Art in Liverpool Magazine, issue #5, July 2018

Issue #5 - July 2018 News, Reviews & What’s On. Your monthly update on visual art in the Liverpool City Region

Cover image: by Martin Parr, Part of New Brighton Revisited at The Sailing School, Marine Point, New Brighton, from 14 July

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

Art in Liverpool, issue #5, July 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

from Humanscapes, by Kiara Mohamed. In residence at St John’s Market from 14 July.

Independents Biennial is back. The 14th July will see Merseyside welcome a new wave of creative output, with artists producing new exhibitions, events and work over four months in every corner of the region. In the heart of Liverpool City Centre, over 80 artists will rotate in residencies, producing new work, installations and oneoff exhibitions in St John’s Market, working with stall holders and building a new narrative around the people and cultures of Liverpool.

issue #5, July 2018 Editor: Patrick Kirk-Smith

In a first for Independents Biennial in it’s relaunch year, four new commissions go outside the city lines and push festival audiences to Birkenhead, St Helens, Kirkby and Southport, while four new public art trails open around the region. If you hadn’t gathered, this issue is dedicated to the festival that puts local artists at the front of the cultural conversation.

Advertising, sponsorship, distribution, stocking & event enquiries should be sent to info@artinliverpool.com

After four years away, Independents Biennial is back, and we’re not just showing off the work of artists around the region, but showing artists at work too.

Art in Liverpool C.I.C. Company No. 10871320

St John’s Market is the site for the busiest artist project space in the UK this year, while galleries and redicovered spaces

around the region provide a platform for groups to work in residence within their own exhibitions, responding to audience ideas and work from around the festival. The programme takes over the last half of this newspaper, with full details on everything happening in July, with August - October highlights at the back. The programme will shift and evolve as the festival goes on, with talks and events announced by artists while they take up fortnightly residencies around the region. Along with project spaces for artists, the festival is also working alongside eight of the region’s most exciting emering writers, over four months, working towards a new multi-disciplinary response to the festival, through short stories, poems, scripts and essays. With over 200 events, from 250 artists, in 5 boroughs of the Liverpool City Region, its a festival that seeks to share the creative process, from idea to exhibition with residents and visitors to Merseyside. The festival sticks to its roots, running alongside Liverpool Biennial, so in another festival first, we asked a key Independents Biennial artist to interview one of Liverpool Biennials headliners. The result, this

month’s lead feature is an indescrible eduaction on the importance of sanctuary. But it’s not all Independents Biennial (see, we’re not completely biased), this month sees the return of Liverpool Biennial as well as John Moores Painting Prize at Walker Art Gallery and the Bloomberg New Contemporaries, back in Liverpool at LJMU’s Art & Design Building. The UKs most important painting prize has seen the rise of artists who have changed the face of modern art. JMPP winners include David Hockney, Peter Doig and Bruce McLean, while New Contemporaries is one of the most dedicated talent finding exhibitions picking the best work from the UKs most exciting graduates. It’s a shame all this only comes around once every two years, but its a chance to pack 24 months into four, and none of it is missable.

“Photie-Man”

How Tom Wood made a name for himself There’s something about the Wirral peninsula that must burrow deep inside the minds of artists who live there. It creates an affinity, and a relationship with their place that is rarely seen elsewhere. Tom Wood, one of the UK’s most prominent photographers, but one who has worked incredibly hard to get there, started his career living and working in New Brighton, photographing the daily lives of the town’s residents, before they knew what was happening. His quick fire style, capturing people unaware created a recognisable signature to his images as his confidence grew, but in the early days it was the beauty of New Brighton he chose to save. Literally wandering the streets with his camera, the locals begun calling him photie-man, a name very deserved, but likely not positive at first. The images he took of New Brighton are of people, and you see a progression towards a more accuarate, honest representation of their personalities in the latest exhibition opening this month at The Sailing School, New Brighton.

documentary series capturing Cammell Laird ship-yard at the height of production, between 1993 and 1996. The series, commissioned by the Documentary Photography Archive, sought to show the working lives of the men who built the ships as they worked to save the yard. So for this year’s Independents Biennial, the internationally significant artist takes a look back at New Brighton with Ken Grant and Martin Parr in the return of photieman, with the same intrigue and personal attachment to the images likely to be found in here as with Open Eye Gallery’s show earlier this year. And at the Williamson Art Gallery, showing one of the most significant exhibitions ever produced about late 20th Century British industry. -New Brighton Revisited is at the Sailing School, Marine Point, New Brighton, 14 July – 25 August Cammell Laird, by Tom Wood, is at Williamson Art Gallery & Museum 7 July – 14 October

But he stuck at it, documenting and preserving the town he called home, and eventually creating the work he would become most associated with. Those blank stares. The work most of us here will be familiar with is The Pier Head, 25 years worth of images of ferry crossings and ferry terminals on the River Mersey, catching people with no notice, in their daily lives, never quite smiling, never quite engaging with the camera fast enough. But that confidence to just take the photo and ask later is what gave Tom Wood the name. You don’t get called Photie-Man for politely snapping on request, you get it because your camera extends your arm.

