Liverpool artwork of the week 18. 'rue Denovez, 20e, 2007' by Kate McLean in 'The Other Side of Paris' at Domino Gallery April 30 to June 14 2008

There are, I think, 35 photographs in the exhibition and this is one of only 2 or 3 in colour and all but 2 (Liverpool scenes) are photographs of Paris. The other side of Paris, that is, meaning the parts you don't see in the tourist guides, magazines etc. The Eiffel Tower does appear but not from the usual perspective - a bit like our own Cathedrals, they sometimes seem to suddenly appear in view when you don't expect them to.

I like these images because they are not standard pictures of scenes, they are playful and arty, capturing bits or details of scenes at unusual angles and in interesting light.

Also McLean gets extra bonus points for being well organised, having sent us all relevant information and images well in advance and even creating a dedicated website for the exhibition.

www.theothersideofparis.com
Domino Gallery

Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 May 2008, 12.00pm – 5.00pm

On Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 May, 12.00pm-5.00pm, the Bluecoat’s resident artists, designer-makers and creative businesses are taking over the building for a two-day celebration of their return to the iconic creative hub.

Visitors can enjoy a showcase of Liverpool’s best creative talent, see artists at work, find out about the creative process, commission something unique and get to know the talented person who produced it. They can also expect the unexpected as the tenants make creative interventions throughout the building.

The creative occupiers taking part are: Landbaby, Bob Porter, Purlesque, Mango Percussion, Display Centre, Jane Rees, Anthony Wong, bobbyandsophie, Agent Marketing, Pedro Pedraja, Bernadette O’Toole, Nawal Gebreel, Ben Egerton, Katriona Beales, Markus Soukup, Becs Andrews, Neil Keating, Nick Williams, Sacha Waldron, Nicki McCubbing, Julia Carter-Preston, Sense of Sound, Nook and Willow, Fittings Multimedia Arts, Sharon Mutch and A&R Photography.

The relationship between the Bluecoat and its creative occupiers is unique in that those working from the building have a huge role to play in sharing their ideas and knowledge with the Bluecoat’s audiences. That might involve running a workshop, taking on a student placement, working on a community arts project or simply opening their doors to the public now and again to expose the creative process.

Alastair Upton, Chief Executive at the Bluecoat comments ‘Our community of artists, creative businesses and retailers are the lifeblood of the building and play a major role in the Bluecoat’s unique position as a true, living, breathing creative hub. Working across a wide spectrum of art and creative practice, they bring a new vibrancy to the Bluecoat and this is the first chance visitors have to see them at work in their spaces.’

The Bluecoat’s role is to support its occupiers without replicating what else is already successful in the city, pulling together that help under one roof and working with support agencies to provide a relevant and effective package.

Lynne Robertson, who in April 2007 took on the newly created role of Business Development Manager at the Bluecoat, adds ‘Our vision for the Bluecoat is as an innovative contemporary arts experience that encourages and supports the development of creative talent. A beacon of that certain individuality that makes Liverpool so special. With a centre like this in the heart of the city, Liverpool can never become a "clone town" and will retain that sense of energy and creativity it needs.’

The Bluecoat provides a fully creative environment where practitioners and businesses are encouraged to work together, collaborate on projects, share ideas, share contacts, network and branch into new areas of work and practice.

Markus Soukoup, a new resident artist at the Bluecoat, who had previously worked from his home comments, ‘It has been great to start working in my studio with the two other artists I share with, Becs and Katie. We are all benefitting from each others’ different perspectives and approaches. Being at the Bluecoat is actually quite spiritual. It has a real inspirational energy.’

In return the Bluecoat benefits from something much more than rent. The Bluecoat’s identity comes as much from the people who work throughout the building as the art one organisation presents in it.

www.thebluecoat.org.uk

Chris Boyd has been commissioned by Polydor to produce a series of videos for the The Music. In preparation of the campaign for this Boyd has derived the concept to incorporate an online myth to generate an interest to The Music, as the ‘Puppet Master’ in a series of digital video shorts, known as the Sarg TMT layers. These are each online and over the course new ones to be released periodically.

