Liverpool lights up as it hits Culture Year jackpot

Nov 6 2007 by Aaron Boland, Liverpool Daily Post

Liverpool Biennial logo (156)

A SERIES of neon fruit mach- ines will be lit up in three neighbourhoods of Liverpool as the curtain-raiser for the city’s Capital of Culture public art programme.

Liverpool Jackpot is in the process of being installed in Kirkdale, Kensington and Garston and will be turned on at 6.30pm on Thursday.

The works, which are more than 10ft tall, and by French artist Franck Scurti, feature three columns, like a fruit machine, and will show images of food, a body part, and a phrase taken from a newspaper.

The project, part of the Winter Lights programme, represents the opening of Liverpool Biennial’s £1m-plus public art programme for the city’s European Capital of Culture celebrations.

The first in the Winter Lights series, called Animal, was designed by Ron Haselden with local primary school children. It appeared in 2006, and featured huge neon drawings depicting a cat, a camel and a polar bear.

The animals will be re-lit this year and a rabbit will be installed in December near St Vincent de Paul School, Pitt Street, where the drawing was made.

Last night, council leader Warren Bradley said: “This year’s Winter Lights series will herald the start of the public art programme for European Capital of Culture.

“We are committed to ensuring that the Capital of Culture celebrations are enjoyed by people across Liverpool, and the Winter Lights are a great example of eye-catching, high-profile work being placed right at the heart of our communities.”

Hold Your Nerve and Think Big will be positioned at Stanley Bar Stanley Road, Kirkdale; Power To The People will be at The Spekeland, Tunnel Road, Kensington; and Ideas Cannot Be Killed at Uncle J’s, St Mary’s Road, Garston.

The polar bear will be at Sheil Road, Kensington, the camel at the corner of Moss Street and St Mary’s Road, Garston, and the cat in Great Mersey Street, Vauxhall.

The lights will be on display until February 2008.

In autumn 2008, there will be a further Winter Lights commission.

Lewis Biggs, director of Liverpool Biennial, said: “Commissioning the brightest and best artists from around the world, and inviting them to involve themselves with local people, is what Liverpool Biennial’s contribution to Capital of Culture 2008 is all about.”

Scurti has exhibited his work across the world, from Sao Paulo and New York to Japan.

davidbartlett