“You don’t get called PhotieMan for politely snapping. You get it because your cemera extends your arm” The images that made that name for the photographer go on display 14 July at Marine Point, New Brighton, alongside images that show his confidence building. At the Williamson, Tom Wood’s relationship with Wirral goes further, with a three year

Mad Max, Cammell Laird. c. Tom Wood

Building new futures:

On Liverpool Biennial artist Mae-ling Lokko, and her pursuit of an answer to a global question Mae-ling Lokko, one of the headline artists at this year’s Liverpool Biennial, has been manufacturing biopolymer building materials for an installation at RIBA North. The details are oddly quite simple, and the applications are potentially earth moving. Mae-ling Lokko’s commission, Hack the Root, proposes a large-scale installation in the public foyer of Mann-Island, outside RIBA North, the national gallery for architecture. The bricks, the key component, grow and repair themselves as the installation lives out its time. Using an agrowaste-fed fungus, the bricks have been ‘grown’ in public workshops, enough to create a huge 20-foot structure that displaces its harsh, glazed surroundings. An architectural scientist in practice, Lokko is a step away from what we expect from Liverpool Biennial, more ‘interdisciplinary creative’ than strict contemporary artist. There is a statement in her selection

from the Biennial team, that looks to the future of the arts, where science and art are connected by necessity, and creative thinking is celebrated, no matter its origin. It doesn’t matter what your discipline, ideas are difficult to move beyond, and the fear of that holds artists and scientists back equally – Einstein and Grizelda Pollock are both quoted as reassuring listeners on the nature of ideas as theories that just haven’t been proven, but here, through display and public use, Mae-ling Lokko goes beyond ideas and theory into practice. The science behind the bricks in her installation is astounding, but off paper it is surprisingly easy to test. Last month the artist visited Liverpool groups to build bricks for the installation, and people of all ages got involved, followed the recipe and made their own humidity and air quality controlling bricks from clean biopolymer and agrowaste materials.

“#67, lapis lazuli springs from rusting iron and blue to green and life” Ali Harwood’s #Tunstall30, 30 haikus for 30 loved homes

In simple terms, its upcycling waste products, creating sustainable building materials from agricultural waste, specifically focussing on coconut husks, and burlap sacks to create a sturdy material that has the potential to be rolled out as an alternative to more time-consuming, earth scarring building methods. Originally from Ghana and the Philippines the artist has spoken of taking the technology back to Ghana, on an industrial scale, a plan, which will hopefully be helped by creative industry support around the social, cultural, and political reasons behind her work, as well as the environmental challenges the architectural scientist is facing down. -Hack the Root opens at RIBA North on 14 July, part of Liverpool Biennial 2018

Tunstall Street, L7, has watched over five years of development as the hoardings around the houses get higher and higher. A new school directly opposite, the seemingly never ending rise of Lodge Lane, the £1 houses launch, and their following new tenants getting to work. All while Tunstall Street keeps standing, waiting for something to happen. Oddly though, it’s not a sad space. Independents Biennial artist, Ali Harwood has been documenting the street since 2014, writing poems for each house, paintings for each door number, and photographing them year on year, to follow their story. The Haiku’s are far from the negativity usually associated with empty homes, but

instead focus on the beauty of the street, the blues and the bricks held back by 8ft boarding. His project Kids That Fly goes on display at St John’s Market 14 July – 28 October, showing a series of photographs taken intermittently while around Tunstall Street of kids finding places to play in amongst the derelict homes.

The Audience as Storytellers: How the immateriality of performance art places a necessity on the audience.

by Kim Seymour, 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. Liverpool Hope’s award winner will be published in the next issue. Amidst my research for my own current work I came across a number of artists who specifically use storytelling, colloquialisms, or conversational narrative as a means of performance. In our 21st century society, does colloquial tone encourage a more intimate level of connection with the audience, and, thereby, serve as a more powerful catalyst empowering the act of retelling? After the audience feel personally addressed do they naturally assume the role of documentation and recall or retell their experience using their own narratives and thereby, grow the work’s lifespan and in a sense, it’s material quality?

it was not surprising that most protest art related to the body. An artist could perform anywhere, without materials or studio, and the work left no traces“(Goldberg, 1979). In either instance though whether performances left a material trace or not there are still no innocent bystanders. Whether they were aware of it or not, the audience carried the performance out of its birthplace, out of the space in which it originally took place.

at some point. Later when asked why, each guest expressed an apprehension of incompetence. They felt they would not be able to retell it in the same way, or with the same tone. They noticed patterns within the arrangements of the stories and expressed a desire to recall these with accuracy to others in order to rebirth the same experience they had had; more easily achieved with the help of technology.

To perform a storytelling or parable, in the tone of ‘drash’, is to intentionally leave the message open ended and not explicitly explain the intended point. Using this technique for teaching theological sagas from a religious standpoint can spin interpretations away from what the original text intended to convey. This is obviously a problem when the original text in question has assumed the status of divine interpretation. Within the arts however, this is usually the very point. For an artist to show an artwork, especially an immaterial one like performance, they offer it up to their audience and in doing so leave it open to a certain partisanship in its very transformation to becoming in some way materialised.

Although the artist has control over the performance, the initial manifestations of the artwork, and the audience in many ways, they cannot control the materialisations of the artwork. The audience are not assigned the role of documentation they inevitably become it. There is no ‘other’ in performance (Meyer, 2009).

