The three core exhibition strands of Liverpool Biennial will take place in a variety of places and spaces throughout the city. The newly-launched festival website www.biennial.com has a full guide to the artists, the venues and the events in this year’s Biennial.

Tate Liverpool, FACT (Foundation for Art & Creative Technology) and Open Eye Gallery are the venues for International 06 – although the streets of Liverpool will also play host to a multitude of artworks.

The venues are open as follows:
Tate Liverpool (Albert Dock) 10.00 – 17.50, Tuesday – Sunday
FACT (88 Wood St) 11.00 – 18.00, Tuesday – Sunday, and also Monday 18 September
Open Eye Gallery (28 Wood St) 10.30 – 17.30, Tuesday – Saturday, and also Sunday 17 September
Bluecoat Arts Centre (60 Hanover St.) Open from 29 September, 11.00 – 18.00, Fridays and 11.00 – 16.00 Saturdays.
Admission is free to these venues, apart from Tate Liverpool top floor gallery. Prices are £4, or £3 for concessions, or free for Tate members.

Liverpool Live 06 will run from 26 to 29 October at a variety of locations around the city.
Bluecoat Arts Centre 11.00 – 18.00 Thursday and Friday, and 11.00 – 16.00, Saturday and Sunday.
For further information, including venue and ticket details, call 0151 709 5297.

The Walker Art Gallery (Wm Brown St) will host the John Moores 24 Exhibition of Contemporary Painting, the UK’s most prestigious national open painting competition.
The exhibition will run from 16 September to 26 November. The gallery will be open 10.00 – 17.00, every day. Admission is free.

Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2006 will take place at The Coach Shed, in Greenland Street, Liverpool’s major new contemporary art centre run by A Foundation.
The exhibition will run from 16 September to 22 October. The Coach Shed will be open 12.00 – 18.00, Wednesday – Sunday and 12.00 – 20.00, Thursdays. Admission is free.

www.biennial.com
www.afoundation.org.uk
www.openeye.org.uk
www.bluecoatartscentre.com
www.fact.co.uk
www.tate.org.uk/liverpool

The Biennial is in there of course...

From Monty Python's Spamalot to hip-hop star Jay-Z, our critics pick their 50 must-sees of the autumn

Liverpool Biennial
Tate Liverpool and other venues in the city combine to offer a variety of contemporary art from around the world. The Albert Dock is not the Arsenale but the heat won't be as killing as at the Venice Biennale. The John Moores painting prize at the Walker Art Gallery and new contemporaries add to the fun.
· September 16 to November 26
More info

We have had an excellent response to our call for submissions for digital art and will start selecting the 200 images for the online gallery tomorrow. Today - August 31st is the deadline so if you were thinking of entering you had better act quickly.

Full details: www.digitalshow.co.uk

Vehicles dressed up for the Biennial !

Were you driving to work this morning when you saw a bright multicolored vehicle passing in front of you?

Watch out , because you’ll see more of these flamboyant vehicles appearing over the coming months...

Laurence Payot, a french artist living and working in Liverpool started this exciting project in June 2006.

Approaching private car owners around Liverpool, she proposes to paint a unique design that reflects their personality on their car.

“My paintings found a place to live. Instead of producing objects, I am giving a service ”.

This project is part of ]Bracket THIS[ exhibition open from 2nd to 26th of November 2006 at Arena Gallery, Duke Street. in the Independents strand of the Liverpool Biennial 2006.

For more information, please visit
www.LaurencePayot.com
or e-mail artcarproject06@yahoo.co.uk

Open Eye Gallery is delighted to present specially-commissioned new works by two exciting artists:
Carlos Garaicoa and Lisa Oppenheim. Although distinctly different in approach, their works both contain
themes of memory and change, recreating what was once visible or simply remembering what is now lost.

