Screening at FACT this Sunday, Rachael Jones looks at a pair of very different Studio Ghibli films celebrating their 25th anniversaries…

The earliest known anime dates back to 1917; however, the characteristic anime style was not developed until much later, with the work of Osamu Tezuka in the 1960s. Like its comic-based cousin manga, anime has a huge audience in Japan – it’s used in video games, adverts, TV shows and films.

Interestingly though, it was the success of Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 which saw a boom in Japanese animation, with artists simplifying and refining many of the American studio’s animation techniques to produce their own films for a reduced cost.

The first full-length film, Momotaro’s Divine Sea Warriors was released in 1945, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that anime came into the mainstream, riding on the coattails of the increased popularity of manga. By the 1980s, it was in overseas markets – and one of the world’s leading animation studios was born.

Few animation studios have been as consistent in their output as Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli (Ghibli, trivia fans, is based on the Arabic name for ‘sirocco’, a Mediterranean wind). Founded in 1985, its animated fantasies are made with just the right blend of humour, melancholy and whimsy to make them appeal to audiences of all ages.

Formed by Miyazaki in 1985, with Isao Takahata, the veterans of Japanese animation built the company in order to capitalise on the success of 1984’s Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Success in Japan came rapidly – eight Ghibli films rank among Japan’s highest-grossing animes, with Spirited Away at the top of the list. That same movie also won the Best Animated Feature Oscar in 2002, becoming the first and (to date) only anime to do so.

Global recognition soon followed, as Ghibli inked an enormous international distribution deal with Disney in 1996. While this led to never-as-good English-language versions voiced by the likes of Dakota Fanning and relatives of Miley Cyrus, a strict no-cuts policy means no Ghibli film will ever become unrecognisably Americanised; this edict is strictly enforced; when Miramax head honcho Harvey Weinstein suggested Princess Mononoke could be made a little ‘friendlier’ from a marketing perspective, he famously received a Japanese sword in the post, complete with the message ‘no cuts’.

This Sunday, FACT are screening a Ghibli double-bill, by way of marking the 25^th anniversaries of a pair of films. Grave of the Fireflies is one of only a few Ghibli projects not directed by Hayao Miyazaki, with co-founder Takahata both scripting and directing. Based on a 1967 semi-autobiographical novel by Akiyuki Nosaka, the film tells the story of Seita, a young boy who takes responsibility for his younger sister Setsuko when their mother dies.

Set in Japan during World War II, it has long been viewed as an anti-war statement, due to the graphic depictions of wartime’s repercussions on society; however, ask Takahata and he’d tell you the point is to dispel the notion that people living in wartime are more noble than others – an inferiority complex of sorts, perpetuated by the typical war movie.

Grave also conveys an image of the brother and sister living a failed life due to isolation from society during arguably the darkest point in Japan’s history; declaring war to be nothing more than society’s failure to protect its own people. A laugh a minute, it is not, but it changed the way we view animation forever.

The film’s initial theatrical release was accompanied by the significantly more light-hearted My Neighbour Totoro as a double feature. Billed as “one of the most moving and remarkable double bills ever offered to a cinema audience”, it was instead a dismal failure. While both films were marketed toward children and their parents, the rather un-cheerful leanings of Grave of the Fireflies (a warning to the uninitiated, you may need Kleenex) put audiences off checking them out. The financial fallout was so catastrophic, in fact, that it wasn’t until Totoro merchandise started flying off the shelves that the studio’s finances stabilised.

A Miyazaki film, My Neighbour Totoro was initiated following the completion of Nausicaa and follow-up, Castle in the Sky. Infinitely more family-friendly than its onscreen buddy, Totoro follows the two young daughters of a professor as they discover soot-sprites and other woodland spirits – the totoro, or trolls, of the title – after moving home to be closer to their ill mother.

At face value, it’s not difficult to see why the original double release of Fireflies and Totoro failed. While Takahata’s treatise on war movies and the failings of society is about as bleak an animated film as you’re ever likely to see, Miyazaki’s family fable is unusually light on tension and conflict. No plot twists to speak of, either.

Instead, it’s based on experience rather than threat, situation rather than plot. Both innocent and awe-inspiring, this is a film that captures the magic of childhood more successfully than Disney, or even Pixar, could ever hope to. It is, as critic Roger Ebert put it, “a children’s film made for the world we should live in, rather than the one we occupy.”

Let’s be honest, does it even matter if two films that screen together are poles apart? We don’t think so, as now – some 25 years after their original release – both are rightly viewed as game-changers, titans in their own right.

