Artist-led visual arts festival stands on its own two feet
Independents Biennial takes over Liverpool City Region | Latest NW arts news
It’s one of those nice problems to have, but every week when I come to write Stored Honey I feel restricted by the little I can cover. The North West is particularly vibrant when it comes to arts and culture - there is so much going on and so little time to delve into it all. This is partially why I created this newsletter in the first place - to help readers overcome the listings overload and navigate all the exhibitions, theatre shows, festivals and events taking place in our region.
It would be impossible for me to write about everything, so I lean into that and offer suggestions of things I think are worth taking up your precious spare time.
But, when it comes to the Liverpool Independents Biennial, which you can read about below, I have barely scraped the surface. Each week during the duration of the festival I will endeavour to highlight some of its many exciting, interesting and eccentric exhibitions and events.
But if you have managed to get along to any of it, I would love to hear your thoughts and recommendation, which I will share in a future edition of Stored Honey.
Little creative lanterns glowing across the whole region
It’s a quiet Friday morning in Belle Vale Shopping Centre, although every morning seems to be a quiet one here these days since the bigger high street names moved out to retail parks or closed down altogether. Left behind are mostly charity shops or discount stores. Apart from a few exceptions, these 1970s-built “centres of the community” were always pretty soulless in design - it was the people that brought them alive. But with only a few dozen shoppers milling about, the centre feels doomed. It belongs to the past, hard to imagine it having a future.
But under the polystyrene ceiling tiles of an empty shop, Independents Biennial artist Les Weston is interested in both tenses. After he retired as an engineer in the chemical industry and started an art degree in his 60s, he found his childhood became a key influence in his work. Catch him on one of the days he’s welcoming visitors there and he’ll give you a tour - through the artworks and through his own life.
There’s a map of the places he used to see from the bus between his nan’s house in Toxteth, where he spent part of the week, to his parents’ home not far from Belle Vale Shopping Centre. There’s a concrete sculpture of the tower blocks he used to live in, now demolished, and a video work of him smashing up an almost identical piece created during his fine art degree when he discovered it was too heavy to move. And there’s drone footage taken at the height of where the flat’s window would have been - with the view across the green fields to the arched back of Runcorn Bridge.
It’s an engaging exhibition, and unexpected to find it hidden away inside a shopping centre that, in its current form at least, is overstaying its welcome. But that’s the Independents Biennial’s greatest appeal, at least for the visitor - it pops up in unpredictable locations.
It’s very easy to feel overwhelmed when you start scrolling through the Independents Biennial’s programme on its website, or flicking through the pages of Art in Liverpool, the publication whose editor Patrick Kirk-Smith is also the festival’s director. Decent Arts Council funding this time around has made this year more expansive than ever before, with more than 300 artists showing work across 120 sites spread throughout Merseyside.
As well as its own commissions, the Independents groups together exhibitions and events taking place across Liverpool City Region during it’s three-month run. Some of these might have happened anyway, but as part of a coherent whole they are not only able to draw on the expertise of the festival team but also on the wider network of independent organisations across the region. And being part of a festival programme has visitor-pulling power.
For Independents Biennial producer Jayne Lawless, this year’s festival is about legacy. She says: “We think the purpose of us existing is to help artist development. We wanted a sense of camaraderie back in the Merseyside arts scene because, after so many years of not getting any funding for anything everywhere, people tend to understandably covet anything that they do get.
“It's much more about artist development than a big flagship exhibition. I always think of it as these little creative lanterns that exist across the whole region, and over three months they'll glow and then will blow out because everyone is getting on with the next project.”
But when they do carry on with the next thing, Lawless hopes the Independents will have played a role in helping them to do it with more confidence, with a stronger network and sense of community.
Some Independents Biennial highlights:
Ellie Hoskins’ witty but close-to-the-grain exhibition What we talk about when we don’t know what to talk about, at Bridge Cottage, Port Sunlight. There’s loads to check out while you’re in the village, including Emma Rogers’ new studio in the Old Fire Station, where she’s currently exhibiting alongside Johnny Vegas and Jacob Chan.
Brigitte Jurack, Rising Darkness at Victoria Gallery & Museum - a suite of drawings, writing and the design for a new mosaic. I haven’t been to this one yet but have heard great things. I’d love to hear what you thought if you’ve had the chance to get along.
Les Weston, Memories of Lee Park and Belle Vale, 64-74, Belle Vale Shopping Centre - see above. (open Wednesdays to Sundays).
Improvised Hope, outside 24 Hope Street - dynamic digital dance studio transforming the windows into a living canvas (8pm until late, best viewed after dark).
Independents Biennial is at various venues across Liverpool City Region until Sunday, September 14.
Latest arts news
⛵ Festival of the Lake is returning to Windermere Jetty Museum on Saturday, June 28, for a full day of celebration bringing together the lake’s rich maritime heritage, traditional boating culture and the many ways people connect with the water. It includes talks, story-telling, live music and a sail on Swallow, the boat featured in the 2016 film adaptation of Swallows and Amazons (book ahead for this one so you don’t miss out).
🎵 A new musical telling the story of the Beatles’ revolutionary time in Hamburg will premiere at Liverpool’s Epstein Theatre this September. Shake It Up Baby! - written by Liverpool playwright Ian Salmon (Girls Don’t Play Guitars), directed by Stephen Fletcher and starring Andrew Scofield as manager Allan Williams - will run from Friday, September 26 to Saturday, October 11.
🥾 Poet Ian McMillan and photographer Andrew Brooks share the creative output of their 5am walks in The Songs the Morning Sang, an exhibition at The Portico Library in Manchester. Each day they explore the streets where they live in the early morning to capture the strangeness and beauty of the everyday world. Ends Saturday, September 27.
In case you missed it
Opening this week
Community laundrette Kitty’s in Anfield, Liverpool, has launched its first photography exhibition, with pictures exploring its atmospheric charm alongside images by its users and neighbours. The result of the People of Anfield artist residency, commissioned by Culture Liverpool and Open Eye Gallery, you can find it in Kitty’s courtyard and on hoardings around Anfield Stadium.
Now booking
Musical parody Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch is returning to Lowry, Salford, for a five-week Christmas season. Following two previous sell-out runs, this will be a brand-new production of the show, which tells the Little Mermaid villain’s backstory to a filthy pop soundtrack. Runs from Friday, December 5 to Sunday, January 11. Tickets on general sale now.
Thank you for reading the 136th edition of Stored Honey. If you enjoyed what you read then please hit the ❤️ button as it helps to get it shown more widely.
I’m off now to cook some emergency fishfingers for my kids’ tea. In the meantime, you can get hold of me on Instagram, on Bluesky, in the comments or by replying to this email.
Have a great week,
Laura
P.S. Manchester’s soundtrack comes to life in an art trail like no other