‘Drash’ can therefore be applied to both storytelling and the way in which audiences engage with performance works and retell of their experiences, so is inevitably present in works which incorporate both. I also had to know that my own artistic interpretations may get lost in the process and the death of the author may take place, perhaps not after one retelling but imminently after a few. This is ‘drash’ in contemporary performance.

I’ve always been particularly interested in these themes within a religious context because they are the stories I grew up hearing, my father being a Church of England minister. Due to growing up in these ritualistic scenarios with a partisan speaker and a passive audience, I have become fascinated with the language of performance art, especially the relationship between the performer and the audience.

1.4

“Whether they were aware of it or not, the audience carried the performance out of its birthplace” 1.1 - The Audience as materialisations of immaterial form.

1.3 - Analysis of specifically storytelling performances

According to Grois, in the early 20th century art and its institutions came under critique from a new democratic and egalitarian spirit, as works of art as sacred object was criticised and they would be understood as merely things (Grois, 2016). This meant an attack on realism, as well as the traditional preservative mission of the museum. Material work was losing some of its necessity in order to be deemed ‘art.’

I constructed my own storytelling performance, to perform live at a recent show at St George’s Art Space, Liverpool. Three stories, all separate in chronology, characters and content but all arriving at a similar, blunt insinuation at the end. Each was in some way generically grotesque and humorous but also potentially difficult to accept as true whilst still being completely plausible.

Goldberg characterises this as the unambiguous significance of performance art for Eastern European artists, believing that it was the art form’s immateriality that appealed to artists working under communism: “with the constant threat of police surveillance, censorship and arrest,

An interesting element was added to the performance during the private view, where I was conscious that half of my audience knew me personally while about 30 others were general public with whom I had no ties. I found that of 30 familiar guests, 22 took pictures or film footage

Curious by this finding and inspired by the work of local artist Devon Forrester-Jones I decided to perform any one of the three stories to random people one-on-one. I did this a total of 30 times, and found that only one person chose to film the encounter. 1.3

- ‘Drash’

A particular interest of mine for many years now is the archaic practice of parable telling. So often within religious context symbolic and allegorical storytelling is used methodically for teaching and evoking in the audience a particular train of thought. I wish to focus on the style in which these ‘performances’ are communicated. For example the Hebrew word ‘drash’ or ‘midrash’ directly translates as ‘to search’.

- Summary

As we have seen in light of the research, I would like to end this stage of my research by opening up further possibilities for discussion. Perhaps the tools we have for annunciation and perception are no longer fit for purpose. Perhaps in the form of contemporary performance the agenda of the storyteller is futile, the doctrine of the preacher extraneous, the intent for the audience irrelevant. If in performance there is indeed no innocent bystander, if the audience inevitably ‘drash’… if they absorb the content into their own narratives, they become the legs of the artwork, walking it out of the space with them and passing it on through their own voice. -Written by Kim Seymour, graduating from MA Fine Art at LJMU, 2018 Read the full dissertation online at www.artinliverpool.com/category/ features/critical-writing-programme/

CORKE GALLERY

Independents Biennial 2018 Festival Opening Show

Thu 5 July - Sat 28 July 2018 (Gallery open 10am - 2pm, Thu - Sat)

Angels & Open Windows ANDREW MARR New collection of original oil paintings FREE ENTRY TO EXHIBITION

“Angels & Open Windows is about a celebration of life opening up again, after a dark period” Andrew Marr, June 2018.

Visit www.corkeartgallery.co.uk to become a Corke Gallery Subscriber. You will receive a digital copy of Andrew’s ‘Angels & Open Windows’ catalogue, invites to private views, gallery updates & special offers. Follow @niccorke on Twitter. The Corke Gallery is open 10am - 2pm from Thu to Sat. Entry is always free. Andrew’s paintings are available for sale. CORKE GALLERY

Official Sponsor

INDEPENDENTS BIENNIAL 2018 EXHIBITIONS Sept 2018 The Politics of Beauty

Chrissy Collinson, Paul Collinson, John Elcock & Josie Jenkins.

Oct 2018 John Moores Painting Prize Winners Show

JMPP 2006 Winner Martin Greenland and 2006 Visitors’ Choice Winner and 2010 Prize Winner and Visitors Choice Winner Nicholas Middleton.

CORKE GALLERY

296 - 298 Aigburth Road, Aigburth Vale, Liverpool, L17 9PW. w. corkeartgallery.co.uk t: 07773 287827 e: nic@corke.net

Transport: Buses 82 & 60. Train: St. Michaels Station (0.8m 12min walk)

John Moores Painting Prize artist, Pete Clarke on finding the right place to work, and the right artists to work with

Getting Longlisted for the John Moores Painting Prize is huge for a local artist, seeing the competition on your doorstep every other year, seeing new waves of contemporary art move in and out as the winners are selected. Pete Clarke, found out in April that he had been selected from over 2,700 entries to show as part of the John Moores Painting Prize 60th awards exhibition, so we sat down in his Bluecoat studio and delved into the history behind the work going on display at the Walker on 14th July, as well his wider collaborations that have led to the work he is displaying at the former George Henry Lees building for the Independents Biennial, launching the same day. You started your career in Burnley didn’t you? It used to be Burnley College of Art. I was brought up in Nelson, but Burnley was the closest centre. Up to the late 60s virtually every town had a college of art. And then there was the Coldstream Report which created the regional centres, and a lot of places became foundation courses. I was only 15, so I did my foundation. It was great, really hardnosed, taught by a lot of guys from the Slade, who were part of the British tradition of heavy drawing, so everything was quite small, and then I applied to Bristol.