My Neighbour Totoro (2.20pm) and Grave of the Fireflies (4.20pm) screen back to back at FACT Sunday 26th May

The city is awash with photography celebration LOOK/13, but C James Fagan is reluctant to join in…

It’s difficult to pinpoint and I’m not entirely sure if I do have a problem, but there’s something about photography that bothers me like no other artform. I have to ask myself if it’s because I have a chip on my shoulder after studying at a university that side-lined fine art in favour of photography. Perhaps I was a little jealous; I’m a bitter, bitter man after all. However, I would like to think I’m more complex than that.

One of the main issues regarding photography is the fallacy that a photograph is truth. That the camera is a tool for capturing the truth. I would like to think that contemporary photographers are no longer in thrall to this idea – that a camera is somehow an objective magic box for discovering truth. This isn’t the case: the history of the photograph is full of fakery from the trick photographs of the Spiritualists, to the cleverly and dramatically composited images of Frank Hurley to Yves Klein leaping into the void (above). One of the only works that approaches this ideal is John Hilliard’s Camera recording its own condition.

What I’m saying is that, while a camera is objective, the photographer holding it rarely is. In control of what the camera sees, of what the camera records, through the actions of taking a photo they turn the camera into a subjective tool. Clinging to an idea of the photograph as pure truth would be to ignore the camera’s unique ability to focus and manipulate reality. It’s to ignore photography’s fluidity as a medium. The truth of a photograph is equal to that of painting or an installation, though you could argue that an installation is more ‘truthful’ as it relies on direct experience.

Another problematic element is its ubiquity. Try to think of a day where you didn’t see a photograph; from a framed family reminder, the stare of advertising to the images thrown up online. Roland Barthes talks about this in his text Camera Lucida, saying how the proliferation of images makes them inert. He does go on to describe a relationship that developed between him and these images, viewing them until one pricks his interest, or as he puts it the studium produces a punctum.

What does this mean? Is photography a victim of its own success? What does it mean when photographs are displayed in a gallery space? Does that mean these images prick our interest, and what makes these photographs different or more important to the images in myriad magazines? The real question is what constitutes a photograph?  Skill, subject matter, where you view the photograph, and is there a set of criteria which can be applied to any photograph?

This is a hugely complex issue, especially when individuals are able to produce hundreds of photographs at the touch of a button. A photograph isn’t simply the result of an alchemic process trapping light on a surface; it has become something else. A photographic image can be endlessly reproduced and spread across different mediums and in different formats from ink to bits. Is there a singular item you can point to and say ‘that is a real photograph’ and because of this there is a fracturing of meaning and an echo of Baudrillard’s ideas of simulacra.

Basing your criteria of what makes a photograph on the idea that they should capture the truth, does that then make the millions of people who take pictures and spread them across social networks with their smartphones  some of the best photographers of our generation?

This could be the time to ask not only what constitutes a photograph but what constitutes a photographer.

A great criticism of people who use their smartphones to record their experiences is that they are mediating their experience of the world, and therefore distancing themselves from it, which gives rise to another troubling aspect. When we experience a photograph, whether it be of a war zone or a party, we are passive observers, observers of someone else’s observations, removed from the people or events in the photograph. Even the photographer is removed from the events taking place in front of them, once more bringing subjectivity into play.

Even the ‘honesty’ of the subjects can be called into question, for if a person is being photographed they are (usually) aware of this. As Barthes noted: “once I feel myself being observed by the lens, everything changes…” He’s not alone. When placed in front of a lens, our behaviour alters in the hope that the camera will catch us at our best. In a sense, the subject and the photographer conspire to create a certain element of reality.

Before I end I would like to speculate that part of a photograph’s ‘truth’ doesn’t lie within the process of its creation. Rather it is possible that a picture’s truth can lie within the aging process. One unique element is its transformation into an object that will become a conduit of memories and nostalgia. They become tokens which provide a sense of the passage of time, and separated from their origins they become windows into unknown worlds.  This perhaps is the one thing that can define a photograph.

Ultimately (and despite around 1000 words) I don’t know what my problem is; there are many issues inherent in photography as with any artform. Maybe I should cut it some slack; it’s still a reasonably young medium after all and exists in a time where the technology used to produce it is ever more accessible, thus enabling seemingly infinite amounts of images to be created. This hints at the paradox of photography, that it is a democratic art form, but it is this very democracy which threatens to overwhelm it.

This is something that current and future photographers will have to deal with. For now, our relationship remains complicated.

C James Fagan

LOOK/13 photography festival continues at various venues until 15th June

What was that about olds dogs and new tricks? Stephanie Kehoe finds an exhibition at FACT turning the old saying on its head… 

Technology is an increasingly pervasive aspect of our world; an ever growing and ever changing presence in society and at FACT, collaborative multi-media artist group Re-dock, have engaged with, and placed front and centre, older generations of the population, eschewing ideas that it is the young who are the most natural early adopters.

