As part of the ninth Liverpool Biennial, jointly presented with Bluecoat a series of new commissions by Irish artist Dennis McNulty under the title Homo Gestalt, which includes a data driven installation in Bluecoat’s Vide, a digital app and an off-site performance work set around New Hall Place, a 1970s 13-storey brutalist style office located in Liverpool’s commercial district.
McNulty is interested in regulatory systems – mechanical, technological, managerial, financial, biological, cognitive, social – and how their structures, constraints and possibilities affect our behaviours and environment. For this new body of work he draws on fictional and real world sources, such as More than Human by science-fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon, which describes a scenario in which multiple humans blend abilities to act as a single organism. McNulty pairs this idea with the ‘multinode’, a concept developed by pioneering cyberneticist Stafford Beer to describe a collective biological or mechanic decision-making entity. The result is Homo Gestalt, a collective technology, performed into existence by audience participation.
Homo Gestalt forms part of Liverpool Biennial 2016’s Software episode, pointing to a broader social and cultural understanding of technology beyond pure technical applications
Bluecoat Display Centre is delighted to present a solo show of stunning hand blown glass by the Irish glass artist Catherine Keenan. Catherine says “The physical rhythm required to work with molten glass is what I fell in love with. I wish to communicate the vitality and exuberance of the making experience. I like to be playful with the material and hope that my pieces themselves are joyful in the use of colour and pattern”.
Catherine Keenan’s fascination with hot glass began while studying at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. Graduating in 2006, she is currently Resident Artist at Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart. Keenan has since won many awards and is presented in important national collections including Ulster Museum and the National Museum of Ireland
Take this walk though Liverpool’s historic Rodney and Hope Street areas, discovering colourful characters and long-lost histories.
Who was the White Angel and where is she now? Who came for the weekend and stayed for 20 years? And, did a Bishop really get stoned?
Kelly’s Dispensary is a home-from-home for the many Irish who now live in Liverpool.
Involved in the community, sponsoring local Gaelic teams, the trad session has been a great addition to Kelly’s (and the festival) in recent years, where performers receive free food and drink
‘One of Ireland’s great singer-songwriters’, the Guardian
Dempsey, from Dublin’s north side, counts among his fans: Brian Eno and Sinéad O’Connor; Bob Dylan, U2 (with whom he has shared a bill) and Morrissey, who invited him to support him on his US tour. He has recorded a unique album, No Force on Earth, as a celebration and commemoration of the Easter Uprising of 1916 that saw the birth of the Irish Republic. In his homeland, Damien is held in the highest regard by peers and audiences and – as well as a string of number ones – he has a haul of Meteor Awards. This is a one off opportunity to see Dempsey in an intimate setting, sharing his story of this centenary year, with all the close up intensity that his acoustic performances engender
£17.50 from the Liverpool Philharmonic (+ booking fees)
2016 marks the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising and is a commemoration of one of the most tumultuous rebellions in Irish history.
Curated by Jessie Malone in association with Cork Printmakers, four artists from Belfast Print Workshop, Black Church Print Workshop, Dublin, Cork Printmakers & Limerick Printmakers have collaborated in the creation of 16, a unique box-set and exhibition of prints. Jessie Malone curated the selection of four artists from each print studio. The artist was then invited to make one image, in response to the theme of the 1916 Easter Rising; in an edition of twenty, on paper measuring sixteen inches square.
This exhibition forms a unique record of Irish contemporary art in the medium of printmaking and showcases the high standard of skills and variety of techniques currently being utilised in Ireland
Alsop Drama present a programme of three of short plays exploring the theme of ‘the undead’ and how Irish peasantry’s relationship between the living and dead was full of mysticism and myth.
The plays – performed in rotation – look at how superstition and folklore influenced relationships with the spirits, the living and past. Originally performed as a trinity of plays by the RSC, Alsop Drama capture the essence of rural life in early twentieth century Ireland through these well-known playwrights.
Riders to the Sea, 25 mins
John Millington Synge, b.1871-d.1909
A tragedy of a mother and the loss of her husbands and sons to the sea. Based not on the traditional conflict of human will, but on the hopeless struggle of people against the impersonal and relentless cruelty of the sea, this clearly Catholic family find themselves wary of the supernatural characteristics of natural elements, an idea ever present in Celtic paganism. Some consider this the perfect one act play
The Shadow of the Glen, 30 mins
John Millington Synge, b.1871-d.1909
A ‘tramp’ seeks shelter at the Burkes’ isolated farmhouse, finding Nora tending to the corpse of Dan. Nora goes to find Michael, whilst Dan reveals his death is a mere ruse to the ‘tramp’. Playing dead again on her return, Dan leaps up in protest when Michael proposes to Nora. Dan kicks Nora out, leaving her to wander the roads with the ‘tramp’ who promises her a life of freedom
Purgatory, 15 mins
William Butler Yeats, b.1865-1939
A family saga of decline and fall told through its two remaining members: an Old Man (the father) and a Boy (his sixteen-year-old son). It is set outside the former family home, which the Old Man’s father had drunkenly burned down, leading him to kill his father as the building perished. Tonight, the Old Man tells the Boy, is the anniversary of his mother’s wedding night…This was the night on which he was conceived
The Scotland Road walk will be led by local historians, exploring Liverpool’s world famous dockland district, its Irish traditions, connections to the Easter Rising and forgotten graveyards, tunnels
Meet on Juvenal-Grosvenor Street corners (see Scotland Road walk meeting point in Venues)
Similar to the Friday and Saturday evening ‘relax and wind down’ seisiúns, these afternoon seisiúns are split in to half hour slots and given to musicians and performers who volunteered their services before the festival began.
Audiences are encouraged to bring instruments and play along with these informal, acoustic seisiúns, which are family friendly, fun and warm. Stay, have a spot to eat, browse the Irish materials library and talk with other festival guests in this truly convivial setting
Social seisiún platlist PDF available.
Described as “psycho céilí”, “whiskey-soaked folk” and just plain old “partying music”, whatever it is The Logues have made the genre their own. From their humble beginnings in a sleepy County Tyrone village, they have become one of Ireland’s most sought-after live bands
£7 from St Michael’s Irish Centre or online (+booking fee)
