Opening weekend at the Bluecoat

Date: From Saturday, 15 March 2008 to Sunday, 16 March 2008 | 10:00am - 10:00pm

Location:

Ticket Prices: Free admission to building and many events

The Bluecoat re-opens with a two-day weekend celebration on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 March, at which the first exhibition Now Then, a group show featuring Alec Finlay, Janet Hodgson, Hew Locke, Paul Morrison and Yoko Ono, will be open to the public.

At 10am you are invited to cut the giant ribbon wrapped around the building (no need to bring scissors, arrive 9.45am). There will be taster events and free activities all day, the chance to try out the new restaurant-bar, Upstairs at the Bluecoat and to sample coffee, tea, cake and sandwiches from Espresso at the Bluecoat.

The events programme showcases artists with a strong connection to the Bluecoat, the cream of Liverpool’s emerging talent, new tenant artists and artists that will return in the coming months as part of the vibrant programme for ’08 and beyond.

There will be free performances all weekend for visitors to enjoy including:

Philip Jeck, a Liverpool based artist with an international reputation for his sound collages made from the grooves of ancient and forgotten records.
Sense of Sound, the Bluecoat’s resident acapella group, who will be bursting into song throughout the weekend.
Elle S’appelle, local power pop outfit and purveyors of hyperactive nursery rhymes.
Kinetic Fallacy, local blessed-out electronica outfit.
Lost Voices and Liverpooljazz will each be putting on a selection of new ensembles and compositions over the two days.
Joby Burgess, virtuosic percussionist, will be dazzling audiences with a short concert in the garden.
Ch4pter, resident artists, provide the dance on the ground while Liverpool-based Wired Aerial dazzle with a presentation of bungee assisted dance.

Audiences throughout Saturday afternoon will be stunned by Rajni Shah’s 4 hour Live Art performace installation Mr Quiver, which they will be able to drop in and out of as they please.

At Liverpool Literature Live, a selection of the city’s most exciting writing and reading organizations give short performances showcasing the range and vibrancy of literature groups currently working in the city. The organizations featuring are: The Reader, Liverpool Libraries, The Windows Project, Northend Writers' Group, Writing on the Wall, Headland Publications, Back to the Machine Gun, Dead Good Poets' Society, Heart Beats and Mercy.

There will be three ticketed performances during the weekend, beginning with leading literary stars Jeanette Winterson and Tom Paulin.
Steve Reid Ensemble, featuring Kieran Hebden of Four Tet (Sunday 16th, 8pm) provide explosive jazz.

Elsewhere in the building Amrit and Rabindra Kaur Singh as Twin Studio celebrate Liverpool’s vibrant year as European Capital of Culture in a painting specially commissioned by the Liverpool Culture Company.

Saturday Performance Programme

Sunday Performance Programme