Culture Diary w/c 02-09-2024
Our pick of this week’s arts, design, film and music events from across Liverpool and beyond…
Monday – Eric Ravilious: Drawn To War 5.30pm @ FACT Liverpool – £8.20
Directed by Margy Kinmonth (whose previous work includes Revolution: New Art For A New World), this 2022 film traces the career and, as this film puts it, the legacy of a “grossly undervalued British artist”. Painter, designer, illustrator and engraver, here, Ravilious is reassessed in a first full-length feature documentary.
The Terminator 7.45pm @ FACT Liverpool – £8
Blending early on-screen fears of AI, time travel and the impending post-apocalypse, James Cameron’s 1984 film, The Terminator, remains an irresistible proposition; now back in cinemas on the occasion of its 40th anniversary.
Tuesday – Exhibition Closing: Daniel Halsall/Josie Jenkins 12-5pm @ the Bridewell Studios & Gallery – FREE
Last chance to see this painting show at what is, for our money, currently Liverpool’s most vibrant independent exhibiting gallery. It sees works by Daniel Halsall and Josie Jenkins‘ paired and gracing the walls of the old prison.
The Bug Club @ Rough Trade, Liverpool – from £14
According to their record label, Sub Pop, The Bug Club – by way of South Wales – make ‘Modern-Lovers-meets-Nuggets garage rock’. And, listening to latest album, On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System, I take their point. With dead pan delivery of lyrics (“we’re not dead, we’re just dead gorgeous”) among their repertoire of ten singles, two albums and two EPs since 2021, let’s include wry and prolific among their descriptors. It all adds up to a band high on our ‘to see’ list.
Mary Lattimore 7.30pm @ Future Yard, Birkenhead – £18
Boundary-pushing LA-based harpist and composer, Mary Lattimore, who has worked with the likes of Kurt Vile, Thurston Moore and Sharon Van Etten, arrives at Birkenhead’s Future Yard. Touring latest, Rain on the Road, Lattimore’s is a textured, atmospheric sound we’re glad to have discovered.
Wednesday – Jeffrey Lewis & the Voltage @ Future Yard, Birkenhead – £18
“Every once in a while, I’ll notice I have a pile of new songs” said Jeffrey Lewis in a TDN interview back in 2012. More than a decade on, and Lewis, once the standard-bearer for the anti-folk movement, continues to turn out his brand of DIY indie-rock-folk. As ever, it’ll be interesting to hear which stop in his ongoing musical odyssey Lewis has alighted at.
Thursday – Art Plays Games @ FACT Liverpool – FREE
Contemporary artists have, for some time, mined the medium of gaming to reach audiences in new and engaging ways. From Larry Achiampong and David Blandy to LuYang, and Danielle Braithwaite-Shirley, FACT has a long history of bringing such shows our way; so it was merely a matter of time before Art Plays Games. Opening with works by Rachel Maclean, Sahej Rahal (below), Angela Washko, and Loopntale, as well as games from independent developers Broken Rules and The Voxel Agents (The Gardens Between), its longer than usual run (until April 2025) means an ever-changing lineup will have their time in the spotlight.
SixBySix Social with John McDonald @ Ropes & Twines, Liverpool – £6.50 (glass of wine included)
Pop into Ropes & Twines on Bold Street at the moment and you’ll no doubt find yourself gazing at the intimate and compelling photographs of John McDonald’s Liverpool Portraits 1983, first shown at the Open Eye Gallery (prior to its current Mann Island home, of course). Catch McDonald tonight for conversation and insights.
Friday – Melt Banana 7.30pm @ Future Yard, Birkenhead – £18
A good week for adventurous listeners, Japanese noise rockers Melt-Banana cap things off in some style this Friday night. For the uninitiated, expect shouty vocals, driving guitars and over-before-you-know-it, high octane, sub two minute punkish songs. A treat.
Saturday – Last Chance To See: Noémie Goudal: Contours of Certainty @ Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno – FREE
Noémie Goudal’s Contours of Certainty (pictured above), is an exhibition of many layers. Interweaving art, science, philosophy, design, photography – and likely more besides – it achieves that most difficult of balancing acts: a show you can enjoy aesthetically, or by delving into and picking apart its layers of meaning. Recommended.
Sunday – Sing Street 5.20pm @ FACT Liverpool –£8
Set against a 1980s Dublin backdrop of the troubles and recession, John Carney’s Sing Street – a bittersweet coming-of-age tale of hardship, music, and finding your people – follows fish-out-of-water Conor, shipped out of private school and dropped amid the hoi polloi of an inner-city comp.
Mike Pinnington
Images/media, from top: Eric Ravilious: Drawn To War trailer; Terminator; The Bug Club; Sahej Rahal, Distributed Mind Test (DMT) (2023). Game still. Image courtesy of the artist and Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève – Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement 2024; Noemie Goudal, Contours of Certainty, 2024. Installation view at Mostyn. Photo: Mark McNulty
