“A profound sense of belonging”: Małgorzata Mirga-Tas @ The Whitworth – Reviewed

In Manchester’s Whitworth gallery, the Polish-Roma artist showcases textiles and paintings previously seen at Tate St Ives. Maja Lorkowska considers an exhibition inspired by religious iconography that rejects cliché or exoticism of Roma life…...

Reading the Gallery:
On Art & Text

“Words, text, art, text art, artists’ text, art writing.” Mike Pinnington on the intersection of and relationship between art and text…  When we speak about art, we often refer to the ‘story’ of...

Vanessa da Silva: Roda Viva @ Mostyn Gallery – Reviewed

“A joyous, life-affirming show.” Mike Pinnington finds much to celebrate in the Brazilian rhythms of Vanessa da Silva’s exhibition, Roda Viva, at Mostyn Gallery… The temptation to weave between the free-hanging panels and eventually...

Ding Yi: Between Prediction and Retrospection @ Mostyn Gallery
– Reviewed

“Opportunities to engage with names other than the movement’s usual suspects are all too rare.” Mike Pinnington on a close encounter with the geometric abstraction of Ding Yi…  When we think about abstraction...

The Big Interview: Neil Griffiths, CEO & Co-Founder of Arts Emergency

To mark their recent smash success with the Big Give appeal, Laura Robertson speaks to Arts Emergency CEO Neil Griffiths about why it’s absolutely essential to keep on advocating for working-class kids –...

Veronica Watson:
All Together Now

“A feeling, a period, a mood.” Mike Pinnington on Veronica Watson, whose portraits – celebrated in new publication All Together Now – currently adorn the Bluecoat’s upstairs gallery… What does it mean to...

Beyond Liverpool...
Blazing a trail through
the big wide world
12/01/2024
Mike Pinnington on Vallisaari island, Helsinki. Photograph by Laura Robertson

Field Trip: Helsinki, Finland – Happiness and Cultural Guardians

Taking in climate change at Helsinki Biennial, diversity at the Ateneum, and visiting contrasting new galleries in an art school and bar toilets (!), Mike Pinnington’s return to Finland’s capital city is a timely reminder...

Must hear...
The sounds of
The Double Negative
04/10/2024
Sex Swing - Golden Triangle LP Cover

God Unknown Records at 10

“I wanted to release music that I love, that really meant something. Something real.” This weekend sees God Unkinown Records mark a decade of releasing diverse, cutting-edge music from artists based all over...

Fill your boots...
unique, limited edition gifts
05/09/2019
Present Tense. Publish by The Double Negative, 2019.

Present Tense (2019) // Paperback // £14.99

Present Tense A decade since Liverpool EU Capital of Culture… What now?  Edited by Laura Robertson and Mike Pinnington ISBN 978-1-5272-4281-4 Published August 2019. Very limited edition run of 250 copies. Paperback, 96...