Carlos Garaicoa

A series of large-scale photographs by Havana-based artist Carlos Garaicoa explores the changing urban landscape of Liverpool. After decades of inertia and decay, current redevelopment is moving so quickly that buildings vanish and
are replaced, it seems, even before the dust of demolition has settled. During the summer of 2006, Garaicoa made a series of photographs of city-centre locations. On these images he then superimposed buildings (or parts of buildings) that once occupied the sites, or structures that were planned but never realised.

The superimposed forms (taken from archival photographs and architects’ drawings) have been reduced to line drawings using computer design software, and then stitched to the surface of the new photographs using coloured thread. The resulting works invite us to mourn what has been lost or destroyed, but also to reflect upon the social, economic and political shifts that underpin the ongoing transformation of the city.

Lisa Oppenheim

Lisa Oppenheim’s 16mm film installation takes as its starting point the captions produced by photographer Edward
Chambré Hardman, who operated a studio in Liverpool between 1923 and 1965. Well-known as a portraitist, he also made landscapes and street photographs. His prints and negatives have been stored in the Liverpool Record Office, accompanied by copious notes. Over time, researchers and archivists have added to these notes, expanding the original descriptions of the subjects photographed to construct, almost, a textual equivalent of the image. Working from these captions, travelling through the city, Oppenheim recreated scenes that have changed or no longer exist. The result blurs the boundaries between past and present - as text and images appear on the screen, the words of a life lived confront the shapes, colours and sounds of the immediate present.

Open Eye Gallery, Wood St., Liverpool. September 16th - November 26th 2006

Update to previous post.
afoundation/ Greenland Street is seeking Exhibition Invigilators to work on a full time or part time basis for the duration of the biennial from 14 September to 26 November. Invigilators will receive training prior to the biennial and a daily rate of pay of £40/ day.

The deadline for application for Invigilator posts is Midday on Friday 25th August.

They are also looking for volunteers to help with all aspects of their projects, so if anyone wants some relevant experience within an arts organisation they should email info@afoundation.org.uk (deadline doesn't apply to this).

The Projection gallery are returning to the Liverpool biennial, as part of the independents section, creating a dynamic mix of film, lens based media and interactive performance.

They are currently taking submissions of film based works, whether it be a short film or artists films they are interested in them.
Their aim is to produce a space that investigates the diversity of the medium, from grass roots to established film makers/artists.

They are also interested in hearing from people who have performances/installations that involve film, as they have a number of performances already confirmed but would like to offer the opportunity to others as well.

Through this project they also want to create a network of artists, creating peer support for each other and also working on similar events in the UK and Europe.

Submission deadline for films is 31st August and for installations/performances 17th August

For full submission details and information about the project visit
http://www.theprojectiongallery.com
or E: info@theprojectiongallery.com

The Independents website is dreadfully slow today. Maybe its caused by lots of artists and galleries registering the full details of their events in the online catalogue
I got in there early and can see that our Digital Show details have been successfully posted.

That's another task completed and entries for the online exhibition are pouring in now. Lots of excellent work from
all over the UK, USA, Asia, Europe, well, everywhere really. Going to be difficult picking out the 'best' 200 to show.
Also I still have decide exactly how the exhibition webpages are going to look.

Silent Sound is Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard's most ambitious work to date, it is a performance and installation and will be presented as part of the Liverpool Biennial of contemporary art.

On Thursday 14th September 2006 Forsyth and Pollard will stage a uniquely emotive experience which explores the mind's susceptibility to subliminal suggestion.
The performance will take place before an invited audience in the Small Concert Hall in St. George's Hall in Liverpool.

In 1865 at St. George's Hall, Victorian entertainers The Davenport Brothers performed their public séance act to an audience desperately searching for a bridge between the living and the souls of the dead.
Unused for over twenty years, the Small Concert Hall in St. George's Hall will reopen to host Silent Sound and the artists will perform on the same stage used by The Davenports.