Turner worked. I ended up working with Georg because of the classic question, are you ‘you’ because of you, or are you ‘you’ because of education? And I supposed I’m this British hard wood image. The painting in John Moores this year is a series of ten that took me a year. Georg can do ten in a week. Also, the German art scene is amazing, they’re very supportive, and ordinary people buy work. What made you move your studio to Bluecoat? I was working at UCLAN, mainly print making in their studios, with Georg, and of course I’d use the workshops making canvases, stretchers whenever students were away, but I’ve always had studio spaces away from that. I think it’s impossible not making work and being a lecturer, so I was very strict about making work and not just having the day off on my research days. Because I make a lot of drawings and print making, and it’s Preston so it was impossible to drive out between half 3 and 6 o’clock, so I would stay most nights until 7/8 o’clock.

So I went off to interview in this Italian mohair suit and Paul Weller haircut. And this American artist lecturer said “What’s a little boy like you doing applying to a big college like this?” I couldn’t have done that badly though. I stayed there for three years.

I’ve tried other studio spaces, but there were practical things, like at Liverpool Artist Workshop, it was so cold that my paintings would never dry. And open studios can turn into surrogate art schools too, but I like the privacy at Bluecoat, having my own space. And anyway, it’s great to be part of Bluecoat. It’s a very stimulating space, including the support of Bryan Biggs over the years.

Do you ever go back to Burnley, or Nelson, with your work?

You’ve worked closely with Bryan Biggs a few times though, in Cologne too?

When you see things like the John Moores Painting Prize, it’s quite easy to guess an artists’ history; to cut their legs off and count the rings. You can almost locate how old they are and which college they went to, who taught them. So obviously the stuff I do is massively influenced by my foundation course, that English drawing, and of course Bristol was a very wellknown figurative painting college. Stuff that would be anarchic now, but there was really heavy formal drawing. We weren’t allowed to touch colour ‘til Easter. In fact funnily enough, I do a project with a German artist, Georg Gartz, and I work in residence in Germany in Ebernburg – it’s along a tributary of the River Rhine, where

Bluecoat had a historic relationship with the BBK Gallery in Cologne – a professional artist association, which as well as running galleries they also act for artists so they would help you with taxation, and through the BBK you can register with the local authority and have pension rights. I was in a show with the BBK in the late 80s, and in the late 90s Jürgen Kisters wrote for the local paper there, the Kölner Stadt Enzeiger. As a critic he was obsessed with Liverpool, so he created this festival of Liverpool artists in Cologne, which he called Eight Days A Week. Bryan and myself and various Liverpool artists organised a show in Liverpool as a reciprocal thing, and it’s been running on and off ever since.

And Turner’s Travels came out of the Cologne collaborations too, what led to that?

are you supposed to tell people you make paintings. How would you describe your paintings?

We’ve done this project for years. When Georg first visited Liverpool, he came across the Turner Prize. He never thought of Turner as a British artist. He thought he was far more representative of German movements and German art. He thought Constable was the more British. So since 2007 we’ve followed Turner’s journeys along the Rhine, where he worked, following his path, and then the following year we went around Yorkshire, then Venice, then to the Isle of White, then back to the Rhine, making work where Turner worked. And out of that we were invited to do this residency in Edinburgh, where he made some amazing paintings. This is the first time you’ve been longlisted for the John Moores Painting Prize, have you applied before? Well I applied in the 90s off and on. One of my favourite paintings was influenced by this Poussin picture in the Walker, The Ashes of Phocion, which hangs in my living room, and I sent that into the JMPP years ago and didn’t make the cut. I mean it’s a difficult competition, because it’s subjective to an extent. On a practical basis it’s a great opportunity for Liverpool artists. I mean, you go to the show, and look at the winners over the years, and it tells you a lot about contemporary art, just the scale of the unapologetic confidence you get in some of them. And also I suppose, how else

Well funnily enough a friend of mine described my painting as a mix between British impressionism and Russian constructivism, which strikes me as about right really. The longlisted painting is one of a series of ten which is loosely associated with Liverpool as a city, but more so about the changing nature of the city and the notion of the everlasting uncertainty of things that get knocked down and re-built. I’ve lived in the city long enough now to get lost again. When I go to certain areas, there’s been a complete new set of buildings. I’ve always been fascinated by the notion that art has a text – whether we look at paintings or whether we read them. The different languages dislocate each other so you have to reread the paintings. The words fragment the narrative. -John Moores Painting Prize 2018 opens at Walker Art Gallery on 14th July 2018 A Long the Riverrun opens at George Henry Lees on 14th July as part of Independents Biennial 2018 Interview, Patrick Kirk-Smith

NEWS

Who is in control of your working life? Shortlist FACT presents, The Future World of Work, an artist led response to announced for the changing face of working life John Moores Painting Prize

Spectacular Treasure Trove from the City’s Great Collections Revealed for Liverpool Biennial

Sam Meech, Punchcard Economy

A newly formed cohort of artists is coming to Liverpool City Region to explore The Future World of Work, forming an ambitious 18 month cultural programme. The artists will investigate the impact of technology and rapidly changing working practices on society, culture, and wellbeing. Developed by FACT and Culture Liverpool the artists, including Liz Magic Laser and

Liv Wynter, will focus on different issues including the gig economy, workers rights, start up culture and automation. The programme is a core strand of the Liverpool 2018 programme, culminating in an exhibition at FACT in 2019.