The exhibition in FACT’s Connects space features interactive pieces investigating the theme of technological changes in communication, including a projection of YouTube clips, from an assortment of films and television programmes from the twentieth century which feature ideas of possible future technology.

Star Trek (considered particularly influential in the intersection between science and fiction) and Only Fools and Horses sit alongside clips from 1940s films, which are looped to show how people in the past – spuriously or otherwise – have guessed at what may be commonplace in the future. Unfortunately, we’re still waiting on those widely available commuter trips to Mars.

Forming the meat and message of the exhibition is a range of workshops given to a group of 55+ year old participants on how to use a range of technology they have not previously accessed. These workshops were filmed to record the experiences of the people involved, with this range of interviews and documentation placed on four iPads inbuilt into the central table, with headphones attached. This is accompanied by simplistic diagrams of how computer applications such as Skype are able to work.

The central piece in the curated space consists of a wooden table which has been engraved, cut and altered to showcase a number of iPads, television screens, LED lights and etchings. The contrast of the natural, bare wood against the man-made, synthetic iPads is an interesting juxtaposition, perhaps a subtle hint, on how our present society relies on the man-made technological advances rather than using natural materials as a resource.

The Portal, a piece designed by the artist collective, allows the public to record a Skype message, via a huge red button, to their future or past selves. These recorded messages are then sent across to the central table and processed, using pepper’s ghosting effect, to create a distorted, holographic result, reminiscent of the now clichéd holograms in twentieth century films which prophesized that this would be the form of communication in the new millennia.

More primitive technology with a contemporary twist is shown in the exhibition, too; a bee-hive-looking contraption is mounted onto the wall which sends voice recordings, through a laser beam, to an opposing bee-hive across the room. This creates a tin-can like device which visitors can speak through to each other. This piece combines the old idea of using tin-cans to communicate but with added use of laser beams. Given ’80s visions around lasers, you’d think this would seem strange and out-dated here, but when considered alongside the wooden bee-hives that surround them, they become a futuristic vision once again.

The mechanics of this section are displayed on top of the wooden table within plastic cases. The aim of this, and the engravings, is to show the process of how these programmes are able to work in simple terms for visitors (including ourselves) who may not necessarily understand contemporary technological terms.

However, the un-missable piece which dominates, in size, is a large mural containing stop-motion pictures of the participants in the workshop holding iPads which read, across 24 panels, a message which they would send back to themselves twenty years ago. Seventeen individual stories are shown on the wall including messages such as: “Don’t marry him,” “Don’t look back,” and “Follow my dreams.”

A great sense of self-reflection and change is prominent in many of the pieces, which is perhaps a reminder for younger generations to embrace the opportunities and changes that occur – no regrets.

The contrast of the old and new is a recurring theme throughout the exhibition; older generations with new technology, new methods of communication combined with old ideas, new technology side by side with older, more primitive, examples. It is a warning for our contemporary society that even though we believe the technology available to be the best, in fifty years time, our technology will be seen as primitive, hopelessly surpassed.

In one of the documented workshops, a participant explains: “I wish I was here in 50 years, some amazing things are going to happen.” Time will tell.

Stephanie Kehoe

Can you hear me? I can see you! Continues at FACT until Sunday 2nd June

Kayleigh Davies peers into the darkness of the slideshow at Drop the Dumbells and discovers one of her picks of Look/13…

Despite the small, unfinished-looking surroundings at Drop the Dumbells, Rob Bremner’s portraits feel like an instant highlight of Look/13, the international photography festival currently occupying venues around Liverpool, grasping the attention of visitors with images evoking British streets of the 1980s and ’90s.

While Wolstenholme Creative Space will sadly no longer be playing host to the creative projects after being considered architecturally unstable, fear not; the fire is far from out for the brains behind the venture, who will now be utilising Liverpool’s less familiar, artistic haunts to continue showcasing their considerable talents.

Some spaces will work better than others and perhaps in this case, the unfamiliar location could be partly to blame for the curation of the slide display – close to the entrance – that disturbs the viewer’s experience, although this small quirk is easily forgiven; the creative group deliver a sensational series of bold, piercing eyes that see through to the inner-most secrets of onlookers as the stories of Rob Bremner’s subjects unfold dramatically before us.

The darkness that embraces onlookers as the door closes, captures the viewer’s attention and creates a fitting backdrop for the vibrant colours that are prominent as they form the character of each image. Every photograph is embellished with a rich flavour of the artist’s style, forming a consistent, at times confrontational, finish to every shot.

