Culture Diary w/c 11-09-2023
Our pick of this week’s arts, design, film and music events from across Liverpool and beyond…
Monday – Exhibition Opening: 2020 & 2022 John Moores Painting Prize China Winners Group Show 3pm @ the Exhibition Research Lab, LJMU, Duckinfield Street, Liverpool – FREE
With planning of the last John Moores Painting Prize hit by lockdowns, the usual compliment of Chinese artists’ works appeared via projector only. This time around they get their own space to breathe. Alongside existing paintings new works were created this summer when the artists were resident at Liverpool School of Art and Design. This first UK exhibition of the 10 artists’ works spilling out across two floors runs for just five days, so catch it while you can.
Tuesday – FACT Together @ FACT Liverpool & Online – FREE
FACT does vital work in platforming and encouraging new talent by commissioning early career artists to produce new digital art. The result is FACT Together, which this year sees Liverpool and Manchester-based artists Dongni Liang (above), Nicole Prior, Charlotte Southall and Ellie Towers exhibit both in gallery and online.
Wednesday – Goodfellas 2.30pm @ FACT Liverpool – £8
“As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.” Celebrating one of the most fruitful relationships in 20th Century Hollywood, the Scorsese/De Niro season continues this week with Goodfellas, a high water mark of cinema’s love affair with the Italian-American mob.
Thursday – Mellowtone presents… 7.30pm @ the Everyman, Liverpool – £11
Intimate showcase from Mellowtone, known for championing artists at the intersection of folk, blues, roots and more. Tonight sees a typically eclectic mix, with Sunstack Jones, She’s In The Trees, Plazzy Bag, and DJ Richie Vegas.
Friday – Late At Tate Liverpool: Fast Forward 6pm @ Tate Liverpool – FREE
With Tate Liverpool due to close next month for a face-lift described by the gallery as a “major reimagining”, tonight marks a great opportunity to spend an evening in the building for art, music, performance, workshops and talks. The hot ticket for many will be discussion Reimagining Tate Liverpool, led by director Helen Legg.
Saturday – Exhibition Opening: John Moores Painting Prize 2023 @ the Walker Art Gallery – FREE
As the event web copy observes, The John Moores Painting Prize (first held in 1957), is the UK’s “longest-running painting competition.” For a prize that counts David Hockney, Richard Hamilton, Mary Martin, and Rose Wylie among its winners, it should be considered a significant element of local and national arts calendars. With the 2023 winner due to be announced this Thursday, today’s opening represents a chance to experience the buzz for yourself.
Read Maja Lorkowska-Callaghan on most recent winner, Kathryn Maple
Manchester Collective: Different Trains 7.30pm @ the Tung Auditorium, Liverpool – £20/£10
We’re going to get in early and say that we count ourselves as big fans of autumn. There are many reasons, not least of which is the huddling together in front of world class performers whose goal it is to deliver a new season of glorious programming. So we welcome with open arms Different Trains, the first of Manchester Collective’s 23/24 offerings. Inspired by composer Steve Reich’s childhood memories of railway journeys, expect a live score for strings interspersed with field recordings and fragments of spoken word. Support comes in the form of Bill Ryder-Jones.
Read an interview with Manchester Collective’s co-director, Adam Szabo
Sunday – Last Chance To See: Liverpool Biennial: uMoya: The Sacred Return of Lost Things – FREE
In uMoya: The Sacred Return of Lost Things, we found a Biennial that has rarely felt so in touch with the concerns of the city it calls home. Sensitively addressing Liverpool’s prominent role in, and the legacies of Empire, if you haven’t experienced it yet – and we recommend you do – this week is your last opportunity.
Last Chance To See: LuYang Arcade Liverpool @ FACT Liverpool – FREE
The language of video games has long been used by contemporary artists. Increasingly, as hierarchies collapse and gaming achieves acceptance, this has been less formalism and more genuine cultural exploration. The work of Shanghai-based artist LuYang, who has said “creating a game is like creating your own world,” embraces this, to experiment with: “identity, nationality, gender – even your existence as a human being”. In their exhibition, that means a gallery full of retro-futuristic games drawing on anime, sci-fi, Buddhism and neuroscience.
Mike Pinnington
Images: MCR Collective Different Trains artwork; Dongni Liang, Kudzu Whispers, 2023, Courtesy-of-the-artist; Goodfellas trailer; Tate Gallery Liverpool © liverpoolbiennial2021.com; Ranti Bam, Ifas, 2023. Installation view at St Nicholas Church Gardens, Liverpool Biennial 2023. Photography by Mark McNulty. Courtesy Liverpool Biennial