Tate Liverpool presents the first UK solo exhibition of Keith Haring Tate Liverpool presents the first institutional, solo exhibition in the UK of American artist Keith Haring (1958–1990). Haring emerged as part of the legendary New York art scene of the early 1980s, becoming known for his political activism and collaborative approach as well as his iconic visual language. He played a key role in his generation’s counterculture taking

inspiration from street and pop art, as well as underground club culture to make work with motifs such as barking dogs and radiant babies outlined in bold colours. Bringing together some 70 works including large-scale drawings and paintings, the exhibition evokes the vibrant energy of 1980s New York art and street culture.

King and Queen of Wands, 2017, Jacqui Hallum

The Walker Art Gallery has announced the five paintings shortlisted for the John Moores Painting Prize 2018, marking 60 years of the UK’s longest-established painting prize. One of the shortlisted paintings, selected from more than 2,700 entries, will be chosen as the overall winner of the £25,000 first prize. The shortlisted works are among the 60 paintings to be exhibited in the John Moores Painting Prize 2018, a free exhibition that will be held at the Walker from 14 July to 18 November. The Prize is showing as part of Liverpool Biennial 2018, the largest festival of contemporary art in the UK. The five shortlisted paintings are: Quilt by Billy Crosby; King and Queen of Wands by Jacqui Hallum; The Thunderous Silence of Your Presence by Tom Howse; GIANTS by Joseph O’Rourke and The Divide, Beyond Reasoning by Shanti Panchal. The paintings 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. The first prize winner will join the revered John Moores Painting Prize alumni, including David Hockney, Mary Martin, Peter Doig, Keith Coventry, Sarah Pickstone and Rose Wylie among others. Artist and juror Lubaina Himid CBE said: “One of the most striking things about this year’s John Moores Painting Prize shortlist is that all five artists are obviously deeply passionate, not only about the hardwon process of painting itself, but more importantly for me, about what a painting can do when presented in a meaningful conversation with an audience.”

From a Monet masterpiece to an Egyptian head, the civic silver and a totem pole, Liverpool has a wealth of hidden treasures to be rediscovered by the public this Liverpool Biennial 2018. Worlds within worlds will reveal some of Liverpool’s great civic treasures, paintings and objects. Some of these have rarely been seen by the public and will be presented as part of the Biennial’s international programme, Beautiful world, where are you? running from 14 July – 28 October 2018. Sally Tallant, Director of Liverpool Biennial, said: “Telling the story of Liverpool as a port city – its great prosperity, its post-industrial decline and its post-colonial histories – these collections have acted as inspiration and context for the development of the 2018 Biennial” Treasures include: • Objects and Collections at Victoria Gallery & Museum • Audubon’s Book of Birds of America at Central Library • Collection of Garstang Museum of Archaeology • The Minton Floor at St George’s Hall • The Civic Silver Collection at the Town Hall • The Haida Pole at the World Museum • Selected Paintings from the Walker Art Gallery

Putting Merseyside artists on the map

Independents Biennial 2018

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11 pages of What’s On

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.

Oxton Road Rock, Brigitte Jurack

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

Cath Garvey, Under the backdrop of an exhibition of comics by Cath Garvey, the artist will lead a series of workshops focussed on making the comic book world more female focussed. Inviting the young people of Knowsley to Kirkby Gallery, the artist will create new work, and lead others to design new characters, storylines and publications for exhibition in the town’s library. The comic industry is still male dominant and very biased towards men in both fiction and reality. Cath Garvey’s workshops aim to open options for young artists, and remind them that comic books aren’t just for boys, while teaching them the basics about comics and present self-publishing. Girl Comics will teach the basics of character creation, with a goal. ‘Bin Juice’, ‘Babe’ and words that define childhood in Knowsley underpin the workshops, building characters from familiar prompts, whether they come from the depths of their creators minds, or their own personal stories, the products will be outlandishly Knowsley, and inarguably unique.

Threshold Festival are squeezing their threeday annual festival into a one-day second edition for 2018, taking over Princess Diana Gardens in Southport on the 28th July. Threshold Festival of Music & Arts is an annual 3 day event which takes place in Liverpool. The focus of the festival is collaboration, grass-roots music, first view visual arts and innovative performance. Established in 2011, Threshold is dedicated to artist development and driving forward the music and arts industry and has its roots in the creative industries of Liverpool and the North West. For 6 successive years, the event has brought together a diverse wealth of artists, musicians, promoters, academics and enthusiasts.

The festival was short listed for best small, best grass roots and best inner city festival and has been critically acclaimed in citywide and regional press. The event is a life force for grass-roots and emerging arts and regarded by many as an established platform for creative practitioners of all stages of artistic development. Threshold is brought to you by artists for artists, and is dedicated to authenticity, integrity and entertainment at it’s very best. -28 July The Atkinson

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, posters, tote bags and tea towels, with inspiration drawn from St. Helens’ rich and industrial past, reflecting the participant’s own connection to St. Helens.