Although taken in the suburbs of Merseyside, the images shown are distinctly British, suggestive of any town or city of that era, prompting observers to reflect upon their own background and personal history, in line with the festival’s theme, ‘Who do you think you are?’

Reawakening distinct memories, images of Kwik Save bags and harassed estates ironically encourage viewers to rediscover the beauty amongst the wreckage that hides within the towns and cities embedded in each of our past lives.Picking through these wreckage-strewn images, we are reminded (as they uncover the glory in imperfection) of the odd nostalgia invoked by that first burnt-out car or matchbox flat, the pride in ownership of the story being told. The impact of Bremner’s images transcend the small scale exhibition, the results of which are somehow as personal as the pasts he delicately glimpses.

WCS present the images uniquely as the sound of changing slides disturbs and yet enhances the period feel of the photographic series, imbuing them with a sense of years and depth. This non-stereotypical curating method could be seen as a limitation, yet the pause in time the technique provides between the images means participants are given a moment to allow their imaginations to strike, forging a dialogue between the artist and viewer.

In response to the images, there is an unspoken link placed upon viewers, sparking a relationship between the work itself and the emotions that connect us all to our past, instilled in us in our formative years.

Wolstenholme Creative Space make a big impression on a small scale, proving that you need not be a large institution with bundles of funding, popular blockbuster names or a marketing ploy to contribute inspiration to the arts, moulding their position to continue their streak binding the community through events and exhibitions.

Staged in a variety of locations, WCS will be continuing to advise and engage with the arts in a new format, surfacing as a unique asset to Liverpool.

Kayleigh Davies

Liverpool, Unifinished continues @ Drop the Dumbells until 2nd June

Monday – How To Dress Well 8pm @ Leaf £9

The first thing you notice about How To Dress Well, the project of singer/producer Tom Krell, is that astounding falsetto vocal. That soon enough this becomes simply another element of the ‘hipster R&B’ sound Krell has defined as his own says much about the depth of the Germany-based 27 year old’s output, recently described by Pitchfork as “poignant and devastating art”. Worth noting that Forest Swords is on hand with a DJ set.

Tuesday – Tmesis Presents Physical Fest 10am-6pm @ the Bluecoat

The only festival of its kind in Europe, the Tmesis hosted Physical Fest takes place at the Bluecoat and comprises eight days of workshops, classes, performances and events. With an emphasis on attracting internationally-renowned practitioners, expect the likes of Daphnis Kokkinos (Pina Bausch Tanztheater), Jamie Wood (Clown), Autour Du Mime and Adam Meggido.

Shell 6pm @ FACT

The debut feature of director Scott Graham, Shell is a coming-of-age drama explored in the remote Scottish highlands. 17 year old Shell (played understatedly yet powerfully by newcomer Chloe Pirrie) is at its centre, stuck looking after her mechanic father while on the cusp of womanhood.

Wednesday – BAFTA Crew Masterclass: Anita Overland on Production Management 6.30pm @ FACT

How do you get a film made? Join BAFTA-winning producer and co-producer Anita Overland (The Iron Lady/Red Riding) as she discusses her career, offering insight into the production management department, and her practical and creative advice where getting films made are concerned.

PICK OF THE WEEK: Thursday – Liverpool School of Art and Design Degree Show 5.30pm @ the Art and Design Academy 

Featuring Architecture, Fine Art, Fashion, Graphic Design and Illustration, Interior Design, Popular Music Studies and Product Design, this Thursday sees the opening of the 2013 LSAD degree shows. A good heads up for names we may see producing interesting work in the near future, and a barometer of the quality we should expect, LSAD’s degree show is becoming a fixture in our calender.

Friday – Love Your Blog: Motivation and Ideas 1.15pm-4.30pm @ Tate Liverpool £15 (or £35 for all three sessions)

The first of three sessions created to enhance your blogging experience, and get to grips with the challenges we all face in engaging and maintaining a readership, Love Your Blog gets underway this week with a session dedicated to motivation and ideas. With an emphasis on starting points, focus, defining your ideas and managing your blog, workshop one is led by two experts in their field, journalist Christopher Brown and the Blog North Award shortlisted, Amy Roberts.

Saturday – Milk: Presents… Experiment 61 11pm @ The Picket £6/£8

The focus of this Milk: Presents production seems to be very much on the international and experimental. Featuring a diverse yet complimentary line-up, on paper, one thing it isn’t is boring. While Floridian brothers Andy and Edwin White as Tonstartssbandht sit atop the bill, there are gems of lower-hanging fruit too, with Nadine Carina a stand-out. Much overused, for once, eclectic hits the nail on the head.

