tara Squibb.

South Liverpool Photographic Society 26.07-08.08 Liverpool Cathedral Unweave a rainbow 24.07-05.08, Tate Liverpool Tate Staff exhibition, from practicing artists working at all UK Tate sites, caoming together in Liverpool for Independents Biennial 2018 Art in Windows: Colette Lilley 01.08-31.08 5 Bold Place The Carter Preston Prize Exhibition 04.08-22.09 Bluecoat Display Centre In memory of the potter Julia Carter Preston. Shortlisted artists for the prize are Elizabeth Ashdown, Tom Collison,

“18” 17.08-27.08 ROAD Studios A multi-discipline exhibition of work by Waterfront Arts Project responding to the centenary of World War 1. Reflecting on themes war, conflict, and sacrifice. Culture City 10 20.08-09.09, St John’s Market Liverpool Urban Sketchers commemorate 10 years since Liverpool’s reign as European Capital of Culture Politics of Beauty 30.08-29.09 Corke Art Gallery Chrissy Collinson, Paul Collinson, John Elcock & Josie Jenkins. Real and invented landscapes painted in hyper realistic and impressionistic styles some featuring strong political themes whilst others capture the colours and beauty of locations often overlooked.

Residencies & Production Independents Biennial, Writers-inResidence 14.07-28.10

Public Trails

OUTPUT album playback with Michael Lacey 09.08, 6-9pm Following on from his 2017 solo album Peritas, Liverpool artist and musician Michael Lacey presents new songs in an album playback at OUTPUT gallery. Lacey’s intricate, developed soundscapes contain delicate, drifting arpeggios and densely layered counter-melodies, inspired by from ambient pioneers and fairground waltzes. His radio show Illegal Railway, online and at IWFM, illustrates his diverse musical influences.

Talks & Events Empty Spaces Cinema 14.07-28.10 George Henry Lees Find the full cinema programme at www. artinliverpool.com Kiara Mohamed: Humanscapes: Speaking the Unspoken, Screening 28.07, 12-3pm, Rapid Response Unit, St John’s Market Film screening of a survivor of forced marriage and honour based violence Following on with a panel discussion from different agencies who would have come across the issues discussed in different walks of life and work. . Free. Booking Required. OUTPUT in conversation with Kate Cooper 26.07, 6-7pm OUTPUT gallery

Liver Bards: The Earth Hums 07.08, 8pm, Ma Boyle’s Liver Bards marks the anniversary of the passing of Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore on August 7th 1941 with an evening of poetry and spoken word that takes a snippet of one of his poems as its title: the Earth hums. #Tunstall30 #greenredblue making event 22.08, 5am-late, Tunstall Street Artist Ali Harwood will create a response to the #Tunstall30 from sunrise. It will begin at the Earle Road end and finish at Smithdown Road. You’re welcome to join him until it’s done. DLASC featuring SEAN VEGEZZI – DMYCC 27.08, OUTPUT gallery New York based artist/activist Sean Vegezzi’s film DMYCC (2017) is presented at OUTPUT gallery to initiate a dialogue about art in Liverpool and the space of its production and presentation.

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. 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 Tunstall30 14.07-28.10, Tunstall Street, L7 Ali Harwood shows work from 2014, 2015 and 2016 on and around Tunstall Street, Wavertree. 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

+ events responding to the festival from our team of volunteers & writers, added online weekly

Liverpool Pride, Lois Tierney Banner Parade 28/29.07, all day, Liverpool Pride Route For route details, see the Liverpool Pride website Threshold Festival, Mk.2 28.07, all day, Princess Diana Gardens Festival ofmusic 7 art, taking over the iconic Princess Diana Gardens outside the Atkinson, on the launch day of the Sefton Open exhibition Film screening: The Bothersome Man 02.08, 6-7pm, OUTPUT gallery Norwegian film The Bothersome Man (2006), directed by Jens Lien. The Bothersome Man has been selected by Liverpool artist and musicianMichael Lacey.

dot-art Summer Workshops Throughout August & September, Cass Art Liverpool As part of the Independents Biennial 2018, dot-art and Cass Art are coming together to put on lots of fantastic, creative workshops for you and the family to enjoy all summer!

