Peter isn’t the only busy one among our panel of judges. Ceri Hand is about to open a new art gallery in Liverpool – and has the 16 hour-long days to show for it. Although Liverpool is currently European Capital of Culture, and has a rash of established, artist-run galleries and visual arts ventures right across the city, it doesn’t have its own contemporary commercial art gallery. That’s set to change when Ceri opens her self-titled gallery on 4 July. In her words, it will ‘provide the opportunity to see and buy some of the most exciting work being produced internationally.’
The space itself is a big barn of a place – a converted warehouse to the North of the city centre, along a waterfront that’s more industrial than picturesque (nowt wrong with that – it’s not like Manchester will win any pretty city prizes anytime soon). In fact, it’s a typically Scouse venture. It’s only a few years since the A Foundation bought up a warehouse just south of the city to showcase contemporary art shows, buying a property to ensure that the rapid development of Liverpool didn’t edge out its creative communities.
Anyway, we digress. Ceri’s gallery aims to put on one show per month (all free to the public), with the first show, These Living Walls of Jet, featuring new work by Craig Atkinson, Henny Acloque, Eleanor Moreton, Rebecca Stevenson, Martyn Cross, Hayley Lock, Petros Chrisostomou, SamanatLukács.
The Best of Manchester Awards 