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HomeZZ - old posts archive (pre 2024)Art PreviewThe Loft Space - Forthcoming Programme

The Loft Space – Forthcoming Programme

The Loft Space – is a temporary gallery set in a residential setting. Jo Derbyshire the former curator of the Eggspace Gallery Liverpool, who is also involved with Red Dot Exhibitions and Transvoyeur both as a performer and visual artist has developed a project of exhibiting work in this setting. The idea of housing visual art in this setting stemmed from Psychogeography whereby the artists geographical environment becomes a place to study, explore and relay the effects on the emotions of being in the urban space.

Derbyshire’s When the City Speaks embraced this concept. It was whilst based at Hope University Cornerstone campus in Everton where Jo conceived the idea of When the City Speaks although the project was formulated some years before with Derbyshire’s observations of Liverpool’s stop the rot campaign, the changes in urban development going on in the city and changes in local economy. the local art scene and local culture that influenced the concept. The project evolved from an out of focus photograph containing the text ‘World in One City’. Derbyshire argues that this phrase has a double meaning. The hybridism of modern culture, movement of people to cities particularly with free movement of people in Europe has become part of our culture representing a world in one city, yet the phrase is also somewhat arrogant and Derbyshire contextualises this demoting all cities as being ‘cities in one world’.

The project evolved to a production, conceived and directed by Debyshire, titled When the City Speaks: Seasons – an organic piece that has grew from previous performances in Liverpool and London. The first, explored at the View Two Gallery, Liverpool, England, and then re-examined in the socio-urban and cultural context of London. Derbyshire examined Liverpool as a World in one City through the seasons with a historical, personal and social perspective. Through collage and performance, with an interior monologue narrated by Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney, the audience were invited to participate and add to the four collaged canvases Derbyshire had prepared for the performance. Each canvas represented a season in the City. The canvases themselves originally looked like an enlarged page from a journal or a scrapbook where Derbyshire references and archives what has happened in her urban environment. Through each progressive stage the audience become part of the visual dialogue and are invited to change the canvases. With each performance the canvases are reused and again changed, regenerated as such. The work was performed during the Independents Liverpool Biennial 2006 and Live 06.

Paintings produced for the Independents Liverpool Biennial 2006, had elements of Munch’s Scream. Tom Tom presented a screaming head, primal in form, representative of Derbyshire Psychoanalytical studies of her immediate environment. Mind map presented a number of heads, which has been described as Christ-like and resembling a totem pole again colourful and primal in construction. Heads in the image all merged in to one, facing different directions, again the work shows the artist introspectively analysing her outside world, the many heads representing different thoughts and different feelings, hence the title mindmap.

The Loft Space is a development of this work, this time with the artist. Writer and performer inviting others to display work in the residential setting highlighting the theme ‘When the city speaks’. The space in the residential setting itself is being renovated so with each exhibition changes and redevelopment are evident all the time. The space because of its personal setting encourages artist and performers to show their work from a personal perspective in an urban setting. Derbyshire has invited local poet Andrew Taylor who will be the resident poet in the space who will write about each event.

Those interested in exhibiting whether it be visual art, poetry or performance should contact Jo Derbyshire on 07946353251 or email jo@joderbyshire.co.uk

The line up so far includes
21st – 27th January 2007
When the City Speaks – A review – Jo Derbyshire
featuring Tony Knox Andrew Hodge Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney June Rose H Laura Baxter Agata Alcaniz Peter Worthington Alison Bazely
A review of the project when the city speaks featuring work shown at the Liverpool Biennial Independents including a narration of the project read by Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney

28th Jan – 3rd Feb 2007
On The Waterfront – Irene McLoughlin -Mcloughlin has worked on the waterfront all her life. In the 1970’s she worked on the ferry’s between Liverpool and Belfast and currently works in an office setting on the waterfront. Mcloughlin has included personal photographs from the 1970’s to date in this exhibiion. The waterfront setting whether it be Liverpool, Belfast, Scotland, Dover or abroad has always been something that Mcloughlin is drawn too. The waterfront being a gateway to discovery for the artist.

4th Feb – 10th Feb 2007
Poetry Installation – Andrew Taylor

11th Feb – 17th Feb 2007
Pastel Series – Peter Worthington
Worthington a local artist has capture various iconic images of Liverpool and portrayed them in pastels.

18th Feb -24th Feb 2007
The Place where we live -Andrew Hodge and June Rose H
Hodge and June Rose H are relative new comers to the Liverpool Art scene. Hodge’s concept revolves around the idea of with the progression of technology, more specifically mobile phones, that everyone can become a photographer and archivist recording all they see around them. Hodge has included a selection of city scapes as taken on his mobile camera. June Rose H, influenced by the impressionists and development of Urban surroundings has included several small canvases of her impressions of the city.

25th Feb – 3rd March 2007 – Jazamin Sinclair and Karen Henley

4th March – 10th March 2007
City, Regeneration, Redevelopment and waste – ACEO’s -a concept by Peter Worthington and Jo Derbyshire

11th March – 18th March
Nietzsche’s Urbanised Icon by Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney and Tony Knox.
Sweeney and Knox through their independents research of genetic intervention of the body and the concept of the post modern hero respectively will collaboratively explore in a contemporary socio-urban context the fundamental philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche.

25th March – 31st March – Book Launch preview

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