Sunday – Studio Ghibli Double Bill: My Neighbour Totoro 2.20pm/Grave of The Fireflies 4.20pm @ FACT

Famous in the West for the likes of Spirited Away (2001), Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) and Ponyo (2008), the Japanese Studio Ghibli has become something of a staple for young and old fans of animation. This Sunday however, FACT present a pair of films the studio released 25 years ago. While My Neighbour Totoro has familiar themes of the discovery of forest-dwelling spirits, Grave of The Fireflies is altogether more realist in tone and its 12 certificate only begins to hint at some of the difficult territory covered in this World War II lament.

The Horse Loom 6.30pm @ Bold Street Coffee £Donation

The solo project of Northumbrian guitarist and singer Steve Malley, The Horse Loom has been described as “the most unique marriage between British folk music, avant-garde guitar playing and punk rock spirit”. Malley, returning to Bold Street Coffee after last year’s winning appearance, plays deftly beautiful and intricate acoustic guitar.

The latest in his series on modern criticism sees Darren Murphy cast his eye over the ongoing debate around the blogger and the critic…

Last week in The Art Writer’s Responsibility to Readability, I concluded that the art critic’s responsibility lies not to a definitive readership but specifically to the readability of what is written. Moving on, it would be logical to grapple with the question, who or what, is the art critic?

The blogger versus the critic, and the role of opinion in the latter, is a debate that has raged for decades amongst the giants (and the rest of us) of the art world, and this question was central to The Double Negative’s event, The Medium is the Medium (above) at Liverpool Biennial 2012. Aiming to investigate the changing face of journalism, and by extension critical writing, the event featured guests selected to encourage a discussion over the standards contemporary journalists and critics should attempt to adhere to, regardless of their platform.

“The place that the two worlds [of blogging and critical writing] collide is interesting,” opened Cherie Federico (of Aesthetica). She went on to elaborate that bloggers may often see themselves as actively criticising works of visual art when they are in fact overwhelming what sparks debate and discussion with their own personal opinions. Federico defines a critic as someone who leaves their opinion outside of writing and a blogger as someone who may carry it into their texts, much like Richard Horsman had done in The Culture Vulture on a similar post a number of months ago.

Another member of this discussion highlights that, as the critic is separated from the blogger by generating a critical debate, we must not keep them elevated as the arbiters of knowledge or taste as they so often are. Edgar Schmitz, professor of Critical Studies at Goldsmiths (who recently spoke about his own practice at Islington Mill in Manchester) argues, “the audience is perfectly capable of gathering information. Critical Writing is not about educating people.”

This strikes me as an agreement with the words of one of those giants I speak of above. The writer and critic Harold Rosenberg believed a critic should not tell people what to think or what to feel, they should consider technique and skill, and encourage discussion. Schmitz’ statement, alongside that of Federico’s and Horsman’s, allows room for that notorious beast ‘art news’ to remain part of art criticism. Although it is not quite as objective as critical writing, it does go without this personal opinion and encourages discussion about the art world, if not directly artists and their works.

To further strengthen a difference between the blogger and the critic, we can look at scholar Thomas McEvilly, who utters something similar to the above in his essay Critical Mess: Art Critics and the State of Their Practice. “The lingering dominance of the issue of quality and of the value judgment seems to outsiders to render our discourse elitist and irrelevant … stress analysis, not appreciation.”

It’s fair to conclude that the difference between the blogger and the critic is rapidly diminishing as writers publish themselves through blogs, and blogs become aggregated by more broadly recognisable, traditional platforms. The difference that remains though seems to be the use of opinion to create debate. However, neither of these characters are the sole instigator of discussion and debate in the art world – no one can claim such a prolific title in any field.

So, it may be worthwhile considering the influence the home of the visual arts may have, in an ever smaller art world: what control, influence or use does the gallery have for the art critic?

Darren Murphy

Darren is the founder of Not Too Critical, an inclusive and informal discussion group hoping to incite debate and discussion on matters and subjects pertaining to the contemporary arts

Darren’s words on modern criticism will be serialised on The Double Negative over the next few weeks

An after-hours celebration of Liverpool’s cultural offering, we can’t think of a better way to round off Light Night than with a carefully curated afterparty…

It’s another big night in the cultural calendar this evening with venues and galleries opening their doors after-hours for Light Night 2013. But this being a Friday an’ all, all of that art is only part of the equation.

Join us at Static Gallery for the Light Night Afterparty to end all afterparties! A co-production of The Double Negative and experimental music-inspired agency Deep Hedonia, we’ve programmed an evening of DJs, film (amid an installation) and karaoke. Yes, karaoke, but with a twist.