During the performance, the artists are seated onstage inside a soundproof booth, inspired by The Davenport Brothers original 'Spirit Cabinet'. In unison, they repeat a single sentence throughout the hour-long event. Using their specially created machine this spoken statement is then embedded into a live music recital. The message will be inaudible to the audience's ears, but transmitted subliminally to their subconscious.

The artists have joined forces with two uniquely talented collaborators. Jason Pierce, leader of the critically acclaimed band Spiritualized, has written the musical composition and will perform the piece on the night with a string quartet and supporting musicians.

Dr. Ciarán O'Keeffe, a leading authority in psychology and parapsychology from Liverpool Hope University also known for his media appearances on Living TV's 'Most Haunted', has worked closely with the artists to underpin a strategy combining modern scientific and pseudoscientific techniques to consume and physically affect the audience to create a deliberately highly charged situation.

An installation of Silent Sound will then be presented as part of the inaugural programme at the major new contemporary art space, Greenland Street. An ambisonic audio recording of the live performance will be incorporated into a large-scale immersive installation specifically created by the artists to continue the event's exploration of the mind's potential receptiveness to suggestion.

More Details via AFoundation: http://www.afoundation.com/greenlandstreet/details.php?id=11

Forsyth and Pollard's website: www.iainandjane.com
Spiritualized Website: www.spiritualized.com

As during the 2004 Biennial there will be a series of tours, one each Saturday of the festival. So make a note now...

Specialist Tours

Saturdays throughout the Biennial, 2pm at Fusebox unless otherwise stated.
All tours are free and limited spaces are available. For more information or to book a place contact Roz on (0)151 707 6719

16th September - Stephen Hardstaff
An exploration of the exhibition and the city with the Liverpool based music industry designer.

23rd September – Joseph Sharples
‘Art and the Built Environment’
A walk through the city exploring the art and the built environment with the former curator at the Walker Art Gallery and author of the Pevsner Architectural Guide to Liverpool.

30th Sept. - Mathew Whitfield
Using Carlos Garaicoa’s “Overlapping ‘ as a starting point, this walk investigates the architectural significance of buildings, both standing and demolished, and traces the impact of their construction on the life of the city.

7th October - John Elcock
'Millions'
A look at International 06 from a man who has his finger on the pulse and is an advisor on Liverpool's built environment to a host of national organisations, 'Millions' will use an urban walk to discover the people and power behind the new - and the old - Liverpool.

14th Oct , 2pm - Sorcha Carey
‘What might have been….. ‘
Exploring unrealised projects of International 04 and 06. A tour of the city discussing art works that never happened and why.

21st Oct - Phil Morton
‘When was the last time you went somewhere just to hear the sound there?’
A unique opportunity to visit the exhibition through a sound walk, focusing on being there rather than talking about it.

4th November - Paul Sullivan
Paul Sullivan is Director of Static, Liverpool. He is an architect, an artist and writes on the subjects of art, architecture, criticism and current affairs.
Sullivan's tour will visit the works in the Liverpool Biennial 2006 that have architectural significance. In particular, those works that contribute to the debate of whether or not architecture resides in the drawing or in the building.

11th Nov - Lewis Biggs
Liverpool Biennial’s Director leads a tour of the public realm aspects of International 06 projects.

18th Nov - Ceri Hand
FACT’s Director of Exhibitions leads a tour of the International 06 projects.

25th Nov - Laurence Sillars
Tate Liverpool Curator leads a tour of the International 06 projects.

Contact Ros Hyde at Biennial for more info.

Community Groups:
Preview evenings for Community Group leaders on Wednesday 20th September 4.30 - 6.30 and Thursday 21st September 4.30-6.30.
Information Assistants will be available throughout the festival to talk to groups and help with the planning of group visits.
Fusebox 06 will be the International 06 information room and will contain information resources available to the public, to allow them to find out more about the artists, artworks and themes relevant to the exhibition.

For your group to benefit from these activities it is important that you include a visit to the Biennial in your plans for 16 September - 26 November 2006. If you would like any further information or to book a place on one of the above events please contact Rosalind Hyde on 0151 709 7444. Please feel free to extend this invitation to your colleagues.

