Event type: Exhibition

Infinite Encounters

Step into a realm of sensory exploration at Liverpool Cathedral’s art exhibition, Infinite Encounters, as part of their centenary celebrations.

This captivating exhibition promises to engage all five senses through a collection of five remarkable art pieces, each inspired by Touch, Sight, Hearing, Smell, and Taste.

Infinite Encounters is not your typical art exhibition. It’s an interactive journey designed to provide visitors with a participatory and sensorial experience of art. Say goodbye to the traditional notion of admiring art from a distance; this exhibition encourages you to actively engage with the artworks and experience contemporary art in a whole new way.

Local artist Francis Disley invites you to explore the essence of Liverpool Cathedral through smell. Her piece will awaken your olfactory senses and offer a unique perspective on the architectural marvels of our beloved cathedral.

Acclaimed artist Rasheed Araeen’s masterpiece, “Zero to Infinity,” will inspire your sense of touch. Previously featured at the Tate, this tactile experience invites you to feel the texture of creativity as you immerse yourself in Araeen’s intricate work.

But the sensory experience doesn’t stop there. As part of the Taste aspect of the exhibition, indulge in a bespoke menu available at the Cathedral’s popular Welsford Bistro. Let your palate savour the flavours and textures that complement the artistry on display.

The Very Rev Dr Dean Sue Jones says: ‘I am really excited to see some interactive art in the Cathedral. The Cathedral speaks of itself as a place of Encounter where all are welcome. We hope that when people visit the Cathedral they will have an encounter with the building and with each other. This installation allows people to encounter one another and the Cathedral as they create their own art from Rasheeds Araeen’s  installation from Zero to Infinity. In a world that has become more individualistic it will be really good to see how people reflect on the world in which they live and how they interpret that together through Araeen’s installation of cubes.’

Don’t miss this extraordinary opportunity to engage your senses and embark on a journey of artistic discovery at Liverpool Cathedral’s Infinite Encounters exhibition. Whether you’re a seasoned art enthusiast or just looking for a unique experience, this exhibition promises to captivate and inspire.

Dahong Hongxuan Wang: Role Models

Dahong Hongxuan Wang: Role Model
Friday 3rd May – Sunday 30th June

Dahong Hongxuan Wang, an artist who has played the role of Anna May Wong in several of Michelle Williams Gamaker’s works, will exhibit her new film Role Models. Hongxuan Wang’s new film follows the path of Anna May Wong who travelled to her ancestral hometown of Taishan, Guangdong. Having been rejected by Hollywood in favour of actors in the racist make-up technique of yellowface, Wong set off on a tour of China. Reflecting back on her time in China and America, Wong said “It’s a pretty sad situation to be rejected by the Chinese because I’m ‘too American’ and by American producers because they want other races to act Chinese parts.”

Through her vocal and symbolic acts of resistance and critique, Hongxuan Wang finds a role model in Anna May Wong, “a modern, Chinese, young female performer has finally found her lifetime role model”. Role Models will feature a director-like Anna (played by Hongxuan Wang), who ultimately succeeds in dominating the whole documentary process.

Dahong Hongxuan Wang is a performance, installation and moving image artist currently based in Beijing. Her practice explores the various manifestations of the “rebel body”, especially the female body, amid numerous social structural violence.

In Wang’s practice, she posits “rebellion” as a continuous way of life in daily life rather than an intermittent psychological state.

The word rebellion connotes power hierarchy and self-esteem and is often associated with rebellious behaviour among teenagers, fierce but straightforward. Wang attempts to place this accidental adolescent psychology in the increasingly complex social status quo and, by amplifying this plain action, to indicate the big or small injustices of nowadays society.

Body movements, vocalisations, facial expressions and the positional relationship between objects and the body are crucial elements in her practice.

Wang is also active in Beijing as a social activity organiser. Starting from her identity and experience, she holds events in local communities to establish a more direct connection with the land and the people.

Michelle Williams Gamaker: Our Mountai...

Michelle Williams Gamaker: Our Mountains are Painted on Glass
Friday 3rd May – Sunday 30th June

Through her practice British-Sri Lankan artist Michelle Williams Gamaker explores race, identity, her love of cinema and the power of storytelling.

