Thornquestgallery - Art News

Liverpool artwork of the week 27. Untitled by Randa Mirza from the series ‘Parallel Universes’ in ‘New Ends, Old Beginnings’ at Open Eye 12 July to 3 September 2008

A wonderfully dramatic image. Randa Mirza questions how we respond to the daily media reportage of war zones and how we relate to the material that is communicated.

New Ends, Old Beginnings explores the cities of the Arab region through their local and everyday culture, a perspective rarely encountered in the mainstream media.

Artists: Can Altay, Ziad Antar, Lara Baladi, Cevdet Erek, Tarek Al Ghoussein, Randa Mirza, Michael Rakowitz, Hrair Sarkissian, Sharif Waked and Tarek Zaki.

The cities of the Arab region are extraordinarily diverse, ranging from sites of ancient civilisation to newly emerging urban centres, and their cultures are similarly varied and complex. While cities like Baghdad struggle to protect their museums and architectural heritage, others such as Abu Dhabi are in the early stages of promoting a new urban cultural legacy by creating a space for the arts from scratch.

www.openeye.org.uk

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The Hive Collective - Twilight City Event - ‘Shopping Remixed’ at St John’s Shopping Centre and the BBC Big Screen. Saturday 12 July 2008

What a weird and wonderful event this was. Members of Hive and Noise Club wandered around the shopping centre interacting with the shops, shoppers and anything else to make noise. Turning the precinct into one big electronic noise machine.

The musicians wore red suits with the message ‘We Are Sound’ on the back and declared to everyone who took part that ‘You Are Sound’.

The high pitched notes were a bit too much for some people who dashed past with fingers in ears but many others joined in and asked what it was all about.

There was also some very nice ambient music being fed through the speakers all around the centre.

Meanwhile on the nearby BBC Big Screen there was film of the event with the strange sounds attracting the attention of passers-by.

A truly interactive event.

www.thehivecollective.co.uk

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Looks interesting. More details on the website

we are pleased to invite you to the glossmattfix inaugural event,
entitled ‘the viewing’, scheduled, Thursday 17th July 2008 @ 6pm.

a series of interrelated spaces, formally 43 and 45 Stanhope street, exposes an independent pair of post war terrace houses which have been united across the common party wall; the domestic union expressed within a cruciform staircase.

awaiting redevelopment, the house[s] are, for one night only, available for
‘the viewing’, in which 3D excavated installation and readymade, projected photographic documentation and sampled sound media reveal forgotten domestic space.

location: 43 stanhope street, liverpool 8 opposite Cains brewery, 6pm onwards with bar.

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Via Merseyside ACME…

Calling All Budding Film Makers for Celebr8 Festival

The aim of celebr8 (don’t discrimin8) 2008 is to highlight and celebrate how our diversity benefits us all culturally, socially and economically.

Last year’s festival was an outstanding success incorporating more than 30 events and, in total, communicating with over 5.5m people in the region.

celebr8 On the Silver Screen

celebr8 (don’t discrimin8) 2008 is set to be the biggest festival yet with the launch of the celebr8 on the Silver Screen film competition.

Launched as part of the celebr8 (don’t discrimin8) festival of diversity, the celebr8 on the Silver Screen film competition is open to individuals, community groups, students or anyone who wants to be the next Richard Curtis or Russell T Davies.

Budding film makers are asked to submit a piece of creative writing/script which will be judged by some of the region’s film professionals.

The winning films will be shown at a regional premiere in September 2008 and then screened at cinemas across the region.

The deadline for entries is 23rd July 2008. For more information please visit the Celebr8 website
www.celebr8.org

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Rathbones Summer Exhibition open to the public 8 to 18 July 2008

Over 170 entries were received for the Exhibition and judged by a panel of high profile figures in the Liverpool arts and business scene.

The exhibition is open to the public from 11am – 3pm on weekdays 8 – 18 July; no charge for admission. Visitors will have the opportunity to vote for their favourite exhibit to win the ‘People’s Choice Award’.

Rathbones launched the Summer Exhibition in support of the 2008 Capital of Culture celebrations in Liverpool to showcase the creativity of Liverpool’s schools. Exhibits have been submitted by pupils from a range of local secondary schools representing a range of artistic mediums from the written word and painting, to textiles, sound, film and computer graphics.

The judging panel have been unanimous in their praise for the quality of the entries form. Loyd Grossman commented on the standard of the work as being of “very high quality”, while Mike McCartney enthused that the exhibition was a “fascinating, different assortment of ideas from art to sculpture, to dance to ……kids cake!”. Margi Clark added that “the standard of the students’ work is fantastic and more than tells the ‘gem stories’ of Liverpool’s culture”.

Judging panel: Wirral’s Cultural Ambassador Mike McCartney, Loyd Grossman, Judy Thomas of Liverpool Biennial, actress Margi Clark, international singer Jennifer John, winner of television’s Project Catwalk, Kirsty Doyle, and Andy Pomfret, Chief Executive of Rathbone Brothers Plc (Rathbones) have recently judged the exhibits and the overall winner will receive a cash prize of £500.
There will also be two theme winners and prizes for those entries which were highly commended, as well as a people’s choice award. A number of prizes have kindly been donated by Casio, Practika and Mlode.