Teachers:
As schools will now be planning for the next school year I wanted to draw your attention to our activities to ensure that you are able to fully benefit from the event. The support we plan to offer schools during the festival includes:-

Preview evenings for teachers on Tuesday 19th September 4.30-6.30 and Tuesday 26th September 4.30- 6.30.
Information Assistants will be available throughout the festival to talk to groups and help teachers to plan group visits.
Fusebox 06 will be the International 06 information room and will contain information resources to help teachers and students find out more about the artists, artworks and themes relevant to the exhibition.

Rosalind Hyde
Visitor Programme Co-ordinator

I'll try not to reproduce everything thats on the Independents website but I should point out that there is now a forum where you can add news, discus plans etc.
Here's some news from the forum about the online-only listings and Aug 22nd 'deadline'
Although I obviously like online listings, one advantage being that you can keep them up-to-date (hopefully) I must say I'm disappointed that there'll be no printed version during the Biennial.
350,000 visited the last Biennial and they all wandered round the city clutching their little orange guides. This years guide will not include details of the Independents.
I hope the online listings will at least be printable, then galleries/artists can print and distribute some.

ADMIN
Monday 21st Aug we will be publishing details of how to submit details to the Independents Biennial on-line catalogues.

The Independents on-line catalogue of artists and events will be the most inclusive and up to date catalogue. A final paper catalogue will only be published at the end of the festival.

BARB
When will the final deadline for submitting details to the online catalogue be? Is it still August 22nd? Are requests for further details being sent out yet to those selected from the August 4th preliminary deadline?

ADMIN
There is no deadline for the on-line catalogue, it will simply roll.
The Aug 22nd deadline is a separate issue aimed at clarifying venues and participants, where they could be matched up or any special requirement etc.

Exhibition Opportunity:

The Good Taste Gallery's Independents Exhibition opens Sunday October 01st for four weeks. Gallery Director Dalite Gold is looking for wall-based artworks, and will also consider small-scale sculptural pieces, with selling prices from less than £100 up to a maximum of £1,000. Interested artists should contact the Gallery directly.

Submissions to
The Good Taste Gallery, 19 Stafford Street, Liverpool L3 8LX,
Tel. 0151 298 2525
info@goodtastegallery.com
www.goodtastegallery.co.uk
Deadline for receipt of submissions is September 16th.

The Independents Biennial Liverpool requires a Press & Media Consultant.
£2K fixed fee.

The independents are the exhibitions, events and goings-on of artists, gallerists and visual media activists making their mark, independently, at Liverpool Biennial 2006. The Independents are not themed, categorised or curated by the City's institutions. They are there on their own terms, doing their own thing, looking for attention, dialogue and interaction.

IBL requires the services of a savvy, fast-moving individual (or company) to secure both specialist and popular media coverage for a diverse programme of exhibitions, events and happenings. The Consultant will need to collate content for press packs and get the packs to the right people at the right time. The Consultant will liase with artists and the media in relation to photo / interview opportunities and associated activities. The Consultant must be able to write copy, e.g. the Consultant will be expected to conduct and publish interviews with artists for IBL's website.

The Biennial period runs 16 September - November 26, however, this consultancy will focus on the late August to mid-October period. Availability to make an early start will be appreciated. An inclusive fixed fee of £2K is offered. The Consultant will be responsible for their own tax and NI. If interested please forward a CV, two references and evidence of ability to meet IBL's requirements
F.A.O. John Brady, Independents Biennial, 67 Greenland Street, Liverpool L1 0BY
tel: 0151 708 9000
email indie_biennial@btinternet.com
http://www.independentsbiennial.org

Werk Ltd presents Supersocial

Werk Ltd is setting up Supersocial as a platform of activities during the Liverpool Biennial.

