Talking of decay

One of the other things I did this weekend was visit the last day of the British Ceramics Biennial, held partly in the abandoned, decaying Spode Works in Stoke. The idea, I guess, is to prove that there's still life in the industry, but the effect was double-edged. Much of the art ceramic referenced postmodernism and deconstruction: 'impossible' angles and loops - beautiful in many ways, but somewhat mocking of a town which lost hundreds of thousands of jobs when mass British pottery died. Deconstruction's all very witty when you're an art student - not so funny when you're out of a job. Much of the show's effect was derived from setting new artisan work against the smashed remains of a mass industry.

But I shouldn't cavil: my photographic hobby of finding beauty in post-industrial wreckage is equally decadent, and as I said, much of the artistic work is simply lovely. Full set of photos here, click these samples to enlarge.

I do love a bit of typography - this from Staffordshire University's Flux studio

'Human Relations'

On the scrapheap…

The last few

The set of Liverpool Biennial pictures is here. Click on these to enlarge.

Twins of Evil in a mirrored room

Self-portrait in a mirrored room

A room of Marxist books - wonderful

I'd like this in my office or drawing room. Or as a new name for Plashing Vole…

Calm down, calm down

More from our trip to the Land of Scouse. Whole set of pictures here.

Nerdy road trip

A bunch of us went to the Liverpool Biennial on Saturday. My only previous experience of that great city was turning up in the dark at 7.30 at a sports hall and leaving (utterly defeated) in the dark at 7 that evening, so I was quite excited.

We didn't see that much of the city, so intent were we on seeing as much of the Liverpool Biennial as possible, but I was seriously impressed by the centre, other than Liverpool One, a shopping complex which involved making 40 acres of publicly-owned space into corporate, anti-democratic space.

Some of the art was very impressive indeed. Some was utter, utter rubbish. One installation I really enjoyed was a Belgian artist whiling away his time in a featureless, constricting box. I wondered if this was a comment on some of the art I'd had to experience on the way to his corner, including the 'twig with a piece of wire and chewing gum'. We saw a lot of 'art graffiti' and fascinating temporary repurposing of empty department stores'.

I had a great day, until the point where we discovered a man urinating in the corner of the pub.

Anyway - here are some pictures, and a sample are below - click to enlarge.

Ken Dodd and Neal, Liverpool Lime Street Station

He's just a big kid

The joys of consumerism

Old meets pointless

Albert Dock

Unfortunately, the TV weatherman's floating map of the British Isles has been removed.

Off to the Biennial

Biennially is about as often as I make it to art exhibitions, so I, along with colleagues and friends, am off to the Liverpool Art Biennial on Saturday, which should be very exciting.

You can read Follow The Yellow Brick Road's marathon/express review here, but I was most impressed by this exhibit, which is exactly the kind of thing I'd install on every street corner in the world:

 visitors can also explore artworks such as The Marx Lounge by Alfredo Jaar, which includes three copies of every work ever written by, or about Marx, complete with comfy sofas should you wish to peruse them.