Known for her inventive filmmaking and screenwriting, Williams Gamaker draws on and celebrates the classic movies she watched growing up, and takes inspiration from early Hollywood and British cinema. The exhibition at Bluecoat will screen Thieves, a fantasy adventure retelling of The Thief of Bagdad. The Thief of Bagdad, a silent, black and white film from 1924, was remade in colour in 1940.

Williams Gamaker reimagines the marginalised characters as claiming leading roles in her film, played in the originals by Chinese-American actor Anna May Wong and Indian-born American actor Sabu. Now, both characters reclaim the story as their own, challenging the racial discrimination of the film industry. Told as a movie within a movie, in Thieves Anna May Wong is found on set by Sabu, but there is something wrong: she is in black-and-white while everything else is in Technicolor, and both find themselves trapped in their screen-images. Both must navigate the structural violence on set (in this case, the casting of white actors to replace actors of colour) by joining forces to overthrow the set and those in charge.

Thieves is a vivid retelling, blending classic analogue methods with contemporary practices. The artist celebrates the best of past and present filmmaking and shares her love of cinema through the stories she unpicks.

Our Mountains Are Painted on Glass was co-commissioned by South London Gallery and DCA.

Award winning moving image artist Michelle Williams Gamaker (b.1979, London) has developed Fictional Activism to interrogate 20th Century cinema, by retelling the histories of marginalised actors and by proposing critical alternatives to colonial storytelling in British and Hollywood studio films.

She is joint winner of Film London’s Jarman Award (2020) and has an extensive national and international profile, including prestigious BFI London Film Festivals (2017, 2018, 2021), Aesthetica (winner of Best Experimental Film, 2021, 2023) and LSFF (2022, 2024). Recent exhibitions include Our Mountains Are Painted on Glass at South London Gallery and Dundee Contemporary Arts (2023), I Multiply Each Day, Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland (2021), The Whitechapel London Open 2022, Like There is Hope and I Can Dream of Another World at Hauser & Wirth and a major public commission Springfield Eternal in the atrium of Springfield Hospital for charity Hospital Rooms (2023).

Williams Gamaker’s work is in the Arts Council Collection, her films are distributed by LUX and her entire filmography has been recognised and preserved by the BFI National Film Archive. She is a Studio Artist at Gasworks, where she is also trustee. Williams Gamaker is Reader in BA Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and is currently a British Academy Wolfson Fellow. She champions emerging artists, most recently as Selector for the prestigious John Moore’s Painting Prize (2020) and Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2021.

Under a Maroon Sun – Recent Pain...

An exhibition of recent paintings by Stuart Kenyon, featuring urban landscapes and portraits that are characterised by bold shapes and considered colour choices.

His series of street scenes capture views of St Helens where we can recognise familiar locations of Lowe House Church or the brutalist architecture of Church Square Shopping Centre.

Stuart playfully and imaginatively creates an image using shape and colour; the palette in the paintings references the neo-impressionists Gauguin, Van Gogh and Matisse.

While Stuart is largely self-taught, he takes inspiration from any source at hand informed by the use of his own imagination. This could result in cubist pigeons roaming the street, or an elegant yet minimal appeach to painting. Whichever approach taken, each boasts an individual style, proving timeless in the arts.

Convenience Gallery: On The Waltzers b...

“‘On The Waltzers’, an interactive and immersive arts installation created by artist and curator duo ELLSQUARED that will open Convenience Gallery’s 2024 TTITG program.

The artists evoke nostalgia for the British everyday experience, from a mini golf course, now to a fun fair. The viewers are invited to participate in a series of classic fair games for the chance to win hand-crafted prizes made by the artists with the intention of exploring how exhibitions can be more accessible and how  the audience can obtain artwork through play.

From tufted teddy bears to felt cigarettes, a homage to Hull Fair, ‘On The Waltzers’  implores the viewer to not only engage with the installation but to become a part of the work itself.

This is ELLSQUARED’s first exhibition of 2024 and will once again subvert the white cube gallery experience and how a sense of levity and tongue-in-cheek approach to their respective practices elevate not only the craft and ‘everyday’ dialogue they hold dearly, but also what is considered high and low art and how they play with the viewer within their work.”