Supersocial takes place every Thursday, starting September 14 until November 23 from 6-8pm. Korova Bar & Kitchen is our meeting point for discussions, interventions, screenings, excursions, excavations, explorations and much more. Guest chefs will be part of the program, serving food at 8pm.

Supersocial hosts thematic discussions and events led by invited individuals and groups with the aim of bringing Biennial visitors, participants and audiences together under conducive circumstances. Supersocial collaborates with institutions involved in the Biennial and wish to facilitate networking opportunities and promote knowledge about professional art practices. It is open for all and a free event.

Call for participation – artists, critics, curators…

Do you have work you’d like to show, ideas you’d like to share, a slide show you’d like to present or perhaps an event you’d like to stage? Werk would like to invite you to participate in the ongoing activities around Supersocial, the discussion and networking platform open throughout the Biennial. We have a small budget to develop and support your idea. If you’re interested in finding out more,
please get in touch with Cecilia Andersson c@ruc.com

www.ruc.com/werk

Nice new shiny website for biennial.com
Looks good, not all there yet. No mention at all of the Independents! Thats a bit weird.
No contacts page, no access to the previous biennials and nothing much in the events diary yet.
Still a month to go though.

Did you know its National Allotments Week? (Aug 14th - 20th)

VIRTUAL GRIZEDALE
A unique exhibition of produce from Liverpool allotments is taking place at Liverpool’s major new contemporary art venue Greenland Street, on Sat 16 September, 12-4pm.

This allotment produce fair is part of a multimedia arts extravaganza called ‘Virtual Grizedale’ organized by Grizedale Arts and taking place in Greenland Street. Virtual Grizedale is one of the main, high profile launch events for new arts venue Greenland Street and this arts project aims to make a positive impact on local Liverpool communities and suggest alternative approaches to regeneration.

This week (14 – 20 August) is National Allotments Week and Grizedale Arts are calling all Liverpool allotment gardeners to come along to Greenland Street on Sat 16 September and showcase local produce grown on Scouse soil. Gardeners will have the chance to exhibit their produce at Greenland Street - Liverpool’s major new art venue which offers spaces for large scale, experimental artists’ projects and Liverpool’s first contemporary artists residency scheme.

Grizedale Arts are organising this produce fair to support and promote local allotments and would like all local growers to get involved. Stalls are FREE and gardeners can come and buy or sell anything produced on their allotment including fruit, veg, plants, seeds, eggs, jam, chutney, bird-houses or even compost!!

To book a FREE stall or sell home grown produce for FREE produce please contact:
Hilary Thorn E:hilaryt@afoundation.org.uk
T:0151 709 4180

LIVERPOOL ALLOTMENT PRODUCE FAIR
SATURDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2006
12 – 4pm
Greenland Street, 67 Greenland St, Liverpool L1 0BY
Just off Jamaica St, opposite Cains Brewery

From Independents website...

Artists
ARTIST Registration ( including independent curators, gallerists and other visual culture activists).

Will all ARTISTS who intend to show work at the Independents Biennial please register on the site.
(That means the Independents website not this one or the biennial.com one)

In the near future a request will be made for information from ARTISTS regarding the work they are exhibiting in the Independents Biennial, for inclusion in the on-line catalogue. Notification of this will be by e-mail to all registered site members.

Some more info to whet your appetite...

Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2006
THE COACH SHED at GREENLAND STREET
Liverpool Biennial 2006
16 September – 22 October 2006

The annual exhibition, New Contemporaries, arrives out of an open submission by artists on the final undergraduate year at any British art school, current postgraduates, and those already a year out. The selectors this year, Angus Fairhurst, Paul Noble and Alison Wilding, all artists, have selected work by just 36 out of a submission by over 1,200 potential artists.

