VARIABLE Capital, the second exhibition at the reopened Bluecoat, will open to the public tomorrow following a fire at the centre last week.

Gallery and operations staff at the venue continued to install the exhibition from the moment the fire service ensured the building was safe to re-enter and have continued to hang work while the building has undergone cleaning, restoration and assessment throughout the week.

Sara Parsons, exhibitions curator, said: "Logistically, we were very lucky. All the work was here, our technicians were here and most of our supplies, so as soon as we knew it was safe to come back in the building we were able to move forward with the installation."

The exhibition, previously due to open last Friday, features work by Edward Burtynsky, Common Culture, Alexander Gerdel, Richard Hughes, Melanie Jackson, Louise Lawler, Hans Op de Beeck, Wang Qinsong, Julian Rosefeldt, Santiago Sierra, Larry Sultan, Brian Ulrich and Andy Warhol.

Variable Capital presents "a timely comment on today’s consumer culture".

Organised by artists David Campbell and Mark Durden, who work collaboratively as Common Culture, the exhibition presents international artists’ critical and often humorous responses to how we produce goods and spend money. For example, Santiago Sierra’s work highlights the exploitation of unpaid workers and illegal immigrants, while Hans Op de Beeck examines the mundane experiences of supermarket cashiers. 

Edward Burtynsky and Brian Ulrich consider the waste produced from our throw-away culture and point to how it affects our global and local environment Andy Warhol presents the most historical inclusion with six of his screen tests included in the show; work that cuts beneath the artifice of Hollywood film and replaces it with raw and realist portraits.

In an accompanying publication by Liverpool University Press, the curators discuss in detail works in the exhibition. Variable Capital is £29.95, available at www.liverpool-unipress.co.uk