This exhibition is part of their new arts and culture programme: ‘The Town Is The Gallery’

The Town is the Gallery (TTITG) is Convenience Gallery’s new programme of arts and culture. This is the first in a series of programmes which will take place across Birkenhead and Wirral between March and August.

TTITG programme will feature artists, artworks, socials, parties, electronic music, workshops, and so much more.

All the artists involved are paid artist fair pay, and all Town is the Gallery key events are free to take part in. This Project is a part of the Wirral Borough of Culture 2024.

Opening times are: (Times may change so please check their social or website before visiting)

Event

Wednesday: 10am – 4pm
Thursday: 10am – 4pm
Friday: 10am – 4pm
Saturday: 10am – 4pm
CLOSED: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday – please contact to arrange special visitation.

Convenience Gallery: Chwarae Teg/Fair ...

Sorrell Kerrison presents “Chwarae Teg / Fair Play”

Sorrell’s new Exhibition invites you to ponder the timeless question: “When do we stop playing for the sake of enjoyment and always search for productivity? Is it a byproduct of the capitalist dilemma, or simply an inevitable aspect of aging that we forget to find joy in the simple act of playing and exploring? Through this thought-provoking exhibition, Kerrison delves into the complexities of human nature and the intrinsic value of play.

This exhibition is part of their new arts and culture programme: ‘The Town Is The Gallery’

The Town is the Gallery (TTITG) is Convenience Gallery’s new programme of arts and culture. This is the first in a series of programmes which will take place across Birkenhead and Wirral between March and August.

TTITG programme will feature artists, artworks, socials, parties, electronic music, workshops, and so much more.

All the artists involved are paid artist fair pay, and all Town is the Gallery key events are free to take part in. This Project is a part of the Wirral Borough of Culture 2024.

Opening times are: (Times may change so please check theirr social or website before visiting)

Event

Wednesday: 10am – 4pm
Thursday: 10am – 4pm
Friday: 10am – 4pm
Saturday: 10am – 4pm
CLOSED: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday – please contact to arrange special visitation.

Saturday Town

Saturday Town is a photography series by the award-winning photographer Casey Orr. Since 2013 Casey has travelled throughout the UK with her pop-up portrait studio photographing young people on Saturday afternoons. The project explores fashion, identity and the self-expression of young people on Saturday afternoons on the high streets and public spaces of towns across the country.

This is the largest show of Saturday Town and Casey Orr’s first retrospective show.

Bronwyn Andrews, exhibition assistant curator and creative producer at Open Eye Gallery, said: “Are we different now? How do you picture yourself? How does it feel to belong, or rebel? What makes you feel like you?

Saturday Town acts as a mosaic of youth subculture, fashion-dialects and self expression in the north of England over the last 11 years. Through a tumultuous period which has seen a global pandemic, the dissolution of the gender binary and the death of the highstreet, Casey Orr holds up a sign which reads ‘These young people are important!’

Open Eye Gallery are thrilled to host Casey Orr’s first retrospective and platform the unique fashion and visual language of the north, highlighting young people’s identities and style as culturally significant. We are delighted to facilitate conversations around belonging, identity, community and self representation through this work.

Casey Orr, photographer, said: “The project acts as a witness to young lives. Taking these photographs continues to excite me as it evolves and refers to the times in which we live, as well as a shared past that is reinvented and flows through new generations. Fashion and bodily self-expression are important and powerful tools for us all, to state who we are beyond consumerism and capitalism; beyond selfies and social media platforms”.

Saturday Town started in 2013 as Saturday Girl, when Casey Orr started photographing young women in Leeds on Saturday afternoons and exploring what it meant in terms of culture, tribe identities and values and how these things burst forth in the unspoken language of fashion and bodily self-expression.

After that Casey took the studio on the road throughout the UK, visiting over 20 cities and photographing over 800 people. Casey said, “Liverpool women just blew me away with their style. The Liverpool aesthetic of wearing curlers in your hair whilst out shopping on a Saturday afternoon is just so playful and expressive, saying to the world: “I’m going out tonight!”

