Liverpool Biennial with The Turnpike presents
Mark Leckey: Dream English Kid 1964 – 1999 AD
10 June – 26 August 2017
The Turnpike
Civic Square, Leigh WN7 1EB
Open Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 4pm
Free entry
Exhibition Launch: Friday 9 June, 6pm – 8pm
A major work by internationally acclaimed British artist Mark Leckey will be on display at The Turnpike in Leigh, Greater Manchester this summer, as part of the Liverpool Biennial touring programme.
In 1979, Eric’s nightclub in Liverpool hosted a gig by Joy Division that Mark Leckey attended in his youth. In 2015, the artist located amateur audio footage of the event on YouTube and as he listened to the sound, he wondered if he could somehow find his 15-year-old self. Realising that many of the personal memories that we have can be found online, Leckey assembled a film using archival material from TV shows, adverts and music. Dream English Kid mines the internet to actualise half-forgotten memories, combining material from television shows, advertisements and music to create a record of all the landmarks of the artist’s life from 1964 to 1999.
Between 1-12 August Dream English Kid will be accompanied by a special screening of Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore, a nostalgic film-collage made by the artist in 1999. It offers a snapshot of British club-culture, from Northern Soul to rave in the 1990s, with much of the footage extracted from the documentary The Wigan Casino made for Granada Television in 1977. The result is a hypnotic video collage that reflects the power and freedom of youth.
In Leigh, the artist will also work with a group of young people from the region, inviting them to respond to his exhibition. This activity is part of a wider programme by The Turnpike which aims to remove barriers to the arts for young people from Wigan by connecting them to leading artists and cultural organisations.
Mark Leckey (b. 1964, Birkenhead, UK) lives in London. Leckey uses a variety of media, including film, sculpture, sound and performance. He has an ongoing fascination with the affective power of images, music and technology, and often uses reconfigured archival footage in his work. Leckey has had solo exhibitions at many major international galleries and museums including MoMA PS1, New York, USA (2016); Secession, Vienna, Austria (2015); WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels, Belgium (2014); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA (2013); and the Serpentine Gallery, London, UK (2011). He was awarded the prestigious Turner Prize in 2008.
The exhibition is part of the Liverpool Biennial touring programme, which brings works by international artists presented at the 2016 festival of contemporary art to six arts organisations in the North of England.