Girl Comics Boys are welcome, but the workshops are about female characters. Split into two sessions (repeating over the first weeks of the festival), the project reflects Independents Biennial’s outlook, showing artists at work, and demonstrating the active life of the arts in the region. Session one focusses on character creation. Session two will see participants produce their own comic, to take home, and keep on display in the library for everyone to read. At the end of the workshops, we’ll be publishing some of the comics in this very newspaper’s September issue. If you’re looking to join in workshops, check the website for full dates in July, and find the exhibition just a two minute walk from Kirkby Bus Station.

of print as a tool of commerce, craft 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. Open for 3 days with different invited groups attending each day, the aim of the sessions is to create a space in which

those with a connection to St. Helens can share stories of history, community and culture. Each invited group will be learning the basics of stencil making and screenprinting, with the culmination of the project held as a pop up exhibition space/ shop where the works/memorabilia made during the sessions will be shown and sold. -Once the workshops have concluded, details of exhibitions & pop-ups will be available at www.artinliverpool.com

Kate Hodgson, St Helens in Print

Hodgson’s practice explores the nature

Threshold Festival mk.2

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)

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.

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 builtup 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

Produced by Festival of Firsts, an annual community arts festival which takes over the Wirral every year. It is 100% volunteer-run and received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2017. 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. This year, in partnership with Independents Biennial, the public arts trail along the edge of the Wirral Peninnsula continues until 28th October 2018.

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.”

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

Throughout the Biennial, Not Just Collective will undertake a residency at the Fulwood Community Garden, a woodland space in Aigburth, Liverpool.

Art on the Prom 2018

The collective will create works that respond to the woodland, and will survive or succumb to the elements, the exhibition

Tunstall30

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.

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_

Not Just Collective at Fulwood Community Garden

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.

14 - 25 July Royal College of Art Staff and Students respond to the city. St John’s Market is home to pt.3 of their residency. Each work offers its own unique opportunity that you won’t find on the high street.

the first fortnight looks something like this:

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?

Liverpool Independent Art School set up their first public studio for Independents Biennial, with regular workshops and exhibitions, drop-in or book. Search www. artinliverpool.com for up to date events.

Reading Room

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

Rob Flynn: To Become More explores the human desire to change (mentally or physically) so as to attain unobtainable goals of perfection in ways that don’t always succeed.

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.

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’

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

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

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

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? 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.

Kids That Fly and Ellie Woods’ installation continue, added to with new work from invited artists

2nd Floor LJMU Graduate Award exhibition 14.07-28.10 Tony Mallon, Quiet Room 14.07-28.10 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.

Liverpool Hope University Graduate Award exhibition 14.07-28.10 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

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. �Expect to stumble accross artists at work.� 3rd Floor Unio Collective, Hidden Worlds (cont’d) 14.07-28.10

Empty Spaces Cinema 14.07-28.10

Disparity, Positions of Power, (cont’d) 14.07-28.10

Empty Spaces Cinema is a new project in Liverpool.

Two of the most significant photography groups in the North West follow on from their recent exhibitions and projects in Liverpools, these two strands of Redeye Photography network take over one floor of the department store for a continuation of their Hidden Worlds, and Positions of Power exhibitions (details next page).

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

Williamson Art Gallery & Museum

OUTPUT gallery

Kate Cooper 19.07, OUTPUT gallery Solo exhibition

Detours and dislocations, Cian Quayle, 14.07-26.08 Liverpool/Isle of Man/Vancouver: in the footsteps of Malcolm Lowry Cian Quayle’s project traces the significance of journeys, exile cultures and altered relationships with place, which take their cue from the life and writing of acclaimed author Malcolm Lowry, who was born in New Brighton in 1909. New photographic artworks present a reconfiguration of place and sites significant for Lowry’s writing in Liverpool, Vancouver and the Isle of Man.

OUTPUT gallery invites Knowsley-born Kate Cooper for her first solo show in the city. Cooper lives and works between London and Amsterdam. She recently completed her residency at the Rijksakademie, and is a Director and co-founder of the Londonbased artist-led organisation Auto Italia. Kate Cooper’s work centres on the body as a contested space for communication and representation. In her artistic practice, she uses CGI to manipulate avatar bodies in surreal situations, in which characters function both as objects and as infrastructure. Presented as harbingers of affect; these fictional liminal bodies are presented as forms of weaponry with which to unpick and reject contemporary modes of exploitative labour. Liverpool’s newest

permenant gallery sits next door to the Kazimier Gardens at 32 Seel Street. Fiercly supportive of local artists, the new gallery will be one of the key spaces to discover during this year’s Independents Biennial. With events usually falling on Thursdays, and new exhibitions most fortnights, its a igh energy gallery, worth finding out more about. As well as the first show by Kate Cooper, the artist will be returning on the 26th July for a public discussion around her work, and her career between London and Amsterdam running Auto Italia. Keep up to date on events at www.artinliverpool.com

A Long The Riverrun

Cammell Laird 1993-1996, Tom Wood 14.07-02.09 Tom Wood’s photographs of Cammell Laird Shipyard in Birkenhead taken between 1993 and 1996, were originally commissioned by the Documentary Photography Archive (DPA) to capture a definitive phase in the social and political history of the region. Wood was commissioned by the DPA to photograph the working lives of the men who built the ships as they were fighting to save the yard, and the shipyard prior to its closure after 170 years in Birkenhead. This is the first time that these photographs of the Cammell Laird Shipyard have been shown in their home town.