The integrity, quality, and continuing success of New Contemporaries lies, in part, in the fact that selectors, really do consider every image, proposal and mixture of the two, in a thoroughly drawn out marathon. This takes place in two stages, the first over 5 consecutive days in a blacked-out space, and the second for a number of days where the short-listed work brought to one central space from across the country is further narrowed down and discussed. Works that persist, refuse to go, provoke arguments, disturb or reinforce, are by now quite familiar to the selectors and the resulting exhibition, brings a great range of subtle but exciting media and uses of imagery
and intention.

This year’s show is characterised, in part by a use of print. A use of a familiar landscape stance in engraving reconvened into another series of images (Salvatore Arancio). The slightest visual recognition at a different end of the range of approach brings an unlikely relationship between engraving and advanced technology (Holly Antrum). A giant woodcut shows a number of donkeys who seem to roam forward, the detail of wood grain also shows through (Andrea Buttner).

www.newcontemporaries.org.uk

Selected artists
Holly Antrum, Salvatore Arancio, Athanasios Argianas, Joshua Balgos, Dafni Barbageorgopoulou, Becky Beasley, Terence Besmirch, Kiran Kaur Brar, Sarah Bridgland, Andrea Buttner, Stephen Connolly, Youngmi Chun, Susan Ellery, Jenifer Evans, Jessie Flood-Paddock, John Hughes, Andy Jackson, Chiho Kato, Morag Keil, Katherine Kicinski, Edwin Li, Neil McNally, Nicholas Mobbs, Katy Moran, Laura Morrison, Yuko Nasu, Tom Price, Florian Roithmayr, Lois Rowe, Robert Rush, Henrietta Simson, Matthew Smith, Akiko and MasakoTakada, Akiko Takizawa, Douglas White, Jeremy Willett.

Invitation to participate in Lee Mingwei’s Fabric of Memory
A Liverpool Biennial 2006 project presented at Tate Liverpool.

Lee Mingwei is a Taiwanese artist living in New York who has been invited to create a work of art for the International 06 exhibition of Liverpool Biennial. His work has been exhibited in many countries.

Fabric of Memory demonstrates how personal memories and histories are present in objects. The artist invites people from Liverpool to exhibit clothing and other fabric items in their possession; special items made for them in childhood by parents, grandparents, other relatives or persons close to them.

You are invited to search your homes for such items that you have treasured and kept, then write down all you remember about them—who made them, when and how they were used and any other memories and associations they evoke. If possible, you are also encouraged to contact the original makers of the items and solicit their memories of the making and giving the item.

The installation at Tate Liverpool will include approximately 20 items. Items not included in the exhibition may be put on the project’s website that will grow as submissions are added throughout the course of the exhibition.
All items will be returned at the close of the exhibition.

Please send an image or images of the item(s) you wish to submit, along with your brief thoughts to these questions to kyla.mcdonald@tate.org.uk

Got my first official invite to one of the Biennial previews in the post yesterday.

Its for the John Moores painting prize 24 at the Walker Art Gallery.

Tracey Emin will be giving the opening speech and awarding the prizes, should be fun.

You may recall I wasn't too impressed with the 2004 winner (slump/fear by Alexis Harding) although I did enjoy the show overall. I hope this years winner is more to my taste.

Here's a list of 10 facts about the Liverpool Biennial which was handed out recently. I think its rather impressive..

Liverpool Biennial – Top Ten Facts

1 – Liverpool Biennial is the largest festival of contemporary visual arts in the UK.

3 – the number of exhibition strands that form Liverpool Biennial: the International programme, the John Moores Exhibition of Contemporary Painting, Bloomberg New Contemporaries and the artist-led Independents element

4 – the number of Biennials which have previously been held in Liverpool.

39 – the number of artists participating in International 06. These artists, coming from 25 countries, were initially invited to make a research visit to Liverpool, and have been commissioned to create new works for this year’s festival.

40 – the number of locations (at least!) where works will be exhibited during this year’s event. This includes both major gallery spaces and unexpected temporary locations around the city centre – this autumn Liverpool will be home to pavements of shattered glass from Mexico City, work by the cream of Britain’s art school graduates, a football pitch designed as an obstacle course situated on the banks of the Mersey, and public transport transformed into vibrant pieces of art by Panamanian Bus Painters.

