Northern Art Prize 2013
– The Lowdown
C James Fagan heads North to a city with a burgeoning art scene, one playing host to the Northern Arts Prize… Not for the first time in my life I find myself on...
Northern Art Prize 2013
The Big Interview: Mark McNulty
DW Mault catches up for a chat with a master documentarian of the city, photographer Mark McNulty… Every street needs its chroniclers, every town its poets and every city the wake up call to itself....
Fluxus Fest, Feelings and Fraktures
A chance visit to a performance piece at the Bluecoat gets Mikey Stevenson thinking about the murky world of emotional outsourcing… I noticed a pattern forming in my behavior recently. I’ve amassed an...
Misdirect Movies – Reviewed
For the latest exhibition at The Royal Standard, co-curators Andrew Bracey and John Rimmer take the world of film as inspiration… When we arrive at the Royal Standard, we creep in, running...
I Was A Rat! – Reviewed
A new production at the Playhouse is a show dead-set on pleasing all of the people all of the time. Is it a success? Demonisation of children and a scurrilous tabloid press in...
Rogues’ Galleries – Reviewed
With high streets taking a hit from the recession, Chester finds a novel way of injecting life back into empty spaces … If you’re in Chester to do a bit of shopping, you...
If Only…! – Reviewed
Taking place on the anniversary of the Bluecoat’s reopening, C James Fagan reflects on the most recent If Only…! Last weekend saw the fifth anniversary of the reopening of the Bluecoat which, fact...
How Do You Feel?
C James Fagan finds that rarest of things: a performance piece it’s ok to laugh at… How do you feel? How do you feel about your body? That phrase is bouncing around my...
In Defence of Criticism
Lately, we’ve found ourselves on the receiving end of hurt feelings. We outline why it’s sometimes hard, but so important, to retain standards and therefore credibility… Writing critically, dispensing balanced, well-argued opinion...