His role to the project is to produce videos, presenting ideas and narrative layers. The experience during the research and development of this is one of a constant flux. Two way meta-communication with the audience. The objective is to take myth, a concept, place it in territories of cyber space, where there is interaction and intervention of audience participation. The audience being the web browsers, the fans. Through a series of short films, these pose enigmas for the audience to solve and takes them on a journey. This web campaign is one still in process and evolves in itself. From the initial teasers put on line a fury of interest has globally exploded. In essence with the teasers he puts up and the new clues and mysteries presented online he acts as the ‘Puppet Master’, where he formulates visual abstracts in narratives that indicate the next stage of the campaign. This entices the audience to follow motivated to work each stage out.

This project by Boyd has been featured and discussed by Jo Wiley and Zane Lowe, both DJs at BBC Radio 1.

To contribute to this, Boyd, would like the ‘audience’, you, to go on-line to the following link, view the Sarg TMT layer videos and record yourself via webcam with your responses and post on related forums, as you try to decipher the clues in the digital video shorts.

Link to view Sarg TMT videos at Chris Boyd's Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/boydism08

Discuss at the related Forums:
http://sargtmt.forumotion.com
http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=495922
http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24831
http://themusic.forums.umusic.co.uk

More Info on Alternate Reality Games:
www.unfiction.com

Email this boydism@hotmail.com

For further information on the project go to:
www.strength-in-numbers.co.uk
www.themusic.co.uk
www.youtube.com/themusicuk

For information on other creative initiatives by Boyd go to:
www.qboyd.com
www.myspace.com/boydism08

'What You See' A photographic exhibition by Liverpool's homeless and vulnerably housed population. May 12 to May 24 2008

Location: Kensington Library, Kensington, Liverpool L7 2RJ
Opening Times: Monday 13.00 -19.30, Tuesday 09.00 - 17.00, Wed 13.00 -19.30, Thurs & Fri 09.00 -17.00, Sat 10.00 -16.00

Contact: for more information contact Christian on 07752281386 or the Library on 0151 233 4495

In the winter of 2007 a short photographic course was ran with members of Liverpool’s homeless and vulnerably housed population. The course placed an emphasis on producing photographs openly and frequently that connect in some way to the day-to-day lives of the course participants.

The resulting photographs provide small windows into the everyday lives of the city’s homeless and vulnerably housed – and it is hoped they will act as triggers for debate about homelessness for those who view the exhibition.

Liverpool Curator Tony Knox brings 3 artists, Anna McDade, Darren Beatty and Carol Menzies, all from different disciplines to the new show at the Incubation Gallery, situated at the new £15 million pound Media Factory building Preston.

Anna McDade’s work explores the fusion of Eastern and Western art styles, including Graffiti Art, Anime and the ‘Superflat’ movement (Murakame). ‘After The Silence’ is a series of digital works exploring the birth of a new world after a terrible cataclysm; They are a reflection of real events experienced by the artist, but retold to express emotional perceptions in a succession of visual metaphors. They are a celebration of the realisation that from great tragedy can spring infinite renewal and rebirth: it is merely a question of an individual’s personal choice to recognise and embrace the positive as well as the negative in every situation.

Darren Beatty’s art work revolves around the questioning of images. Beatty’s interest is in the ambiguous nature of perception and representation, along with “tensions” between objective and subjective “picture making”. His intention is not to be overtly political, regarding specific issues such as the war in Iraq, but instead using imagery as a signifier of events from a broader historical period and therefore commenting more objectively.

Carol Menzies’ photographic images are a new abstracted series of jellyfish. These Embryos of Light are convulsing, dancing and floating structures within the unnatural environment of an aquarium. Lit by a single neon strip the jellyfish movement is restricted within this entombment. This organism is one of the oldest forms of life on earth, displayed for the voyeuristic pleasures of the public as they glare though the glass to another world.

http://www.tonyknox.org.uk

Liverpool artist Keith F Smith (www.kfsmith.co.uk) donated a specially produced watercolour of "Ferry 'Cross the Mersey" to raise funds for Claire House
(www.claire-house.org.uk)

Pictured here with Gerry Marsden, who autographed the painting before it was auctioned at Claire House Ball at Thornton Manor on 9th May.
The painting raised £1100.00 for the Hospice.