Up in the bar, Deep Hedonia pays tribute to the art of karaoke and individual song perception with interactive installation Ken Lee’s Karaoke (check THIS out). A selection of karaoke ‘classics’ will be reinterpreted through wordplay and poor Youtube transcriptions to provide alternate lyrics for Light Night’s late crowd to party and sing along to. Alongside the dizzying and brilliantly misleading glitched-up party hits, we have a special selection of DJs to keep the party atmosphere going…

We’re proud to present Julian Shepherd, a serial groove nerd likely to play anything and everything across the spectrum, from unreleased bits “from some friends of mine” to throwback 80′s funk, experimental abstract things, acid, Balearic and Lady Blacktronica; emerging artist AKASA, exploring “a range analogue production techniques to create infectious electronic”; GT, AKA many things, including Golden Vampire #13, will be playing a selection of italo, space disco and hi-NRG electronic disco classics, while producer Tomasu – he’s so hot right now – will be bringing a selection of deep house, trance and electronica tracks. And of course, a whole selection of trance, dance, RnB, trap, house and grime from Deep Hedonia DJs.

Down in the gallery space, Laura and Mike TDN showcase some of their favourite – occasionally innovative – party-inspired short films, music videos and documentaries, featuring local filmmakers, home video footage, abstract artists and pop-culture ephemera from all quarters. This will all be amid an installation piece, which we’ll keep tight-lipped about for now. Don’t wanna spoil anything. All we’re prepared to say is: CAR ON THE DANCE FLOOR (it’s got its own hash-tag and everything).

Expect familiar – as well as some not so familiar examples – from the likes of Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, the Beastie Boys and Sonic Youth, alongside under-the-radar offerings from Alan Williams, Max Hattler and Mikey Please. It all makes for a party-orientated pop-culture mash-up the likes of which have rarely been seen.

All that before we even mention the full bar. See you there?

Memory Lame: A Proper Light Night Afterparty 8pm ’til late @ Static Gallery

Ahead of the launch of international photography festival LOOK/13, Stephanie Kehoe picks her best of the fest…

From Friday 17^th May, Liverpool will call itself home to the international photography festival, LOOK/13. Spread across a host of institutions within the city centre, the Look festival challenges visitors – through the medium of photography – on their perceptions of identity, getting to grips with the question which confronts us all: “who do you think you are?”

After the success of the LOOK/11 festival, the organisation has returned bigger and better, biennial-fashion, to showcase a diverse line-up of photographers from across the globe, as well as locally, to reflect on the theme. The range of exhibitions, screenings, workshops, talks and tours means visitors are spoilt for choice.

Featuring at the Bluecoat, I Exist (In Some Way) contains works by various international photographers who are currently active within the contemporary Arabic scene.  Providing some context with a curator and artist led talk is Sara-Jayne Parsons, exhibition curator at the Bluecoat, who is joined by one of the featured artists, Laura El-Tantawy on Sunday the 19^th of May.

Taking a historical perspective on how identity is a constantly changing idea, and running in parallel to I Exist (In Some Way), is a retrospective of two globally infamous photographers: August Sander and Arthur Fellig. With Sander’s documentation of Germany in the 1920s and ‘30s, alongside Fellig’s photography of 1930s and ‘40s New York, we are given a first-hand point of view of two opposing nations and how their identities contrasted during these uncertain points in their histories.

Bearing in mind Liverpool’s cultural and economic upheavals within the past century, the Walker features two of Merseyside’s most influential photographers, who documented Liverpool and its surrounding areas during the 1970s and 80s. Providing an insight into how the city looked and thrived nearly half a century ago, before the decline of the formerly world-renowned working docks, Martin Parr and Tom Wood appear together in a project titled Every Man and Woman is a Star.

Speaking of the docks, the North West’s only dedicated photography gallery, Open Eye (located next to the river in Mann Island), showcases two photographers exploring the theme of searching for identity on a global scale. French photographer Charles Fréger will be exhibiting a project titled The Wild and the Wise. Visually interrogating the relationship between cultural identities, Fréger juxtaposes them against diverse cultural stereotypes.

The gallery is also exhibiting Drape, by Eva Stenram. In an interesting comparison to Charles Fréger’s project, which concentrates on male identity, Stenram plays with the ideas of the male gaze by altering found images of women, placing them behind drapes with only a portion of their body exposed. Definitely a destination for those of us fascinated by theory.

The Parallel Programme is an additional source of activities running for the duration of the festival, including Manchester-based photography group, Redeye, who will be exhibiting new and upcoming photographers across different venues, under the title of Lightbox. Supplementary to this, the Caravan Gallery are creating an exhibition of regional/cultural pride, asking all residents of the Merseyside area to contribute, the results of which will be based outside of the Museum of Liverpool.

