Liverpool Biennial 2010: The Cooperative.

The Cooperative

Art Currently the old Rapid Hardware paint shop is headquarters to The Cooperative, a group of seven local arts collectives, Jump Ship Rat, Sound Network, The Royal Standard, Red Wire, The Lost Soul and Stranger Service Station, Arena Studios & Gallery and Mercy. It has a performance area in the basement and gallery space which will have a rolling programme of weekly exhibitions across the Biennial period.

Part of the display is an archive of the cooperative’s previous work, something of a nostalgia trip for those of us who’ve been visiting these festivals over the past decade, a rare reminder of work which might otherwise have been fleeting in experience or ephemeral in the memory. Oh I remember that. Oh I remember that. Oh it’s that! Wow. I’m getting old.

I giggled when I saw again The Ballad of Lonesome Barry Row, a video piece featuring the story of giant rebellious yellow skip (Barrys Skip according to the stencilled sign on the back), as it sprouted wheels and began a journey through the back streets of Liverpool apparently with no space for steering let alone a driver, unsure whether I was seeing an impossible, magical item or the spirit of The Goodies. Or both.

Open Wednesday to Sunday 1pm-7pm, 18th September until 29th November.

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