The Long Night
It was The Long Night in Liverpool last night. For those unacquainted, it is when in cultural institutions in Liverpool host a array of activities – some facilitate off off performances, launches and events, others just extending opening hours – it truly is a mixed bag. Having finished work at a vibrant Bluecoat early evening, I hung around to catch a glimpse of the launch of DaDaFest 2010, which brought a tremendous ambiance to the venue.
Attempting to see as much as possible in the short space of time, I ventured off to FACT but was sidetracked by a visit to Open Eye Gallery en route. This turned out to be a shrewd move as live art orientated artist Emma Hart gave a performance lecture on holes. The lecture intrigued with a good balance of photography that kept momentum via the commanding instruction of ‘SLIDE’ given by Kelly to the projectionist. This theatrical, over the top barking of the word distorted the meaning of it, rendering it questionable as the images that were being presented. The images shuttled through various stages of manipulation that ultimately ended with a physical manipulation of the projection screen by Kelly that she used as a prop.
After the lecture a brief detour to a sparse FACT which was punctuated by a sound art relay which was passing through to the Bluecoat. A colleague of mine was playing in the ensemble which looked liked they may press gang new members any moment. Darting off from FACT, further visits to independent spaces Wolstenholme Projects, Casa Del Bruges and finally the A Foundation struggled to raise any real engagement, although it was pleasing to see Antti Laitenen’s Biennial project. His endless quest at sea and feats of endurance and rural living were oddly inspirational, provoking a feeling of empathy, something I didn’t expect.
Sadly, apart from The Open Eye & Laitenen’s work, The Long Night struggled to engage me. Yes, having Liverpool’s cultural scene come together in a show of strength is a great prospect that I am very much for, however traversing amongst participating venues to often find muted, often strange atmospheres and on the streets people looking confused and/or bewildered with glow in the dark Long Night wristbands slapped around their forearms didn’t excite me. The great thing about the LN is that it does attract an wider audience and folks outside of the ‘set’, it does enable people to visit places they perhaps never had been to and making exciting new discoveries, especially if they always work during opening hours. I did wonder as I walked with my hands deep in my coat pockets how many people (who are actively involved in the Liverpool arts scene) did or visit somewhere other than a place that they are familiar/associated with? Of course if everyone on the street is hosting a house party on the same night then the number of guests for each is going to dwindle.
Perhaps a good way of utilising the huge effort involved in the production of The Long Night would be to host intermittent smaller nights that maybe five or so venues organised/ran? With the cooperation between institutions in Liverpool this has already started with the occasional cross institution private view, each always successful. So in all, I am not against the Long Night at all, I just believe that heavily focusing on two over saturated events each year isn’t the best way of using now limited resources and providing venues with exposure.