Singers, Poets, Storytellers and artwork will be on display at Merseyside Maritime Museums Dockside Gallery. Everyone is invited and it's FREE. So come along join in the fun, sing along, listen to poets reciting their own poetry, hear the story of Liverpool artists Wiilliam and Henry Carling. Veiw artwork and talk to some of the people who are taking part in the Face of the City arts project.

Liverpool is celebrating it's year as European Capital of Culture today and throughout 2008, the most effective way you can support the City and it's cultural events, is to be part of the audience. Most creative people need others to veiw or hear their work, so come on get involved, your an integral part of the city's CULTURE.

See you on the 17th. - Paul Miller.

Event Details:

12pm - Start - Veiw artwork and speak to participants

1pm - 1:30pm -Talk by Mike Kelly (Liverpool author) on the Liverpool artists the Carling brothers, William and Henry. The Carling Gallery is above the Maggie May Cafe, Bold Street, Liverpool city Centre.

2:00pm - 2:30pm - Singers and guitarists "Three Girls and a Mike" perform Liverpool songs. Join in and "Sing Your Socks Off" .
Su Grainger is a regular visitor on Linda McDermotts BBC Radio Merseysides, Friday night show.

2:30pm - 3pm -Members of The University of Liverpool Creative Writing Society for Lifelong Learning will be performing.
List of performers not in order of appearance.
Eileen Kyriacou - Poetry:
Cath Bore - Short Story:
Suzanne Flynn - Poet/Singer/Guitarist.:
Linda Walters - Poetry:
Phil Leeson - Short Story:
Pam Philburn - Poetry:
Sybil Hannon - Poetry:
Ann Mc Dermott - Poetry:
Tommy McBride - Poetry/Singer.

3pm - 3:30pm - Three Girls and a Mike.

3:30pm - 4pm - University of Liverpool Creative Writing Society for Lifelong Learning.

4pm -Finish. - Network with the performers and artists.

5pm - Merseyside Maritime Museum closes it's doors.

The Museum opens it's doors at 10am, there's plenty to see, so come early. Visit National Museums Liverpool's website for information about there Museums, events and exhibitions. www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk

http://www.liverpoolfh.org.uk/news_events.htm

Launch Party Thursday May 22 2008 20:00

Do not read between the lines of this group exhibition
The art shares no theme, there are no connections or collaborations
It is about presenting new ideas away from the gallery and delivering these ideas positively, within a domestic space

With Support from the Arts Council and Junction49, 45 HOPE ST presents a transformation of living spaces and the delivery of contemporary art within a domestic environment. It aims to promote the work of young artists, who often struggle to obtain respect from the arts industry due to a lack of funding and support. The exhibition will provide a progressive display of work during Liverpool’s year as ‘Capital of Culture’, crucially filling a gap in more alternative ways of displaying art to the public within the city

Curated by Lucy Johnston
The exhibition will run from Friday 23 May until Thursday 5 June 2008
Closed Mondays
Please remove shoes before entering

A couple of weeks ago on a wet Tuesday, I visited Warrington Museum and Art Gallery. It wasn’t the first time I’ve been through the doors. It’s one of the few places in Edward Morris’s Public Art Collections in North-West England guide I’ve been reluctant to travel to because I’ve been through its doors before and I’ve been trying to enjoy the shock of the new as much as possible. I dropped in many times during the late nineties when I was working for Edward researching local public art (for the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association) in the adjoining library. It was a good place to get some cheap machine coffee if I needed to take a break from looking through the records.

The coffee hasn’t changed much and neither has the museum. Founded in 1848 and opened five years later by the local Town Council, it’s as much a piece of history as the objects in its care. Wood paneling and old style cabinets dominate, with hand written information cards next to the artifacts. In an age when museums are being refit left and centre attempting to get away from the culture of simply showing a myriad ethnographic examples, it’s quite surprising to find a place standing still, maintaining its traditional style, a perfect way for curatorial students to see what the museums of yesteryear were like. Please don’t see that as a criticism; one of the best rooms at the British Museum is the antiquated Enlightenment which offers the chance for the visitor to discover the marvelous without them being highlighted to readily. Warrington offers that journey across an entire collection.

