Culture Diary w/c 30-07-2018
Our pick of this week’s (very chatty) arts, design, film and music events from around the North of England – and loads of it’s free!
Monday – Pin Cushion (2017) 8.35pm @ HOME Manchester — £9/7/5
This twisted fairytale/coming-of-age debut by British female director Deborah Haywood opened Venice Critics’ Week to much fanfare; and the title, according to Hayward, refers to the person behind the ‘school slag’. Part of HOME’s Birds Eye View female film season.
Wednesday – Raising Sparks Book Launch With Ariel Kahn 6.30pm @ Waterstones, Liverpool One — £3
It sounds like a dream come true: Ariel Kahn submits his contemporary fiction debut, Raising Sparks, to Writing on the Wall’s Pulp Idol novel writing competition; makes the final; and as a result, Raising Sparks is published by Bluemoose Books and is seen on the shelves of Waterstones. In conversation with Mike Morris, co-director of Writing on the Wall, tonight, expect Kahn’s take on success, and the novel’s tale of religion, and – ultimately – friendship.
Thursday — Book Launch: Shouldn’t Throw Stones 6-7.30pm @ Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool — FREE
Photographer Kevin Casey has been working as a night watchman for the past couple of years at a very unusual location: the Grade-listed, largely abandoned Pilkington’s Glass factory (above). A monument to St Helens’ industrial past, hear more tonight from Casey and me (TDN editor and Open Eye critical-writer-in-residence), as we talk about ghosts and creative viewpoints within industrial ruin.
The Liverpool Premiere Of Balls: A Film By Lily Cole With Q&A 6.30pm @ FACT, Liverpool — £6/5
If there was a 95% chance your baby would die if they stayed with you, would you try to give them away? Model, actress, History of Art graduate and director Lily Cole premieres her new short fiction film tonight, entitled Balls (still, below), based on the real heartbreaking stories behind Victorian foundlings. Hear Cole discuss the film’s issues tonight with playwright Bonnie Greer O.B.E, author Michael Stewart, and Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Liverpool, Simon Marsden.
Friday — Minton Tile Floor Reveal 10am-5pm @ St George’s Hall, Liverpool — £3 OTD
You hear about this growing up in Liverpool but rarely get the chance to see it in person: over 30,000 beautiful tiles, typically covered and protected since it was first installed in 1852, in the concert room of St George’s Hall. Don’t miss this astonishing example of Victorian design, open to the public for just a short period of time from now until 12 August, as part of Liverpool Biennial 2018.
Birmingham Open Studios 6pm Til Late @ Venues Across Birmingham — FREE
It’s the Digbeth First Friday and the city’s artists are opening warehouse and factory doors for you to peep inside, have a drink and talk about what they’re up to. Highlights include Grand Union’s (below) summer party and a new exhibition by GU Women, a new Birmingham-based female collective; experimental sound festival Ideas of Noise, at The Edge, Vivid Projects, and Birmingham City University; and a group show from The Jubilee Trade Centre Artists at The Showcase Gallery.
Saturday – Surrealist Writing Workshop 10.30am-3pm @ The Hepworth Wakefield –£40/30 Members
To coincide with their current exhibition by surrealist painter and novelist Leonora Carrington, this special workshop by author Clare Fisher will challenge and help you to go wild with creative writing techniques; channeling Carrington’s expressive poetry and storytelling. Read Joanna Moorhead on Carrington here.
Artist Talk: Ryan Gander 11am-12pm @ Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral — FREE
He’s collaborated with children from Knotty Ash Primary School to make the modernist chairs you can currently see at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. Today, Ryan Gander (below) discusses his experience with Senior Lecturer in Architecture at Liverpool John Moores University, Dominic Wilkinson. Read more about Gander’s “bonkers method of teaching” here.
Laura Robertson
Images: feature, Lily Newmark as Iona in Pin Cushion, 2017; from top: image by Kevin Casey, part of the series Shouldn’t Throw Stones: View of a Night Watchman, 2017; still from Balls, 2018; Grand Union studios, Birmingham; Ryan Gander, Liverpool Biennial 2018, image courtesy Pete Carr
