i like... signs that say what you want them to say

by gillian wearing

little bit of liverpool

some great things about liverpool this weekend:

nicholas hlobo's ribbon maze, part of 'touched' at the bluecoat. so dreamy. so touchable.

a little boy dog in blue, a little girl dog in pink

street art reading 'poor are people,' 'pensioners are people' and 'do you like your neighbours?'

the word 'calamari' with a scouse accent

the language of sculpture, curated by carol ann duffy - especially the satchels full of magnetic words for visitors to play around with

bright red leaves carpeting the pavement

knitting salon at nest

i was lucky enough to acquire a last-minute invitation to the knitting salon at nest last night, organised by deidre from craftspace and trevor pitt of pod projects. It was admittedly a little more tame than the bourgeoius eighteenth century french salon of my imagining, but followed both of horace's aims - "either to please or to educate" - quite nicely. Taking placemaking as our theme, we talked about the city and its inhabitants; our experiences of migration and settlement; our relationship with our neighbours; intergenerational communication and misunderstanding; ideas of community, and how we are connected and disconnected from the places we live and work in. I really hope the series of talks continues as the benches tour the country, inspiring similar conversations as they settle in new spaces.

'under gods' by liz hingley

liz hingley's 'under gods' is a series of photographs taken over 2 years on soho road, handsworth. her experience was that religion is the primary source of identity drawn on by the diverse inhabitants of this area in birmingham. the beauty of her photographs taken inside bedrooms, living rooms, gurdwaras, sweet shops, mosques, convents, backyards, schools, temples and doorways reminds me how resourceful people are, and how our little buildings can become so much more than places to work, eat and sleep.

you can see the exhibition now at wolverhampton art gallery

christian marclay's 'the clock'

I wish I could get to white cube to see this. it's a film made of film clips that use the clock-face as a narrative device. and it's synchronised to local time.

diversity by numbers

My latest blog post about diversity in arts policy over at Hybrid...

"Fears that projects championing multiculturalism and diversity will suffer from restructuring in the Arts Council and become sidelined by other concerns have been fed by the fact that ACE seems to have distanced diversity from artistic excellence in their draft strategy for the future (Jatinder Verma, Arts Professional 21 June 2010.) Does this mean diversity will no longer be a policy priority, but an agenda confined to separate developmental work with no place within the wider culture of excellence ACE seeks to promote?"

Refugee Art

Link to a recent article I wrote on the Hybrid blog about Refugees and Imaginative Space:
"In the same way that work by black artists has become ‘black art,’ work by refugees and asylum seekers is considered ‘refugee art’ with expectations that it will contain certain themes – pain, loss, displacement, marginalisation. These are comfortable themes for what Rotas describes as a “right on” culture that wants to pat itself on the back for its commitment to diversity and giving voice to ‘others.’"