|
LIVERPOOL BIENNIAL ARTS FESTIVAL 2008
ARACHNOPHOBES
beware! Another giant spider is visiting Liverpool. This is,
however, a far more delicate individual than its predecessor of a
few weeks ago, which fled the city via the Mersey Tunnel, so is
obviously not one of its progeny. The creature is currently to
be seen immobile and suspended from its huge web, high above
Exchange Flags, behind the Town Hall; its glittery, crystal body
enhanced by LED dewdrops. It is the work of Ai Weiwei, the
Chinese “artist, architect, curator and prolific blogger”,
who was a collaborator in the design of the Bird’s Nest Olympic
Stadium in Beijing. According to the description given, Ai
Weiwei “often draws on the materials of the past for his work,
transforming them through assembly, remoulding, or sheer
destruction, into present day community.” Appearing as
part of Liverpool’s 5th Biennial International Exhibition, MADE UP,
which commenced on 20 September 2008 and will continue until 30
November 2008, this is just one of around 40 projects on show at
venues around the city. These works are by leading and
emerging contemporary artists, and are mainly new commissions,
although selected key works, as yet unseen in the UK, will also
feature. MADE UP is described as an “exploration of the
ecology of the artistic imagination” and it
“highlights art’s capacity to transport us, suspend disbelief and
generate alternative realities.” It asserts that imagination
is the dynamo of art and that making things up is the emotional
charge which powers the artistic imagination. Also
photographed, on Dale Street/Cunliffe Street, is one part in a
number, spread across the city, which comprises a work by Finnish
artist, Otto Karvonen. Karonen, it is stated, “makes
simple, often humorous interventions into everyday life, designed to
prompt us to question the nature of reality and our beliefs”.
In this latest work he “crossbreeds personal observations with
the formal language of street signage to reveal the cityscape as a
series of overlapping and modulated realities”. Other
artists involved include Atelier Bow-Wow, Yoko Ono, Jesper Just and
Alison Jackson, to name only a few. Also mentioned on the
trail are works of longer standing in and around the city such as
Richard Wilson’s ‘Turning the Place Over’ in
Moorfields and Antony Gormley’s ‘Another Place’, on
Crosby beach. Major galleries, both cathedrals and other
venues throughout the area hold a wide range of fascinating exhibits
including Jyll Bradley’s captivating, ‘The Botanic Garden’
at the Walker Art Gallery, until 31 October 2008 and Steve McQueen’s
‘Queen and Country’, in St George’s Hall, to 31
October 2008 There is a feast throughout the duration of the
festival and beyond to be explored and deliberated.
A map of locations, which guides visitors around a trail of projects
around the city and lists major exhibitions, can be obtained, along
with other information from:-
The Visitors’ Centre (former ABC
Cinema), Lime Street, open daily 10:00 to 18:00 GMT. Tel.
(+44) 0 845 220 2800 or (+44) 0 151 708 9157.
Also Watch out for details of Liverpool Irish Festival, 17 October
2008 to 2 November 2008.
 |
|