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, Fortnight #2 26.07-08.08 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. Lois Tierney LIAS Studio Brigitte Jurack Ivy Kalungi Kiara Mohamed Bibi Agu & Lucy Smith Rimrose Valley Kids That Fly Ellie Woods St John’s Market, Fortnight #3 09.08-22.08 ROOT-ed Jubeda Khatum (Why I Chose Islam) SCI Artists Louise Waller Bibi Agu & Lucy Smith LIAS Studio Kids That Fly Ellie Woods St John’s Market, Fortnight #4 23.08-05.09 Baltic Clay ROOT-ed Jubeda Khatum (The Forgotten Partition) Bridewell Studios Louise Waller Bibi Agu & Lucy Smith LIAS Studio (Culture City 10) Kids That Fly Ellie Woods

September - October Highlights Independnets Biennial runs 14th July - 28th October, with over 200 events

For the full listings head to www.artinliverpool.com - but here are some of the most important parts to remember:

Exhibitions St John’s Market Project Spaces New artists and installations every other Thursday: 09.08 23.08 06.09 20.09 04.10 18.10 Art in Windows: Colette Lilley 01.09-31.09, 5 Bold Place How We Look 07.09-16.09 ROAD Studios How We Look brings together Wirral Metropolitan College Fellowship program artists Louis Jeck-Prestidge and Jonathan Benson. Cammell Laird 08.09-14.10 Williamson Art Gallery Tom Wood’s documentary exhibition is continued and rehung midway through the festival School of the Damned 09.09-22.09 The Royal Standard The annual alternative fine art programme School of the Damned, returns to Liverpool Viscous Songs 14.09-23.09 Bridewell Studios Paintings by Brendan Lyons Local Network / Global Network 14.09-19.09 Tate Exchange, Tate Liverpool Speakers for Independents Biennial’s national partners and funders lead takls and workshops intrducing the basics of building personal networks, and how to benefit from their experiences. Free. booking required.

Nina Edge and Squash will create a large scale drawing examining ‘A Hundred Year Harvest’ exploring food and time. Liverpool Open Studios Tour 22.09 Region Wide Studio and artist workshops arround the region open their doors for the annual open studio event, which this year explores the entire region. Sheds, garages, workshops, studio galleries and front rooms are available to see artwork and artist together. A unique opportunity to see art in progress, to speak with the artist or maker, and to buy some work at a studio discount. Frankenstein 2018, Liverpool & Knowsley Book Art Exhibition 26.09-28.10 Kirkby Gallery Book artists from around the world have responded to the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein RELIC 29.09-28.10 Bluecoat Display Centre A collection of objects chosen for their appearance of being found, rather than recently made; aged rather than new. Discordia 04.10-06.10, Hope Street Theatre Making sense of the chaos. A distinctive new show which blurs the realms of ‘art gallery’ and ‘theatre space’, fusing the disciplines of visual art, choreography and music composition Discordia explores the theme ‘Making sense of the chaos’, inviting the audience to experience the varied meaning and perspective of a collection of paintings within an audio-physical tapestry.

Wirral Society of Arts 15.09-21.10 Williamson Art Gallery Wirral Society of Arts Members Exhibition and Wirral Society of Arts Historic exhibition.

Smoke and Fire 04.10-14.10 Bridewell Studios Paul Le Bon, Vicki Lucas Le Bon, Anna Ketskemety, Marcus Soukup, Chiz Turnross and Colette Whittington accidentally start a fire that gets out of hand.

The Hundred Year Harvest, Nina Edge 21.09-28.10 Squash Food Hub

JMPP Winners Return 05.10-27.10 Corke Art Gallery

Fine art paintings by the 2006 Winner of the JMPP Martin Greenland and the two times Winner of the John Moore’s Visitors Choice in 2006 and 2010 Nicholas Middleton. Kerry Baldry 05.10-14.10 ROAD Studios An installation of short films by artist/ filmmaker Kerry Baldry. Her films have been shot on 16mm with a Bolex movie camera and have used facilities such as superimposition and stop frame often edited in camera. Consumerism, alienation, emotionality, conflict and mortality; aspects of the human condition are recurrent themes. Light Blue 13.10-28.10: The Royal Standard curated by Lucy Bretherton George Henry Lee Rehang 18.10-28-10 Artists from Disparity Collective and graduates from LJMU & Liverpool Hope continue working and exhibiting in Geroge Henry Lee throughout the festival. For the final ten days, they will re-hang their exhibitions with responses to the festival, and workshops held in the former department store, along with invited artists from other parts of the festival. Art in Windows, 5 Bold Place New exhibitions every month: 01.08: Alison Little 01.09: Colette Lilley 01.10: Edna Thearle

Events Writer-in-Residence Book Launch 18.08, all day, George Henry Lee’s Produced over three months, the results of new collaborations and focussed writing by Independents Biennial Writersin-Residence is revealed. As yet, we don’t know what it will contain,. and neither do they. Join us for a day of talks, listenings, readings, and performance. Liver Bards: …in the making… 04.09, Ma Boyle’s Poetry Open Mic Local Network/Global Network 14.09-19.09, Tate Exchange, Tate Liverpool How can North West artists maintain a practice, and where is the help? Artists, curators and directors from around the world lead a week of discussions at Tate Liverpool for Independents Biennial 2018. Introducting the national CVAN network in the same light as Liverpool Artists Network. Liver Bards: In Search of The Miraculous 02.10, Ma Boyle’s Poetry Open Mic

Also showing... Unmissable events around Merseyside this July

Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018, Liverpool School of Art & Design, Liverpool John Moores University 14 July - 9 September, LJMU

Liverpool Biennial 2018, Beautiful World Where Are You? 14 July - 28 October 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.