The art gallery extension was built in 1875 to ’77 essentially, according to Edward, to house a single sculpture – John Warrington Wood’s milk white marble St Michael Overcoming Satan, which can be seen just inside the front door. Wood was a Warrington boy, and though he spent his formative working years in Rome it's just right that his labour should be represented. There’s no entrance hall as such or at all in fact. A stairwell essentially, with a lift at the centre. But the thing you really notice is how acoustically distracting the building is. I could hear the staff chatting loudly two floors up and a visiting school group trudging about, which isn’t exactly conducive to looking at art. Deep breath. Sigh.

There are three particular display sections. This section of the building has been refit slight since I last visited, the temporary exhibition space slightly more ‘modern’ than before and the mezzanine floor above more prominent to the eye. Warrington’s School of Art was one of the best in the country and its most successful period was in the 1860s under brilliantly named headmaster J. Christmas Thompson. It’s this work which is collected up there and you can see why the students achieved more scholarships than most other art schools of the time.

Henry Woods's First Communion Vale is a Technicolor feast capturing a Mediterranean view of two girls chatting whilst one sews the titular garment. It’s a pleasingly odd composition – the faces aren’t entire realistic and the background is positively impressionistic. Also worth spending time with is a sculpture, Guinevere’s Redeeming by William Reynolds Stephens lustrously developed in bronze, ivory and enamel. It wonders if Arthur’s queen did indeed bring down Camelot and she’s seen trying to make amends for her deeds by returning Excalibur to its rightful owner.

The most interesting pictures on the floor are from Thomas Birtles, some photographs of old Warrington. There’s the Manchester Ship Canal under construction and more atmospherically Eagle and Child Yard, Formerly Patten’s Lane, Looking East to Bridge Street. This isn't mere reportage. It’s a view from a dusty yard into the world beyond, teasing the viewer with a slight image of women in the fashions of the time and the world of the past beyond. If anything it reminds me of Nicholas Middleton’s John Moores entry from 2006, Scene From a Contemporary Novel which showed a similarly ugly part of the city invigorated by the some striking lighting.

There’s no delicate way of saying the following so I’ll just blurt it out. The rest of the fine art collection is maddeningly displayed in the stairwell and particularly the one you’re greeted by at the entrance. A recent re-hang also meant that none of them were labeled and so my ability to offer a commentary is pretty foggy. There’s a nicely turned out painting of a girl popping some peas in a pink top but I couldn’t tell you who it’s by. I also liked the Daughter of the Lagoons by Luke Filder enough to write the title down, but I think by this stage in the visit, the background noise from everywhere had become so intense there wasn’t much I could do. Once everything's sorted out in a couple of weeks I'm sure this will be fine.

Luckily though, and to end on a positive note, I think I’d already seen the best paintings before stepping onto the mezzanine. Walter Langley’s Between the Tides shows a woman leaning over a rail to talk to a rather stereotypical looking fisherman at some docks which is ironic because you also have to lean over a rail to see it. Above the stairs is Fair Quiet and Sweet Rest by Sir Luke Fildes, an idyllic scene of what looks like two couples rowing slowly across a river, singing and taking in the swans and lilly pads – that I can describe the speed they travelling in shows how perfectly the artist captures their movement. It’s Jean Renoir’s short film Partie de Campagne rendered in oil. Remarkable.

The model of the spectacular new landmark artwork chosen by a group of local ex-miners has just been unveiled. It is commissioned by St.Helens Council as part of The Big Art Project, an ambitious public art initiative from Channel 4 supported by Arts Council England and The Art Fund.

Titled Dream, the 20 metres high sculpture by internationally renowned artist Jaume Plensa is to be sited on top of the former Sutton Manor Colliery, overlooking the M62.The work is intended to become a gateway feature for both Merseyside and Greater Manchester at the heart of the Northwest, and to symbolise the remarkable regeneration of the whole region.