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GEORGE, MEET DRAGON
Big Screen Liverpool, Clayton Square
Friday 25th July – Thursday 7th August 2008
Daily at 12.00, 14.00, 16.00, 19.00 and 21.00 for approximately 1 hour - films followed by interactive installation

Curated by Bren O’Callaghan

Also appearing at BBC Big Screens in Swindon, Derby, Leeds & Hull (timings vary)
As the Beijing Olympics loom into view, so do the reports, retrospectives and images of China today, cementing stereotypes and offering little in the way of a fresh approach. Everywhere, images of the dragon proliferate, that oft-used signifier and crudely scribbled cliché stripped of meaning through overuse. In the East, it represents a creature steeped in wisdom and knowledge, but to Western audiences, a storybook monster to be fought and vanquished.

This difference in belief mirrors the sense of cultural ‘otherness’ between the two societies; a misconception based upon unfamiliarity. The legend of St George and the Dragon is a popular British tale, but what if fate were to intervene before the lance was cast – what if villager-munching differences were resolved, a weekly poker night established instead? George, Meet Dragon reclaims the simplest of introductions – a greeting, hello and welcome, an extension of friendship – as a means of uniting beneath a shared symbol of fascination.

Featuring work from Hong Kong based comic and animation artist Kongkee, a selection of ultra-short films responding to the visual culture of China plus a new interactive installation for outdoor play by all ages: short and tall, soft-bellied and smooth scaled alike. In doing so we hope to take a step back from the excesses of newsprint, the look-don’t-touch of museum exhibitions, from the peaks of media hyperbole. No presumption, nor bias or claim of greatness. Just a new friend in the making.

Kongkee is presented in association with Chinese Arts Centre (Manchester). One Minute Award shorts courtesy of Filming East Festival (Oxford) including the work of Jia Zhangke, Zhang Yuan, Zhang Jizhong, Wang Wangwang, Cui Zien, Xiao Jiang, Guo Xiaolu, Zhang Fan and Sun Xiaoxiao. New interactive commission for the BBC Big Screen network created by the International Centre for Digital Content (Liverpool).

www.bbc.co.uk/bigscreens
www.chinese-arts-centre.org
www.filmingeast.org
www.icdc.org.uk

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‘Arabise Me’ - Launch of Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival 2008 at the Bluecoat.

I don’t feel much different though as all I did was eat some flat bread, hummus and falafel, which is something I do very often anyway. There was various activities throughout the evening but I missed them somehow, the performance area soon filled to capacity so I couldn’t get in to see the dancers and the live music was due to start past my bedtime.

There was a great atmosphere though and a big crowd of people, good to see the new garden being put to good use again too.
It did prompt me to wonder ‘what is an Arab?’. So I checked out Wikipedia - as always with these terms, its been redefined, reclassified and disputed over the years but the Arab world consists of 24 countries and territories with a combined population of some 325 million people spanning two continents.

The exhibition ‘New Ends, Old Beginnings‘ opened here and at Open Eye at the same time, good stuff but more about them at a later date.

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Last weekend all the studio spaces in the Bluecoat opened their doors to the public.
It was good to see all the newly refurbished spaces in use by local artists and makers and interesting to talk to some of them about their practice.

The studios are various shapes and sizes, some only big enough for one person others maybe three or four.

The print room is now back in action and print courses should be re-starting very soon which is great news.

The creative occupiers taking part were: 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.

www.thebluecoat.org.uk

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We had a good look around the new Victoria Gallery and Museum at Liverpool University this week. Its now open to the public Tuesdays to Saturdays 10.00 - 18.00 and its fantastic.
They have done a great job of refurbishing the old redbrick building, all the internal tiled walls look in excellent condition and I think we’ll be visiting the cafe there fairly frequently in future.

The first gallery houses the University collection of works by John James Audubon and asks the question ‘How did an illegitimate, bankrupt, self-taught artist publish one of the most valuable books in the world?’ The book itself is in Liverpool Central library and is well worth seeing and there’s a good selection of works here.

Then there’s lots of interesting artworks in the permanent collection rooms. Artists such as Augustus John, Sam Walsh, Graham Sutherland, John Cotman, JMW Turner etc.

The museum in the grand Tate Hall on the second floor houses an interesting array of items linked the various academic departments such as dentistry, vets, archeology, computing (its great to see all those old calculators and adding machines again) and a section on childbirth with a warning that children might find the images disturbing.

Another welcome addition to the Liverpool art scene - and its Free!

University of Liverpool Victoria Gallery & Museum

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Continuing today’s musical theme, listen out for all the Sea Shanty music whilst you’re round the docks next weekend for the Tall Ships event. There’s also a concert at the CUC on 19 July.

The very best singers and musicians from the UK and European maritime music scene are heading for Liverpool for one of the biggest and most popular festivals of its kind, which is now in its 10th year.

Groups are coming from Brittany, Italy, Poland and Holland to perform on and around the visiting ships at the Albert Dock and at the Wellington and Sandon Docks, alongside the finest of local and British performers.

The home crew are headed by Hughie Jones, formerly of The Spinners; Jacqueline McDonald, fondly remembered as half of Jacqui and Bridie; and hard-driving shanty group Stormalong John who’ve played all over Europe

Shanties 08 Concert Details

On the evening of Saturday 19th July, our grand concert will showcase the very best of the festival guests at the stunning new Contemporary Urban Centre in Greenland Street.

The concert will feature Hughie Jones and Stormalong John (Liverpool), La Moresca Antica (Italy), Les Souillés de Fond de Cale (Brittany), QFTRY (Poland) and a surprise guest performance

Tickets at £12.50 (£10.00 concessions for unwaged) are now on sale via Ticketweb www.ticketweb.co.uk, phone 08444 77 1000 or on the door on the night, subject to availability. Doors open 7.00, start 7.30pm.

Full details on the Shanties 08 website

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