For the first time the national touring exhibition will launch from 14 July to 9 September 2018 at Liverpool School of Art & Design, Liverpool John Moores University. Forming part of Liverpool Biennial 2018, of which New Contemporaries has been an integral part since 1999, the exhibition will then tour to the South London Gallery.

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. 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.

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.

Liverpool 2018: Lost Castles, Olivier Grossetête 09.08-12.08, Merseyside SIX extraordinary structures made of cardboard, tape and community spirit will be created in each borough this summer in what is a cultural first for Liverpool City Region.

John Moores Painting Prize 2018 Walker Art Gallery, 14 July - 18 November The internationally-renowned John Moores Painting Prize is the UK’s longest-established 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. 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.

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.

Lost Castles will see hundreds of volunteers work with thousands of cardboard boxes to build monumental castle-inspired structures, some of which will be based on actual medieval forts or historic structures which were in the region at one time.

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 Volunteer Treasurer for The Atkinson Development Trust The Atkinson Development Trust is a charity run by a small, committed group of skilled volunteers who have a shared love of Sefton and The Atkinson DEADLINE: 21st August --

Music, theatre, galleries. dance, literature, museums, libraries – it’s about everything artistic and cultural. DEADLINE: 27th July -Trainee Technician 2018, Unity Theatre Unity Theatre is looking to recruit a Trainee Theatre Technician on a 10 month fixedterm contract (18 hours a week), from 17th September 2018 to 13th July 2019 (Salary – £610.75 per month) DEADLINE: 10th August

Administrative and Evaluation Assistant, The Reader a caring and committed person who can provide administrative, secretarial and practical support to the Directors Group DEADLINE: 27th July

CALLS

-Bookings and Venue Co-ordinator, Port Sunlight Village Trust Support and develop commercial activity including holiday lets, group packages, education bookings, land and venue hire, fundraising, and retail and catering. DEADLINE: 3rd August -Children and Young People’s Producer, Heart of Glass work closely with, and support, the Lead Producer in delivering key artist commissions and projects with young people DEADLINE: 13th August -Head of UNESCO City Of Music – Culture Liverpool – Liverpool City Council Working with partners Liverpool City Council wish to appoint an exceptional and experienced professional to lead the designation as a UNESCO City of Music DEADLINE: 23rd July -Relationship Manager, Diversity – Arts Council England

‘They Watch the Dawn’ – Exhibition call, Rathbone Studios In commemoration of the anniversary of the end of WWI, the Rathbone Studio is holding an art exhibition inspired by the words of Wilfred Owen and other WWI war poets. For your work to be included in ‘They Watch the Dawn’, please send details of the poem and poet your artwork is inspired by DEADLINE: 4th September -Call for Participation – Byewords Nicola Roscoe-Calvert is an artist from Liverpool, currently planning a project to take place over the summer, as part of the Independents Biennial festival programme. The work is concerned with children’s literacy, specifically in relation to “nature words”. In 2007, the removal of a number of these words from the Oxford Junior Dictionary resulted in a backlash from writers including Margaret Atwood and Robert Macfarlane, who were concerned by what could be seen as an increasing disconnectedness from the natural world DEADLINE: Ongoing

-Metal – Time and Space Residencies Metal’s Time and Space Residencies are open opportunities for artists working in all disciplines to access Metal’s spaces, the support of its staff and its local, national and international networks. With two application deadlines each year the selection process is favourable to artists looking to develop their practices or with a specific idea or project to develop. We are particularly interested in receiving applications from artists with an interest in participation and socially engaged practice, from diverse backgrounds, with unique personal perspectives to offer. DEADLINE: 30th September -Aesthetica Art Prize 2018 Aesthetica Art Prize is now open for entries, presenting a fantastic opportunity for artists, both established and emerging, to further their career in the art world and showcase their work to a wider audience. The internationally renowned award nurtures and supports talented practitioners from around the world, aiming to unite and provide a diverse platform for artists. DEADLINE: 31st August

Independents Biennial 2018

Independents 14 July - Biennial 28 October 2018

14 JulyLet- the 28art October take over 200 artists Let the artnew take over 250 works 70 locations accross Liverpool, St Helens, 200 Sefton artists Wirral, and 250 new works 70 locations accross Liverpool, St Helens, www.artinliverpool.com Wirral, and Sefton

Putting Merseyside artists on the map

supported by by

hip within partnership with

Putting Merseyside artists on the map

@indybiennial #IB18

www.artinliverpool.com @indybiennial #IB18