A Long the Riverrun 14.07-29.07 , George Henry Lees This summer, eleven of the city’s leading visual artists will exhibit in a show for the Independents Biennial exploring current practice in contemporary painting in Liverpool. Taking its title from the first and last lines of James Joyce’s novel Finnegans Wake in which the first and last lines join the end to the beginning to start again, a long the riverrun joins together artists with a common sense of endeavour.

Unio Collective, Hidden Worlds 14.07-16.07, The Adelphi Hotel Artist group Unio Collective is showing six individual projects of new work at a group photography exhibition entitled ‘Hidden Worlds’ from 13th -16th July in the Adelphi Hotel. The group's work interprets forgotten or unseen details to tell stories hidden inside the ordinary of the everyday. Projects include portraiture, landscape and documentary approaches and look at: confinement in prisons, the search for self through plant-based medicines, the inner world of dementia sufferers, forgotten family stories from Liverpool and Hungary and the right to roam in the restricted Scottish wilderness. Unio Collective is a group of six photographers put together by Redeye The Photography Network

Exhibitions

Intense Colour, Andrew Marr 14.07-28.07, Corke Art Gallery Back in Liverpool after his successful first exhibition, broadcaster and artist, Andrew Marr returns with a collection of abstract and semi abstract paintings in intense colours painted in 2018.

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.

Disparity Collective, Positions of Power 14.07-29.07 Constellations (details left)

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

Anton Dolders, Merseyscapes 14.07-12.08, ABC L1

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.

The exhibition has been created as the culmination of Redeye's Lightbox project, an intensive year-long course which seeks to launch the careers of professional photographers through workshops, networking sessions and support from experts in the photography industry.

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

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

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.

‘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

Unio Collective, Hidden Worlds 14.07-16.07 Adelphi Hotel (details above)

George Henry Lees building 14.07-28.10

Disparity Collective, Positions of Power 14.07-29.07 Constellations

Art in Windows: Listen to The Hand ‘cause The Face ain’t Talking (With Apologies to Vicky Pollard) 14.07-31.07, 5 Bold Place Adrian Jeans

Unio Collective & Disparity Collective, Two exhibitions, from two branches of the Redeye Photography Network, exhibiting two Liverpool focussed projects from outside perspectives Interwoven - when local becomes global 14.07-05.08 (weekends only), Baltic Creative Shed Re-View Textile Collective present new work One Way 20.07, The Royal Standard An exhibition of paintings, sculptures and video works by Gary Sollars

Will Penn 18.07-09.09 Celebrating the life and works of William Charles Penn 1877–1968, fifty years after his death 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. Louise Emily McKenzie 28.07-30.07, Make. North Docks a long the river run 14.07-29.07 (details opposite page) Kate Cooper 19.07, OUTPUT gallery (details opposite page) South Liverpool Photographic Society 26.07-08.08 Liverpool Cathedral

Residencies & Production Public Trails

New Brighton Revisited (Tom Wood, Martin Parr, Ken Grant) 14 July - ??, the Sailing School, Marine Point, New Brighton this group show brings together for the first time the New Brighton pictures of internationall renowned British photographers Martin Parr, Ken Grant and Tom Wood. Showing in the town from which the pictures stemmed.

Talks & Events

Liverpool Pride, Lois Tierney Banner Parade 28/29.07, all day, Liverpool Pride Route For route details, see the Liverpool Pride websit

Empty Spaces Cinema 14.07-28.10 George Henry Lees Find the full cinema programme at www. artinliverpool.com

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

RCA Raw & Cooked 14.07-17.07, various locations (detilas to right)

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

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

Kiara Mohamed: Speaking the Unspoken, Screening 28.07, 12-3pm, Rapid Response Unit, St John’s Market An evening of 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.

So’Maal: Wonders of the World 21.07, 2-4pm Zizi’s Deli Poetry open mic OUTPUT in conversation with Kate Cooper 26.07, 6-7pm OUTPUT gallery

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 #1 14.07-25.07 Eight groups of artists begin work in St John’s Market, Liverpool’s most multicultured, vibrant covered market. two years on from the market’s refurbishment, artists will work with stall holders, and exhibit previously unseen work. The first round of artists are: Royal College of Art LIAS Studio Brigitte Jurack Rob Flynn Aisha Mohamed Kids That Fly Ellie woods St John’s Market, Fortnight #2 26.07-08.08 The second round of artists are: Lois Tierney LIAS Studio Brigitte Jurack Ivy Kalungi Kiara Mohamed Bibi Agu & Lucy Smith Rimrose Valley Kids That Fly Ellie Woods

New Brighton Revisited, Tours 14.07 & 15.07 Leaving from Open Eye Gallery Book via Open Eye Gallery website (Exhibition details above) Re-View Textile collective – Meet the artists 15.07 all day, Baltic Creative Shed Meet the eight artists from Re-view Textile who have developed the exhibition at Baltic Creative

