The ten-day event, inaugurated by Design Initiative, highlights the city’s reputation as a centre for fashion and design and follows the success of Design Show Liverpool in 2008.

The cornerstone of the festival will be two exhibitions running from Friday 30 October to Sunday 1 November 2009 at the Crypt Hall of the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.

The Eco Design Show will showcase environmentally friendly design and crafts including interior products, ceramics, furniture, lighting, jewellery and fashion accessories.

The Fashion Lab will allow trade buyers and public to see work by talented new designers. It provides an opportunity to spot up and coming trends and buy unique fashions unavailable in high street stores directly from the designers.

Accompanying the Fashion Lab is the Finishing School, a comprehensive programme of fashion master classes designed especially for recent graduates, new designers as well as more established designers. Through a series of workshops, seminars and one-to-ones with industry professionals over five days in September, the Finishing School aims to raise awareness and knowledge of what it takes to be successful within the fashion industry.

The Festival will also see the launch of Design Stars, a competition involving Liverpool schools to find some of the best local design talent in the11-to-16 age group.

The full programme of events also includes a lively range of debates and seminars.

Designers who wish to exhibit at either the Eco Design Show or the Fashion Lab have until 31st July 2009 to apply to take part. As well as these two exhibitions, if you are interested in the Finishing School masterclasses in September please go to Liverpool Design Festival to get further details and application forms.

Design Initiative is also inviting businesses from the Merseyside creative sector to become Festival Partners and organise their own events such as studio openings, exhibitions and workshops to run alongside the festival.

For revelant contact details and further information see www.liverpooldesignfestival.com which will be updated on an ongoing basis.

You can also follow the Festival on Twitter at Design Fest

The Liverpool Design Festival is run by Design Initiative with the support of Liverpool City Council and Arts Council, England - North West.

I’m really quite pleased with this. I haven’t done any painting for quite a while but this abstract turned out very nicely. I was hoping for more of a landscape but the nature of the machine wouldn’t allow it. I painted it using the robot Optimus Wayne which has just been installed in View Two gallery by the artists Wayne Hill and James Diable.

You can have a go too, either at the viewing tonight or on Friday or Saturday afternoon (it may well be extended another week as well).

Artists Wayne Hill & James Diable present Optimus Wayne, an Art Robot that you can control via pressure pads. 2-4 July 2009

Private View Event: Thursday 2 July 2009 18-21.00. Join us and Paint with the Robot!

Exhibition: Optimus Wayne will be working at all times on these dates
Thursday 2 July 12-17.00
Friday 3 July 12-17.00
Saturday 4 July 12-17.00

I am Optimus Wayne I am an art robot

I’ve recently been collaborating with Wayne Hill and James Diable and the unsuspecting public to create the robotic paintings of the future.

My assisstants play on the connotations that I am a process for mass production, traditionally seen as an enemy of individuality.

The artists work as my apprentices. In public showings the audience are given the chance to be both the viewer and the apprentice, controlling my robotics with an array of pressure pads thus challenging who the artist actually is.

I have no feelings or ego, these privileges are for my assistants and maybe whoever has control of my pressure pads. So the public are the Artists and we are the servants to the machine that is the public.

Art and Design in the City at the Bluecoat

SATURDAY 4 July 2009, 11.00 - 17.00 at the Bluecoat

In conjunction with LOACA Arts Merseyside, artists and designer-makers will be exhibiting their work in the courtyard.

This is an opportunity to not only support local creative talent by buying direct from the artists and designers, but also to speak to them about their work and perhaps be inspired to get creative.

http://loacaart.co.uk/

Venue details

This all day event should be good and we’re delighted to see that Static’s Cafe is now open at Weekends!

Static UNIT 4 and Candie Payne PRESENT:
(http://www.myspace.com/candiepayne)

AMERICANA

Saturday 4th July 2009
11.00 - 20.00 in Static Coffee Bar.
Free entry

Authentic American Music, Food and Drink:

The Nashville Liverpool Underground Medicine Show
featuring Emily Grace, Mike Badger, Matt Gardner
http://www.myspace.com/nashvilleliverpool

The Loose Moose String Band
http://www.myspace.com/theloosemooseband

Danny Roberts (of the 16 tonnes)
http://www.myspace.com/thesixteentonnes

Food:
Pancakes, bacon and maple syrup
Southern fried chicken
Chilli
Hot dogs

Apple pie and ice cream
Brownies
Banana splits

Drink:
Mint juleps
Bloody Mary
+ wide selection of beers, wines and spirits.