110 – the number of times you would have heard ‘Dancing Queen’ if you’d spent a day at Peter Johannson’s Musique Royale installation. One of the most popular works from the 2004 Biennial, Johannson’s prefab house-meets-music box was located at the Pier Head and played the Abba classic from 10 am to 5pm every day.

310, 000 – the number of images of Yoko Ono’s work which were distributed throughout Liverpool during the last Biennial, on bags, badges, banners and stickers, as part of her work, My Mummy Was Beautiful.

350, 000 – the number of visitors from around the world who attended the 2004 Biennial – an increase of 150, 000 since 2002.

£9 million – the estimated tourist spending generated by the 2004 Biennial, and....

£10 million – the total economic impact on the local area.

Call for submissions: Liverpool Biennial 'Independents'

Proposals are invited for an exhibition as part of Liverpool Biennial ‘Independents’.

We will be running 2 exhibitions in a building on 'Wolstenholme Square' close to the centre of Liverpool.
The first exhibition will run from Saturday 16th Sept to Sunday the 1st October (set up will be from 6th to the15th September)
The second exhibition will run from Saturday 6th October to Sunday the 22nd October (set up will be from 2nd Oct until the 5th)

The exhibition will be self funded requiring us to organize a rota for invigilation. We are hoping to provide a limited number of places to artists from outside the North West who can't offer support with invigilation.

We will need to ask for a contribution of £20 from each participant to cover the building costs which will ensure that fire regulations and Health and Safety legislation are adhered to. The £20 will include a years membership of ‘The Art Organisation’

More details email gordonculshaw@hotmail.com

Proposals
By e mail only
By Sunday14th August
(we recognise this represents a very short time period, but the events publicity
offered by Biennial Independents is based on strict deadlines.

Please include up to 5 images of the work (max 1mb each).

Email applications to
Gordon Culshaw
gordonculshaw@hotmail.com

AND

Jamie Torode
Jamie.toad@virgin.net

Things are hotting up now, artists are getting down to the nitty-gritty, curators and venues are getting prepared. Even biennial.com promises that their new-look website will be ready soon (honest)

Here is Ben Parry working on reconstructing an old milk float into a work of art. Rough plans for the work are on the wall next to these diagrams of the original vehicle but I don't want to spoil the fun by giving too much away. You'll see it driving round the streets of Liverpool in a few weeks.

IN ANOTHER PLACE
Call for entries for photography exhibition

As Antony Gormley’s iron men sculptures near the end of their long stay on Crosby Beach more and more people are photographing each other with the life-size statues. Some confront the sculptures; others treat it as a member of the family. The sculptures have been dressed up, occasionally ­ some poseurs have almost matched their nudity!

The Independents wants to exhibit your affectionate, witty and wacky photographs. If you have been in another place with one of Gormley’s men send the picture to
the Independents Biennial, 67 Greenland Street, Liverpool L1 0BY / 0797 661 0581 /
mail@independentsbiennial.org
no later than September 05th, 2006.
The Maximum height or width of digital photographs should be no more than 550 pixels.

Oh, more good stuff to look forward to this Biennial (only 6 weeks to go!)

Cape Farewell - Art and Climate Change

Liverpool Biennial
National Museums Liverpool
16 September – 26 November 2006

Liverpool School of Art & Design, Liverpool John Moores University
68 Hope Street Gallery
12 September – 6 October 2006

Heather Ackroyd & Dan Harvey, David Buckland, Peter Clegg, Gautier Deblonde, Max Eastley, Nick Edwards, Antony Gormley, Alex Hartley, Gary Hume, Ian McEwan, Michèle Noach, Rachel Whiteread

As part of the Liverpool Biennial National Museums Liverpool and the Liverpool School of Art & Design 68 Hope Street Gallery the work of thirteen artists who sailed to the High Arctic to experience the effects of climate change. Cape Farewell – The Art of Climate Change brings together – for the first time – the National Conservation Centre, Walker Art Gallery and the Liverpool School of Art & Design 68 Hope Street Gallery, interweaving sculpture, photography, painting, video and sound within the city’s historic and contemporary spaces.