The LOOK/13 festival looks to be both thought-provoking and reflective journey, questioning ideas of personal, local and global identity; and with so many exhibitions, events and activities organised around the city, it will be impossible to avoid pondering, just who do you think you are?

Stephanie Kehoe

LOOK/13 runs 17th May – 15th June. For all additional information, events and exhibitions visit LOOK/13 online

A host of Liverpool’s galleries open late Friday evening, which can mean only one thing: Light Night! 

With an embarrassment of riches, this year’s after-hours arts and cultural festival could prove difficult to navigate; never fear though, we’ve picked a top ten…

Sander and Weegee @ the Bluecoat, 16.00–23.00, free

Introduce yourself to LOOK/13, Liverpool’s International Photography Festival, over the course of the Bluecoat’s documentation of August Sander and Arthur Fellig (better known as Weegee). A collaborative effort with Side photographic collection, Newcastle, the gallery will contain two prolific artists probing 1930s and ‘40s New York alongside 1920s and ‘30s Germany in a delicate, elusive manner.

Black Sun Horizon @ The Royal Standard, 16.00–00.00, free

Step out of the city centre chaos for an insight into one of Liverpool’s finest artist-led galleries, The Royal Standard on Vauxhall Road. Including Cory Arcangel, Dick Jewell, Bill Leslie and Samuel Williams, latest exhibition, Black Sun Horizon, is curated by Dave Evans in response to the theme of contemporary boredom.

Official Re-Opening of Central Library @ Central Library, 10.00–00.00, free

Watch as the Central Library brings their history to life through an animated display of the stories held in their fascinating archive, and be one of the first to uncover the beauty of the renovation that will once more become a staple part of Liverpool’s cultural repertoire.

The Art of Parties @ Tate Liverpool, 18.00–21.00, free

Tate Liverpool’s upcoming 25^th birthday is commemorated by community group In The Frame, with a varied evening planned of make-up with So Coco Rouge, a DJ blasting songs from the last three decades, party games and special performances by Sense of Sound.

Liverpool, Unfinished @ Drop the Dumbells, 34 Slater Street, 16.00–22.00, free

Wolstenholme Creative Space revels in the unfinished work of Rob Bremner, whose colour portraits and landscapes span the ‘80s and ‘90s, and are shown here for the first time. Already basking in high acclaim, the outstanding series captures the quirks of the people of Merseyside and provides onlookers with colour, honesty and realism.

Candle-Lit Labyrinth @ the Anglican Cathedral, 18.00–23.00, free

Take a stroll through the stunning Anglican Cathedral’s surroundings whilst enjoying the beautiful Voices of the Labyrinth in the perfect acoustic setting. A great opportunity to explore the Gothic charm of one of Liverpool’s finest buildings.

Drape @ Open Eye Gallery, 18.00–22.00, free

Encompassing myriad openings, Light Night also sees LOOK/13 photography festival get underway across various venues. We should expect quality from the Open Eye Gallery, highlighting the importance of photography as an art form in response to the question ‘Who do you think you are?’.  Although the gallery also plays host to French photographer Charles Fréger, it is Eva Stenram’s use of 1960’s pin ups in a clash of vintage with modernity that draws our attention. Recognised worldwide for her talent in representation, Stenram’s work at the Open Eye was shortlisted for this year’s Hyères International Photography Competition.

Of Time and Place – Futures Lost and Found @ Mello Mello, 16.00–00.00, free

Of real importance to the cultural fabric of the city, Mello Mello café and arts centre will be showcasing a vision of the past, present and future of their venue, utilising the building itself as a blank page to project a 3D collection of images relating the unique story of the venue. The evening includes an auction for art lovers, Burlesque sessions, African drumming, free live bands and a chance to investigate all four floors of the building. A great opportunity to show your support to so crucial a venue.

ALIVE: In the Face of Death @ Walker Art Gallery, 16.00–22.00, free

Amidst the collection of exhibitions on display at the Walker Art Gallery is ALIVE: In the Face of Death, a glimpse into the spectacle that is Rankin’s career. A fresh outlook on the hope and unity that embrace the last days of the life of everyday people, the exhibition rejoices in the pleasures of everyday life and contemplates the ways in which we all differ in our pursuit.

Recurring @ Camp and Furnace, 16.00–00.00, free

Not Just Collective present a diverse selection of artistic practices that will intermingle to create an exhibition, with additional emphasis on the broad range of live performances set to complete the experience for guests.