Dream takes the form of the head of a girl with eyes closed, seemingly in a dream-like state. It is the artist’s response to the brief and to subsequent conversations with the ex-miners and members of the wider local community who wanted a piece that looked to a brighter future and created a beautiful and contemplative space for future generations, not least their own grandchildren, at the top of the former spoil heap. It is to be fabricated in pre-cast concrete, with a white, almost luminescent finish using a white marble/concrete aggregate mix in marked contrast to the black of the coal that still lies below. It will launch, subject to planning permission and project progress, in late 2008.

Full details on the 4 Big Art Website

The Kaiser Chiefs will appear alongside Sir Paul McCartney at The Liverpool Sound.

Further names for the June 1 concert at Anfield are to be announced in the coming weeks, including a very special international superstar guest.

And after finalising a review of the stadium capacity, the Liverpool Culture Company is putting just over 4,000 new tickets on sale to the general public. Tickets will be available via www.liverpool08.com from 12 noon today (May 8) on a first come, first served basis. Tickets are available across all price categories: £35, £55 and £75 (plus booking and transaction fees).

In addition, a special allocation of 500 tickets will be reserved for community groups, schools and charities based in Anfield and Breckfield who can apply to purchase one pair of £75 tickets each. Successful applicants will be allowed to auction or raffle the tickets to raise funds for their organisation (conditions apply – see below for details).

An initial 27,500 tickets for The Liverpool Sound were sold via a special ballot launched in September 2007. The new tickets mean that the total capacity for the concert – the last to be held at Liverpool FC’s iconic Anfield ground before the club moves to nearby Stanley Park – is nearly 36,000.

For those who aren’t lucky enough to get tickets, BBC2 will be televising highlights from the concert on the evening of the show. BBC Radio 2 will also be covering the event - further details will be announced nearer the date.

As Tate Liverpool celebrates 20 years on the dock, this exciting conference investigates the methods and meanings of urban regeneration in contemporary Liverpool and cities around the globe. Involving artists, architects, historians and cultural commentators in three overlapping discussion sessions, Magical Mysterious Regeneration Tour will provide a forum for critical debate on the purposes, benefits and costs of regeneration.

A significant part of the conference will be the opportunity for delegates to take part in a selection of artist led mystery tours of ‘regeneration’ sites in the city of Liverpool and its outskirts. Part of the conference will also be dedicated to a series of postgraduate research forums, providing a platform for new research in the area of the relationship of artists and architects to regeneration.

Speakers at the main plenary sessions include architects Will Alsop and Sara Wigglesworth, author Jonathan Meades, sociologist Saskia Sassen and cultural theorist Tristram Hunt among others.

Venues include Tate Liverpool, The Bluecoat and University of Liverpool
In collaboration with the Centre for Architecture and the Visual Arts (CAVA) and the Department of Philosophy, University of Liverpool.

Tate Liverpool
£60 (£30 concessions), booking required
Price includes refreshments
For tickets, call 0151 702 7400.

CONFERENCE STRUCTURE
Thursday 12 June
TATE LIVERPOOL
5pm onwards: Registration and collection of conference packs
6.00 -6.30pm. Welcome and Introduction
6.00 – 7.00pm. Liverpool in Film (City in Film)
7.00 – 8.00pm. Drinks Reception, Tate Liverpool

Friday 13 June
THE BLUECOAT
9.30am-12.00pm: First Plenary: ‘Artists Collectives and City Culture’
Participants include Phil Redmond, Richard Williams, Olaf Nicolai and Lara Almacegui.
Chair: Bryan Biggs – Artistic Director, The Bluecoat

12.00-1.00pm. Lunch, The Bluecoat

IN THE CITY
1.30-4.30pm: Artist Led Mystery Tours of Liverpool with John Davies, Nina Edge, Greg Scott-Gurner and Imogen Stidworthy

LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY
4.30-6.30pm: Second Plenary: ‘Architects, Planning and the Politics of Regeneration’
Participants include Will Alsop, Jonathan Meades, Tristram Hunt, Sarah Wigglesworth and Joseph Sharples.
Chair: Jonathan Harris - Centre for Architecture and the Visual Arts, Liverpool University

