Launching on 23rd May, the new exhibition at dot-art Gallery will feature artwork by six Liverpool artists whose visionary art has responded to a citywide open call with music publication Bido Lito!
To celebrate Bido Lito!’s 100th issue, Liverpool, 2028 will offer a timely opportunity to critique and contemplate Liverpool’s creative sphere in a further 100 publications of the magazine. The selected artists present their amplified, often dystopian visions of the city in years to come to encourage us to reflect on our community today asking, ‘How much can a city change in the next nine years?’ The exhibition addresses themes of communication, sustainability, architecture and unity, urging viewers to foresee the role of music, art and culture in our rapidly changing climate and how Liverpool’s cultural landscape will react to the unique challenges we currently face.
Michael Lacey is an artist and musician based in Liverpool. His extensive experiments with landscape and architecture form paradoxical collages, depicting glimpses of apocalyptic ruin and posthuman civilisation. The encroaching plant life, abandoned technology and unsettling human ritual encourages a commentary of the Liverpool in which we work and live now.
Hannah Blackman-Kurz illustrates Liverpool’s creative community both in print and in her art. Technology, face recognition and social connection make up the corners of her approach, the vibrant bouncing of ideas and the importance of the real-life, physical aspects of creative sharing at the fore. Hannah’s screen prints depict busy crowd interaction dappled by ear pods and phone screens, a single reader embodying the importance of publications to keep us planted in reality.
James Chadderton is a mixed media artist. His work collapses the boundaries between traditional and composite drawing, characterised by a tendency towards magic realism, or moments of fantasy within realistic portrayals. A percipient of Liverpool’s architectural future, James blends pen and ink drawing with graphic design to portray catastrophic changes to the city’s iconic Liver Building.
This exhibition will also showcase works by local artists Tommy Graham, Darren Blenkhorn and Alan Murray.
Christopher Torpey, Bido Lito!’s Editor-in-Chief, said “It’s been fascinating to see how these exceptionally talented artists have interpreted the brief, looking forward to the possibilities and challenges for a creative future in the city. The range of responses reflect some underlying tensions and worries about the future, especially for artists and artistic practice; but there’s also some hope woven in, when looking at the potential for greater human contact away from a digitised world. I think we can all relate our hopes and fears about the future to these responses.”
Gina Schwarz, dot-art’s Gallery Manager, said “Collaborating with Bido Lito! in creating this exhibition has very much reflected the growth we hope to see in Liverpool’s creative future; through hyper-locality and the sharing of skills and ideas. The talented local artists chosen for Liverpool, 2028 have provided us with a striking, multidimensional vision of a forthcoming Liverpool, that will allow audiences to contemplate and tackle some of the most pressing issues to our arts community today.”
This exhibition starts on Friday 24th May and runs until Saturday 6th July. Entry is free and all are welcome.
The dot-art Gallery can be found at 14 Queen Avenue, Castle Street, Liverpool, L2 4TX (just 5 minutes’ walk from Liverpool One).
Opening times: Monday – Saturday, 10am-6pm
Image by James Chadderton – Liver Building