Saturday Girl turned into Saturday Town, as the project has developed into a space for all gender expressions. The portraits aren’t styled beyond personal decisions made in front of bedroom mirrors. These images are a document of culture, read through fashion.

Saturday afternoons are spaces of freedom – from school, family and institutions. Saturdays are often a time when groups of young friends gather together in city centres and high streets to shop and hang out, to look and be seen.

They invite you to the exhibition where every day is Saturday.

Earth’s Murmurs exhibition at th...

Two artists, working with very different media, explore their emotional connection to the landscape

Bridget Greenwood
Valerie Wartelle

Thursday 11th April – Saturday 11th May
Opening times: Thurs – Sat, 10am – 4pm

Bridget Greenwood is a contemporary abstract artist based in Cheshire, whose paintings explore her fascination with the landscape. Colour has always been Bridget’s starting point and is central to her work. She sketches outside to record the moment, but her paintings are completed in the studio where they go through many stages before she feels that she has kept the essence whilst reducing and paring back the landscape to shapes and marks.

Working with fibres and textiles, Valerie Wartelle’s practice is rooted in the traditional craft of wet felting and the manipulation of textiles as an expressive art form. Taking the rural environment as her inspiration, she draws on its colour, texture and form to create evocative semi-abstract landscapes rich in climate. The compositions are built in layers, hinting at what may lie beneath, and use translucency and light to create absorbing moods. These are highly textured felt pieces in which cloth is embedded and threads unravelled, as a painter with her brush.

The gallery will be hosting a preview evening on Thursday 11th April between 6pm and 8pm. All welcome

You’ll find the LAKE gallery in the heart of West Kirby, a couple of minutes from the train station.

David Clapham: The River Runs Through

Two decades since he last lived and worked in Merseyside, artist David Clapham is returning to Birkenhead with a new exhibition, The River Runs Through, at Williamson Art Gallery.

Harrogate-born Clapham lived in Birkenhead Park for twelve years in the 1980’s and 90’s, including six years in Birkenhead Cricket Club. He made a significant contribution to the arts on Merseyside, as a Fine Art lecturer at John Moores University for over 20 years, and as a freelance filmmaker working for a variety of broadcast media including Granada TV. It was Clapham who invited Yoko Ono to Liverpool to perform her famous ‘Music of the Mind happening’ at Bluecoat Chambers in 1967. In 1976 he went on to co-found and manage the Bridewell Artists Studio complex, still thriving today on Prescott St in Liverpool.

The River Runs Through includes some of Clapham’s most recent works, alongside selected pieces from over two decades of development. The recurrent images of water and rivers are unifying themes from different periods in his life and different places that he has lived and worked, including London and Portugal. The exhibition features work in a range of media, including ephemeral large hanging installations which play with transparency.

Although they are landscapes based on real locations, Clapham is interested in the feelings beyond what we see. He says that “I’m looking at nature through the lens of history and recollection that sets in motion a series of memories, such as of a moment in time, or a particular quality of light, that affects how we live and feel in a place. That series of associations represents true reality.”

The River Runs Through will run at Williamson Art Gallery 6th April – 15th June.

The Convenience Store

As a Community/ Contemporary arts organisation, Convenience will animate Birkenhead Town locations across the 2024 Borough of Culture Year for Wirral, including reanimating a high street shop, alongside locations such as Birkenhead Priory, Birkenhead Library and others with free to access arts exhibitions workshops and experiences all made and designed by local people.

This project will create a number of new artworks and culture opportunities across Birkenhead and beyond during 2024 and 2025.

Convenience will be bringing their Convenience Store to Birkenhead’s old M&S building this Spring, highlighting some of Merseyside’s best creatives. The Convenience Store is an additional way to support Northern artists to sell work and have sustainable income.

Exhibitions and Stores opening times:
Wednesday: 10am – 4pm
Thursday: 10am – 4pm
Friday: 10am – 4pm
Saturday: 10am – 4pm
CLOSED: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday – please contact to arrange special visitation.

You can see all the works on the site: conveniencegallery.store. All work will only be available until 20 April.