Yesterday afternoon, Garston’s bastion of the avant-garde Alex Corina phoned me and kindly invited me to an evening sioree at View Two art gallery on Liverpool’s famous Matthew Street. The ‘independent’ gallery is owned by architect Ken Martin, who’s also the architect working on the Artistic Republic of Garston’s Embassy building. It was a good opportunity for Alex to introduce me to Ken, and also to Libby Mackay, who’s running one of the other “Peoples’ Pavillions” in equally deprived Kirkdale (designed by Gross Max). Libby and Alex were interviewed about the Pavilions project in the AJ article [AJ 20.12.07 p25].
So last night I went along with my mate Tim (also from Garston) to see what was going on. I’d never really noticed View Two gallery before, even though I’d walked past it hundreds of times. It’s opposite the famous Cavern Club, tucked away above the city centre nightclubs, up a staircase, aptly in an old banana warehouse [a relic to one of Liverpool's biggest imports, standing opposite the spiritual home of it's biggest export]. It reminded me of the art gallery in Krakow, which was also above a nightclub. There were two floors of gallery space, with a cafe/bar on the top floor. The route up the stairs doubled as an informal gallery space and took us past paintings and sculptures for sale by local artists, some of which I’d seen on Alex’s Artworks website. The ongoing Studio Six interest in tables was well represented by this intriguing sculpture.
The café/bar area soon became full. People had gathered to hear Swedish alternative jazz duo Små Blå and acoustic musician/singer Louise Schultz perform some of their own contemporary works. It was all pretty relaxed and there was a laid-back international/arty vibe. More comparisons with Studio Six’s notorious Krakow jazz club encounter came to mind, complete with candles-on-tables [and all that jazz]…Except this time it was a bit more welcoming (and the candle didn’t get passed round).
Again, thoughts of the table perspective drawing were prompted by my own similarly table-oriented first-person perspective view across the room. People gathering together; a setting full of tables and chairs, complete with Alex’s wine glass and Tim’s beer bottle, even the lamps and the guitar were in the picture.
After the show I asked Alex if he reckoned there could ever be anything like it in Garston. “Oh definitely; every Friday, Saturday, and Wednesday“… and he wasn’t messing.
At the moment the Garston Cultural Embassy / Pavilion project is more of a temporary installation; a ‘provisional construction’, as are most Biennial arts projects. What’s needed is a wider framework; a long-term plan for relative permanence; a sequence that can lead to a sustainable focus for the community, after the Capital of Culture party is over. One of Alex’s main criticisms about the 2008 events is the lack of emphasis on bedding-down longer-lasting cultural projects, as quoted in his AJ article. He mentioned to me his ideas to let out studios for around £10 per week in the Embassy building, as part of a broader plan, and to gain a longer lease from the council. He believes that the first steps will be hardest, but if successful, the rest should follow.
With reference to taking these ideas and developing my own project brief further, we talked about ideas for what could be “made in Garston” as part of a holistic strategy. We discussed houses, boats, and tables, and other things. He told me of similar ideas happening with creative communities in the port of Gdansk, Poland, with whom they’ve bridged relations as part of the Cultural Village campaign. We discussed community engagement, involving exchanges between the Embassy and local schools, in terms of art/design education and skills, with Libby’s informed position as an adult education director. We also chatted about cake, bananas, alcohol, and other useful things.
Meeting the faces and personalities behind the story gives a valuable insight into the projects and ambitions. I’m exploring [if and] how art can make a difference, and as Libby admitted, so are they. Alex seemed glad to “welcome me on board” and I hope both our projects can feed off each other in some way, and I can provide input through some kind of creative dialogue between the two projects. The discussion will continue next Friday, as Alex has agreed to come and join me and Mike Carney, assembling the SuperWindowTable in the Wellington Pub, in Garston.
Walking outside afterwards, there seemed to be hints of a fresh atmosphere on the familiar city streets; I could hear a variety of accents as I walked among the Saturday night revellers on the way home. I’d rarely heard that before. Evidently, the immediate outcomes of Liverpool’s “European Capital of Culture” status are becoming apparent in the city centre’s new found buzz. The cultural vision is becoming reality. But will the benefits ever reach the people on the street in ghettoes like Garston? The Pavilions project is the provisional vehicle that carries these hopes. With some careful organisation, the support of the community, and a sustainable long-term plan, maybe it might just work.