7.00-8.00pm: Drinks Reception, Liverpool University

Saturday 14 June
TATE LIVERPOOL
9.30am-12.30pm: Postgraduate Research For a
‘Creative Dwellings: City Space in Artistic Imaginings and Everyday Life’. Chaired by Paul Sullivan, Static, Liverpool
‘Building Utopias? Architecture, Planning and Urban Memory’. Chaired by Richard Koeck, City in Film, University of Liverpool

‘Mapping Exclusion: Social Control and The Politics of Zoned City Space’. Chaired by Les Roberts, City in Film, University of Liverpool

12.30-1.30pm. Lunch, Tate Liverpool

1.30-4.30pm: Artist Led Mystery Tours of Liverpool with John Davies, Nina Edge, Greg Scott-Gurner and Imogen Stidworthy,

LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY
5.00-7.00pm: Third Plenary: ‘City Life: Poverty and Power around the World’
Participants include Alfredo Brillembourg, Hubert Klumper, Saskia Sassen, John Belchem and Ou Ning.
Chair: Felipe Hernandez - Centre for Architecture and the Visual Arts, Liverpool University

- CONFERENCE CLOSES -

Jean Tormey
Curator: Public Programmes, Tate Liverpool
+44(0) 151 702 7455

Magical Mysterious Regeneration Tour
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/eventseducation

The launching of the Artistic Republic Of Garston and Embassy on Saturday May 31st when Garston will declare its Cultural Independence from Liverpool is the culmination of a five-year campaign to develop Garston as a Cultural Village.

The New Slaughterhouse Gallery is inviting artists, craftsmen/women and makers in South Liverpool and Garston to take part in an exhibition to launch Made In Garston. The aim of the exhibition is to showcase their work to promote and raise the profile of a Garston based creative and cultural Industries and increase the public’s awareness and appreciation of the local talent.

Alex Corina (Creative Director) says “ the launch is the first stage in developing the

Business and Enterprise Centre of the cultural village, which aims to combine a vibrant marketable arts, creative and crafts sector with imaginative ideas in training, enterprise, marketing and selling”

“We are asking artists and crafts people such as potters/ceramicists, jewellers, print makers, working and living in the area to come to the Gallery and show us their work”

He cont’d “the New Slaughterhouse and ‘Made In Garston’ is the icing on the cake really. I suppose it’s a case of putting the horse before the cake, the cake itself is the Wellington Street School soon to be ‘Garston Embassy’ which we hope will include eventually incubator units/studios for young artists/ creatives, as part of the Arts Cultural Centre involving the wider community and schools”

“So the campaign continues”

The aim of this initiative is to explore the notion of a crafts based ‘souvenir’ industry linking tourism and the Capital of Cultures own efforts to market and regenerate communities. It will combine imaginative ideas in the creative and cultural industries with the regeneration of Garston, bringing back into use hopefully other buildings now derelict St Mary’s Road and the adjoining Streets.

The gallery is open five days a week Tuesday to Saturday 1 till 5pm.

Alex can be contacted on 0776 338 8509 or New Slaughterhouse Gallery 48-50 St Mary’s Road Garston

Good to see another exhibition in the fantastic Picton Room at Central Library and I see that the Beatles exhibition 'Another Hard Day's Night' is still on there. It was scheduled to finish months ago but has been so popular it will be running for a while yet.

'A Window Into Oxfam' is a range of vibrant window displays designed by students at Carmel College St Helens. It launched at the Liverpool Central Library’s Picton Room tonight and is open to the public from Thursday 8th May until Sunday 11th May 2008.

This was an excellent idea for an A level art project with splendid results. If I had not known I would have thought they had been produced by far more experienced designers.

In all, 18 of Carmel’s talented art students have taken part in the three-month project and created an amazing range of designs promoting Oxfam and their stores. Four designs were chosen for the store windows on Bold Street, Liverpool and at West Kirby.

More details on Carmel College website

Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney (UK) is currently in debate with Kofi Fosu Forson (US) on the subject of sexual, gender and body politics.

The two artists/writers would appreciate your contributions and insight to the following critique currently on their agenda.

Please consider the following research sources and deliberate on the subject of sexual, gender and body politics. Please email your feedback to ges1967@hotmail.com This information and extracts will be collated and publicized online at www.gaynorevelynsweeney.co.uk and www.transvoyeur.com.

More details on the Forum