Independents Biennial, Writers-inResidence 14.07-28.10

Royal College of Art, Raw and Cooked 14.07-17.07 Various locations Raw and Cooked is an event for the Independent Biennial by the students and staff of the Royal College of Art. Originally initiated in April with a collective screening at Fact Gallery, Raw and Cooked unfolds into bi-venue and off-site programme of happenings, commencing Saturday the 14th of July. 110 Seel Street: Raw Strets Between: And St John’s Market: Cooked

Royal College of Art Students & Staff, varous locations (details right)

August - 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 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, Tessa Eastman, Joanna Hejmej, Irina Razumovskaya and Tara Squibb. “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. 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. 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. Wirral Society of Arts 15.09-21.10 Williamson Art Gallery Wirral Society of Arts Members Exhibition and Wirral Society of Arts Historic exhibition. The Hundred Year Harvest, Nina Edge 21.09-28.10 Squash Food Hub 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. 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. 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 Unio Collective, 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 Ma Boyle’s Open mic poetry: 07.08: Liver Bards: The Earth Hums

Events 4.09: Liver Bards: in the Making 02.10: Liver Bards: In Search Of The Miraculous Album Playback, Michael Lacey 09.08 OUTPUT gallery Intricate, developed soundscapes contain delicate, drifting arpeggios and densely layered counter-melodies, inspired by ambient pioneers and fairground waltzes. DLASC featuring Sean Vegezzi - DMYCC 07.08 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 Ready, Steady, Sip! 04.08 The Royal Standard Film Screening, The Bothersome Man 02.08 OUTPUT gallery Continuing OUTPUT gallery’s free cinema programme, Norwegian film The Bothersome Man (2006), has been selected by Liverpool artist and musician Michael Lacey

Also showing... Unmissable events around Merseyside this July

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. 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.

Art of FootbalI: Don’t Love Soccer Because Soccer Has Never Loved Me Camp & Furnace, until 15 July A critical look at “the beautiful game” through the lens of graphic design and illustration. The exhibition presents artwork from an international selection of graphic artists made in response to an essay titled The World Cup And Its Pomps written in 1978 by the famous Italian semiotician, intellectual and writer, Umberto Eco. Published in his collection of essays Travels In Hyperreality (1986), Eco links football “with the absence of purpose and the vanity of all things” questioning the corrosive banality of its punditry, its inherent prejudice and exclusivity and its (a)political morality. The essay concludes with Eco asking rhetorically: “Is the armed struggle possible on World Cup Sunday… Is revolution possible on a football Sunday?”

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. Named after the sponsor of the prize, Sir John Moores (1896 – 1993), the competition is entered and judged anonymously and open to all UK-based artists working with paint. 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.

Tate Liverpool: Op Art in Focus Tate Liverpool, 16 July - June ‘19 Op art – short for optical art – emerged in the 1960s. Its leading figures included Bridget Riley, Jesus Rafael Soto and Victor Vasarely. They combined lines, geometric shapes and eye popping colour to create artworks that fool the eye. Included is a rare Jim Lambie installation, Zobop, which floods the floor with psychedelic patterning.

Wirral Festival of firsts 2018 aT a glance The Festival launches on Fri 29 June with Festival Serenade with Danielle Thomas Concert in aid of North West Cancer Research Sat 30 June

Hoylake Street Festival Teatro Pomodoro with Vandal Raptor Summer Strummers Paul Costello Tom Mason

Sun 1 July

Community Poetry Day Jackie Kay

Mon 2 July

Stephen Harding

Tue 3 July Tony Husband

Wed 4 July Bowjangles Storyfest

Thu 5 July

Jo Moran Sounds of Wirral

Fri 6 July

The Celebrated

Sat 7 July

Children’s Day Meols Dean Johnson Wirral Symphonic Wind Band

Sun 8 July

Art on the Prom Choir in a day

Exhibitions

Tue 10 July

The Art of the Printmaker Cynosure Photographic Exhibition Green Spaces Posters Hello World Poems in Shops

Wed 11 July

Art on the Prom Sunday 8 July

Mon 9 July

Elizabeth Gates

Light and Dark

Kete Bowers

Thu 12 July

Pros and Coms

Fri 13 July

Jacqui Dankworth The Curator

Sat 14 July

Summer Arts & Crafts Fair Tea & Music at St Andrews Wirral Community Orchestra

Join us on for a real feast of art both to look at and to create yourself, with Workshops and Demonstrations, live music, stalls and many attractions for all the family

Parade Gardens

Look out for the sculptures by Paul Bearman, Murals and the display of 500 Wishing Flags running half a mile from the Gardens along the promenade!

Cynosure: A Photographic Exhibition Saturday 30 June - Sunday 28 October

Williamson Art Gallery and Museum, Slatey Rd, Birkenhead CH43 4UE 10am- 5pm (Closed Mondays and Tuesdays) Free admission

30 June – 14 July 2018 Tickets available online

or call 0333 666 3366

Booking fees charged for online and telephone sales

Full details of all events: wirralfestivalof firsts.org.uk

Festival of Contemporary Art 14 July – 28 October Free

Liverpool Biennial is funded by

biennial.com

Founding Supporter James Moores