Cape Farewell – Art and Climate Change was created in partnership with the Natural History Museum in London where it was first shown from June to September this year. The exhibition has been specially recreated for its multi-site installation in Liverpool for the Liverpool Biennial.

Works situated in the new exhibition space at the National Conservation Centre include Stranded, Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey’s 6-metre long Minke whale skeleton and Alex Hartley’s Nymark (Undiscovered Island). After retrieving a whale carcass from Skegness last year, Ackroyd & Harvey applied a special process to the clean bones that slowly produced a covering of delicate iridescent alum crystals. Hartley’s Nymark (Undiscovered Island) follows in the footsteps of the early explorers with a topographically inspired photographic installation of a ‘new’ island he discovered and named in the Arctic. Also shown are Gautier Deblonde’s photographs of Rachel Whiteread’s Embankment, her installation at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall that was influenced by her experience of the Arctic.

The Liverpool School of Art & Design 68 Hope Street Gallery has David Buckland’s video The End of Ice depicting the 28-minute long demise of an iceberg and his photographic Ice Texts, poignant messages projected onto the blueness of the Arctic ice. Gautier Deblonde shows selected images of the pristine white landscapes of the High Arctic from his phot-essay, The Svalbard Series. His photographs continue outside the gallery around Liverpool as a fly-poster exhibition Also at 68 Hope Street are photographs of Antony Gormley and architect Peter Clegg’s Three Made Places of an ice work created in the Arctic and the chillingly humorous, lenticular artworks of Michèle Noach. Ice Field, Max Eastley’s soundwork of cracking, melting ice resonates through the space. On Friday 29 September Cape Farewell Artists’ Talks at the Liverpool School of Art & Design 68 Hope Street includes artists David Buckland, Dan Harvey and Heather Ackroyd followed by an evening sound and video event by Max Eastley and David Buckland.

Amongst the collections of the Walker Art Gallery close to Helen Chadwick’s Viral Landscapes and work by Hermione Wiltshire and Tony Cragg is Gary Hume’s painting of a hermaphrodite Polar Bear, a sinister reminder of the effects of climate pollution. Nick Edward’s three films of mythical Arctic landscapes hang next to works by Degas, Matisse and Monet.

Cape Farewell brings artists, scientists and educators together to collectively address and raise awareness about climate change. Created by artist David Buckland, Cape Farewell has led a series of expeditions into the Arctic exploring the seas that hold the key to understanding the changes in our weather patterns and climate. Their programme has included three separate journeys on the Noorderlicht schooner 79° North to the Svalbard archipelago with a fourth planned for 2007 as part of International Polar Year.

Burning Ice: Art and Climate Change Published by Cape Farewell to accompany the exhibition’s tour around the UK, Burning Ice: Art and Climate Change is a 176-page publication comprising 200 stunning colour photographs and illustrations. The book charts the experiences of artists who have voyaged with Cape Farewell including Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey, David Buckland, Siobhan Davies, Gautier Deblonde, Max Eastley, Antony Gormley and Rachel Whiteread and the work they have subsequently produced. Extracts from expedition journals complement writings by novelists Ian McEwan and Robert Macfarlane warning of the impacts of climate change.

visit www.capefarewell.com

A Foundation/ Greenland Street is seeking Exhibition Invigilators to work on a full time or part time basis for the duration of the biennial from 14 September to 26 November. Invigilators will receive training prior to the biennial and a daily rate of pay of £40/ day.

UPDATE: The deadline for applications for invigilator vacancies is Midday Friday, August 25th 2006

Please send your CV or details of relevant experience to info@afoundation.org.uk.