Recommended routes:

#1

Candle-lit Labyrinth @ Anglican Cathedral, 18.00 – 23.00, free

Of Time and Place @ Mello Mello, 16.00 – 00.00, free

ALIVE: In the Face of Death @ Walker Art Gallery, 16.00 – 22.00, free

Official Re-Opening @ Central Library, 22.00 – 00.00, free             

#2

Black Sun Horizon @ The Royal Standard, 16.00 – 00.00, free

Drape @ Open Eye Gallery, 18.00 – 22.00, free

The Art of Parties @ Tate Liverpool, 18.00 – 21.00, free

#3

Liverpool, Unfinished @ Drop the Dumbells, 16.00 – 22.00 , free

Sander and Weegee @ The Bluecoat, 16.00 – 23.00, free

Recurring @ Camp and Furnace, 16.00 – 00.00, free

Kayleigh Davies

See the official Light Night 2013 website for more details!

Ahead of FACT’s screening of a pair of Peter Cushing-starring Dr Who films, Adam Scovell investigates their enduring appeal…

There’s something distinctly pleasurable about the two 1960s Doctor Who films.  They’re completely farfetched, kitsch to the extreme and ridden with issues (both cinematically and in the canon of Doctor Who) but they’re easily some of the most enjoyable creations to exist within the brand. Trying to analyse them in the same way, or from the same mental positioning, as you would a more academic piece of cinema would be fruitless; any issues they broach have evolved from their original Television scripting and are largely scraped out, leaving an enjoyable slice of pulpy genre action.

Though the idea of a Doctor Who film is something met with a great deal of suspicion in the current age (a backlash last year is testament to this), in the mid 1960s it wasn’t anywhere near out of the realms of possibility. Though Dalekmania had already begin to waver by 1965, the filmic adaptation of the first ever Dalek story served to inject fresh life into the program, generating enough interest for a sequel as well as proving to the producers that the show had more to offer in spite of the current leading actor’s desire to leave.

Dalekmania allows for visual splurges of excitement and boy’s own comic book madness to appear onscreen; this was the first chance to see Doctor Who in colour, having been on TV screens a mere three years when the first of the two films came out. The productions take full advantage of this by making the Daleks and their worlds some of the most colourful to appear on screen since Forbidden Planet (1956). Ignoring the apparent influence on the recent, awful colour update (said to be homage to the film Daleks), they become the most visually effective Daleks to ever grace a screen.

Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) takes more creative licence with the Terry Nation material than Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966), though the latter’s title instantly sounds more exciting than the original; The Dalek Invasion of Earth. This looseness with the script perhaps explains some fan indifference to the films, though it’s rare to find a fan that doesn’t love some aspect found within. In contrast to the Television stories, they are ironically far lighter, more Sunday afternoon fun than questioning, Cold War dystopias. This perhaps explains their success; in taking only the basic structures of both television stories, it allows the films to focus on excitement and adventure over the academic parallels to the Nazis and the Cold War that the television serials took the time to ponder over.

Elsewhere, the idea of spectacle over thematic content would be mostly frowned upon, but here it is something extremely desirable.  Its spectacle is a 1960s-hued explosion of colour and light, clear from the openings of both films which take the psychedelic to the extreme with their title sequences, replacing one with a sleazy, jazz band score and other with frantic Tropica madness. This visual cacophony is both exciting and adorable, especially in the earlier film that is full to the brim with pulpy alien landscapes that make up Skaro. Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. is the better of the two though, both in pacing and in style. A battered London is well realised, crawling with huge, colourful Daleks, and boasting one of the best spaceships in sci-fi cinema. Even the Robomen, the human slaves of the Daleks, are changed from ragged trousered zombies of the low-budget Television episodes, to black PVC clad soldiers, clearly on the cusp of the swinging era.

The casts of both films are also excellent. Peter Cushing is an underrated Doctor in spite of him determinedly referring to himself as “Doctor Who”; something that causes most fans to squirm and cry out “that’s not right!” His gentle scientist is of the Jules Verne/ H.G Wells variety that The Doctor started out in before he descended into the more typical, faceable hero/God of modern Who. His companions are somewhat under-par, though Bernard Cribbins as Tom the policeman is a wonderful, clumsy creation. He steals most of Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. both with his comedic moments and the emotive opening and closing of the film, offering a brief window on a moment in his life.

These segments are extremely touching. Showing the viewer a whole new world in the same way it does with Tom, before happily and comfortably placing them back into his with the added bonus a few seconds into the past can give: a relationship mirrored for the viewer. Forget canon, plot holes and all the other criticisms that these films often draw from fans; they occupy that special place in 1950s/1960s, sci-fi kitsch and sit happily alongside George Pal’s The Time Machine and Fred F. Sears’ Earth Vs The Flying Saucers (1956) in terms of quality, panache and giddy, (almost) guilty, pleasure.

Dr Who and The Daleks screens 6pm @ FACT on Sunday