Eight Days a Week

EIGHT DAYS A WEEK: COLOGNE IN LIVERPOOL 2000
at VARIOUS VENUES ACROSS LIVERPOOL
6 October – 11 November 2000.

Why is Liverpool hosting such a large exhibition of art from Cologne you might be asking? For those ignorant (myself included) Liverpool and Cologne have been twinned cities since 1952. The title of the festival suggests there may be, on the surface, more obvious German towns to twin Liverpool with. If one looks a little deeper you will see Cologne has much affinity with Liverpool, culturally and historically. The idea of the festival is to create artistic and cultural links and dialogue between the two cities.

This is a diverse festival which includes sculpture, paintings, photography, video, crafts and jewellery, poetry, music and even the re-showing of a match between Liverpool and Cologne from 1965 (which was famously decided by the toss of a coin). The venues are just as heterogeneous including traditional galleries, a theatre, a library, a tower block, a basement flat and an unemployment centre. An exhibition that truly takes art to the people, as well as incorporating the art and culture of Cologne into the fabric of Liverpool.

The Bluecoat Gallery is hosting its fifth exhibition of Kolsch (their version of scouse) art. Included is a sculptural cross made out of Aldi and Lidl carrier bags (a domestic hairdryer inflates and deflates the sculpture) - an amusing take on consumerism. Artist Boris Becker exhibits large glossy photographs of objects used to smuggle cocaine, including women’s shoes and a barber’s chair. It’s amazing how creative drug smugglers can be, let alone artists.

Other highlights of the festival include ‘Up in the Air’, a group of artists working in the highest building in Liverpool , weeks before its demolition. The View Gallery shows a group of artists working in glass, cloth, metal and timber and the Static Gallery shows a variety of genres of art, including some beautiful sculptural pieces made from spotlights and scrunched up paper. The Kirkby Unemployment Centre displays photographs of everyday life in Cologne.

With such a varied number of artists exhibiting, and such a diverse range of venues across the city, there is no excuse for the people of Liverpool not to immerse themselves in Cologne culture. And you might just need eight days in a week to fit all of this in.

For a full listing of venues see the Gallery listings.