Culture Diary w/c 14-08-2023
Our pick of this week’s arts, design, film and music events from across Liverpool and beyond…
Monday – Project Lovebomb: Part One: The Lovebombs All Day @ WHISC (The Women’s Health Information & Support Centre), Liverpool – FREE
Exhibition whose name and content (above) is inspired by and in response to the manipulative grooming technique known as lovebombing, wherein an unknowing potential victim is bombarded with (insincere) attention and compliments. The intent from artist Emily Salinas is twofold – to not only raise awareness about the practice, but to reclaim the term and sentiments attached to it, “to make something good out of a negative experience.”
Tuesday – Visibilities Exhibition Tour 1.30pm @ New Adelphi Gallery, Salford – FREE
Art collections can be incredible resources. They tell the story of art history (of a certain hue), yes, but also reveal the prevailing thought, proclivities and preferred narratives of the collector(s). In very recent years there has been a collective reckoning – that, obviously, there are gaps in both knowledge and representation. To paraphrase Guerrilla Girls: we’re seeing less than half the picture. This critical exhibition, drawn from the University of Salford’s fine collection, addresses the question: what does it mean to be visible? Take the tour with curator Rowan Pritchard, and Stephanie Fletcher (Art Collection, Assistant Curator) for a first hand insight into how collections might more equitably shape the story of now.
Wednesday – Creatures of the Psyche 11am-4.30pm @ Bridewell Studios & Gallery, Liverpool
Delving into ‘imagined worlds with invisible undercurrents, dark reflections and alluring light’, Creatures of the Psyche (above) brings together artists Anna Ketskemety (last seen by us in Refractive Pool), Vicki Lucas le Bon, Ben Lloyd, Danny May and Chiz Turnross, whose practice takes in installation, painting and mixed-media works.
Thursday – Exhibition Opening: Evocation. An exhibition by Tate Liverpool colleagues 6pm @ Elevator Studios, Liverpool – FREE
Presenting the work of more than thirty artists whose day jobs see them fill roles at Tate Liverpool, including in the gallery, shop, café and security. Works displayed respond to a ‘memory, particularly one connected to their home lives and/or their experience of working at Tate’, which closes this October for much needed renovation work, making Evocation (below) a no doubt poignant celebration and hiatus for those involved.
Further Reading: Time & Space: On Being a Gallery Invigilator
The Terminator & Terminator 2: Judgement Day 6.30pm @ FACT Liverpool – £13.30/concs
Combining early on-screen fears of AI, time travel and the impending post-apocalypse, James Cameron’s 1984 film The Terminator remains an irresistible proposition which, if anything, he topped with its sequel, 1991′s Terminator 2: Judgement Day. And that’s before we mention the making of Arnold Schwarzenegger, playing a cybernetic hunter-killer sent from the future to quell humanity’s burgeoning resistance movement. You could almost believe Avatar never existed… Almost.
Further Reading: Beyond Uncanny Valley – AI and the Movies
Friday – Exhibition Opening: Karesansui: Dan O’Dempsey 6pm @ The Royal Standard, Liverpool – FREE
Prints, interactive paintings and an interactive sculpture from artist Dan Dempsey, whose interests number public engagement, collaboration, Taoism and mindfulness. Playing with the idea of the Japanese Karesansui garden of the title, the exhibition’s intent, says Dempsey, is to provoke self-reflection in safety of the space.
Saturday – Crate Market/Dur-Dur Band Int. from 11am @ Future Yard, Birkenhead – £28
Vinyl and craft beer market from Wirral’s finest, followed (at 7.45pm) by the much loved – and nigh on mythical – Mogadishu disco-funk stylings of Dur-Dur Band Int.
Sunday – Rye Lane 5pm @ FACT Liverpool – £8
Continuing a run of screenings programmed to mark and celebrate debuts from British female directors, this Sunday is the turn of Raine Allen-Miller’s South London-set romantic comedy Rye Lane.
Mike Pinnington