Static Coffee Bar is now OPEN weekends

UNIT 4 is funded by STATIC GALLERY and CULTURE LIVERPOOL
THANKS TO THE CITY OF LIVERPOOL FOR ITS FINANCIAL SUPPORT

Static Gallery/UNIT 4
23 Roscoe Lane
Liverpool
L1 9JD

t: 0044 (0151 707 0770

Environmental Art Award 2009

Liverpool Chamber of Commerce is launching an environmentally focused art competition, as part of Liverpool’s Year of the Environment 2009.

The Green Art competition is designed to encourage professional artists from across the region to create art from recycled materials. The theme of the competition is Reduce Reuse Recycle, the three key processes for creating a more sustainable environment.

Maresa Molloy, Head of Policy and Information at Liverpool Chamber will be judging the competition along with Cllr Berni Turner and a member of Liverpool’s art community.

Selected entries will be exhibited at the Chamber’s Annual Dinner on 26th November. The winning entry will receive £500, presented by Marks & Spencer chief executive Sir Stuart Rose, guest speaker at the Annual Dinner.　There will be a £250 prize for the runner up.

The competition is free to enter, professional artists, living or working in the Merseyside area wishing to enter can download an application form from the Chamber’s website: www.liverpoolchamber.org.uk/art-award.html

All entries must be submitted before 31st October 2009.

Come and meet other artists, craftspeople and designers

There will be coffee, tea and wine for sale as well as the full menu and possibly a special offer of a starter and dessert for £7.50 or there abouts.

There is parking nearby, the room will not be very accessible for those requiring assistance but there is a dining room at ground level.

Please RSVP to Alison Bailey Smith at email address abs1000@hotmail.com or on the Facebook group

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=95819109750#/event.php?eid=95819109750

to get an idea of numbers.

Anyone needing a lift can post that on the Facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=95819109750#/event.php?eid=95819109750

Alison Bailey Smith
http://abscraft.blogspot.com/
http://www.abscraft.com

Just had a quick look around the set for this performance and it looks really exciting. I don’t want to give too much away but its not a standard stage performance with rows of seats, its spread all over the huge space in the Furnace room at A Foundation with installations at various points. I think its going to be great fun as well as thought-provoking as it looks at the fascinating subject of identical twins. Several sets of twins from various countries are there now rehearsing.

And now there is a two for one ticket offer. That’s only £7 (£5) for two tickets. You can book online via www.thebluecoat.org.uk or phone and quote ‘double’.

TWINS - how do I know I am me… by Angie Hiesl Produktion

From the Bluecoat but taking place at A Foundation

Fri 3rd & Sat 4th July 2009

Twins – How Do I Know I Am Me?
Friday 3 July 20.00
Saturday 4 July 15.00 & 21.00
£7, £5 concessions (special offer 2 for 1 at present)
Tickets can bought through the Bluecoat on 0151 702 5324 or www.thebluecoat.org.uk

The Bluecoat presents the first major UK presentation of this performance project by Angie Hiesl Produktion. Twins addresses the fascinating phenomenon of twin appearances, interweaving performances and installations with the unique architecture of A Foundation.

TWINS is a truly exciting performance project and will be the first major UK presentation of the renowned collaboration between director, choreographer, and performance artist Angie Hiesl and visual artist Roland Kaiser. Based in Cologne and working as Angie Hiesl Produktion, the duo’s work inhabits the rich territory between performance and visual art, presented like gallery exhibitions interspersed with compelling performed minuets.

Working with pairs of identical twins from Liverpool and its German twin city, Cologne, Angie Hiesl and Roland Kaiser create a breath-taking site-specific work that resonates with themes of genetics, identity and human cloning.

Angie Hiesl Produktion has won numerous theatre and art prizes since the early 80s and has shown work internationally, yet remains relatively unknown in the UK – until now…

WEDNESDAY 1 July 2009, 18.00 at St.Luke’s Church (Bombed Out Church)
Defcon presents iSSHO taiko drummers from Glasgow, playing Japanese style drumming. Drumming workshop available after the show.  Admission: £2

Venue:
St Luke’s Church (’The Bombed Out Church’)
Leece Street. (Top of Bold Street) Liverpool City Centre, L1 9BH

iSSHO taiko drummers: http://www.myspace.com/isshodrummers

KMA’s ‘Flock’ in Liverpool from Tom Wexler on Vimeo.

One of the lovely events in 2008 that we actually missed.

Unedited footage from July 2008 of KMA’s installation ‘Flock’ in Williamson Square, Liverpool. Flock is an interactive work based around three sections of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, and was created in collaboration with the choreographer Tom Sapsford - more information from kma.co.uk.