In exposed areas
Reciprocal exhibition May 12 – July 1 2006.
The Atkinson Art Gallery, Lord Street, Southport, PR8 1DH.
Tel: 0151 934 2110
The cold cultural wind sweeping through many centrally funded arts organisations these days has placed a greater weight on the shoulders of artist-led initiatives, filling some of the space left by the eroding resources of the state. As the visual arts agenda is no longer 'owned' by publicly funded professionals and their spaces then so have some of the most fertile and lucid thinking in today's marketplace of ideas been the result of alliances of artists strengthening and controlling their own voices. One such group is the collective 'Eight Days a Week', a banner name for a fluid membership of up to twenty cross-media artists drawn from the major regional centres of Liverpool, operating also throughout the wider North West, and her twin German city of Cologne. Since 1998 'Eight Days A Week' has been a laboratory for a series of unique and artistically challenging exchanges, exhibitions, residencies, publications and performances in formal and informal, private and public spaces, activities which have mined a rich seam through their ability to quickly reflect shifting concerns. This latest project, the exhibition 'In Exposed Areas', suggests this measuring of the cultural and social climate by passing, as it does, from Cologne to Southport like a meteorological weather balloon collecting data, trawling the atmosphere between these areas for common themes and concerns. The British and German artists contributing to this exhibition have wholly differing marks to make under their collective umbrella while travelling in strength to reflect a picture of the prevailing creative weather.
Philip Wroe
Arts Development Officer
Sefton MBC

in exposed areas
Kulturbunker Mülheim Berliner Strasse. 20 51063 Köln
Exhibition of Painting, Printmaking and Drawing by Pete Clarke and Neil Morris, Liverpool with Georg Gartz and Tine Wille, Köln also including video work by Margaretha Schoening, Liverpool.
March 12 – 26 2006 Exhibition opening times:
Mon - Friday 12.00 -16.00 pm and Saturdays 15.00 -18.00 pm
Private View: Saturday: 11 March 2006, 16.00 -19.00 pm
Opening speech: Dr. Martin Turck, Kunsthistoriker, Köln
Music: Songs and Improvisations by Alexandra Naumann, Stimme and Mathias Haus.
Artists’ discussion and public forum: Sunday, 12 March at 12.00 pm
Liverpool, the European City of Culture 2008 and developing cultural collaborations and artists’ initiatives.
Chaired by Jürgen Kisters writer and critic Kölner Stadt Anzeiger with presentations by Pete Clarke, Hans-Georg Brochhagen, Georg Gartz, Anne Stärk, Tine Wille and Walter Wolf.
Film evening: Monday 20 March 2006 at 20.00 pm
Artists films and videos from Liverpool by the initiative "Loop North West" curated by Margaretha Schoening and Helena Tomlin including work by Anne Charnock, Jean Grant, Jason Green, Tony Knox, Dinu Li, Geoff Molyneux, Kath Peters, Paul Rooney, Margaretha Schoening, Sara Smith and Helena Tomlin.

Eight Days a Week facilitates artists from Liverpool and Cologne taking part in unique cultural exchanges through an ongoing programme of exhibitions, residencies, films, performances, discussions and publications. Eight Days a Week projects in both Liverpool and Cologne are the result of collaborations between artists working with a number of venues and sites, including galleries, colleges, artists’ spaces, civic buildings, alternative exhibition venues like community centres, the cathedrals and churches and the Internet. Since its beginnings in 1998 they have organised over 90 projects in Liverpool and Cologne and developed creative offshoots and networks in the UK and Germany with recent presentations on artists’ initiatives and cultural exchange projects in Poland and the USA.
In exposed areas explores the social and cultural climate for contemporary practice where different attitudes to painting can be seen as a form of critical and engaged dialogue. This Eight Days collaboration in the Kulturbunker developes artists’ initiatives, relationships and creative networks between the two cities The exhibition which shows work by two artists from both Cologne and Liverpool also includes Liverpool artist Margaretha Schoening who will show a Video Installation which extends the language of abstract color and composition in a cinematic form.
Pete Clarke is the Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston. His work explores the social landscape through the represention of history, these collage-like paintings include architectural fragments and words from everyday life.
Neill Morris is Senior lecturer and Head of the Printmaking Department at the Liverpool School of Art & Design, Liverpool John Moores University. His work combines the techniques of the painting with inventive printmaking to explore concepts of memory and personal history.
Georg Gartz studied free painting at the Fachhochschule in Köln. In his numerous European exhibitions he has worked in a variety of inventive ways including painting, installation and site related works. Georg and Jürgen Kisters developed the first "Eight Days A Week" festival in1998 and since 1999 he has worked collaboratively with the Liverpool painter Pete Clarke.
Tine Wille, Studied painting at the Alanus Hochschule of Arts in Alfter, Bonn 1989-92. She then developed a six month residency studentship in the "studio of individual development’ with Tomek Wendland in Poznan, Poland. Since 1995 her artistic actively has been based in Köln, including membership of the producer gallery "art gain" 1999-2001. She has made many significant European exhibitions exploring painting, printmaking and performance.
In exposed areas
Reciprocal exhibition May 12 – July 1 2006.
The Atkinson Art Gallery, Lord Street, Southport, PR8 1DH.
Tel: 0151 934 2110
Acknowledgements
Funded by the Liverpool Culture Company as part of the Creative Communities Initiative and the Art Council.
Kulturbunker Mülheim www.kulturbunker-muelheim.de
Der Oberbürgermeister Kulturamt, Stadt Köln
Atkinson Gallery Southport funded by Arts Development, (Arts & Cultural Services), Sefton Council - Leisure Services.
The University of Central Lancashire, Preston and Liverpool School of Art & Design, Liverpool John Moores University.
Contact: pclarke2@uclan.ac.uk or n.morris@livjm.ac.uk
www.eightdaysaweek.org.uk

in exposed areas
Malerei von Pete Clarke und Neill Morris, Liverpool
Georg Gartz und Tine Wille, Köln
special guest: Margaretha Schöning, Liverpool

Eröffnung: Samstag 11. März von 16 -18 Uhr
Einführung: Dr. Martin Turck, Kunsthistoriker, Köln
Musik: Alexandra Naumann, Stimme und Mathias Haus, Vibraphon: Songs und Improvisationen

Finissage: Sonntag, den 26. März 2006 von 16-19 Uhr
Filmabend: Montag, 20. März 2006 um 20 Uhr mit Künstlerfilmen und -videos aus Liverpool
Ausstellung vom 12. März - 26. März 2006 Öffnungszeiten: Mo.-Fr. 12-16 Uhr, Sa- So 15-18 Uhr
Kulturbunker Mülheim Berliner Str. 20 51063 Köln www.kulturbunker-muelheim.de Künstlergespräch: Sonntag, den 12. März um 12 Uhr
Liverpool – Kulturhauptstadt 2008 / Erfahrungen und Pläne
mit: Pete Clarke, Liverpool
Hans-Georg Brochhagen, Georg Gartz, Anne Stärk, Tine Wille, Walter Wolf, Köln
Moderation: Jürgen Kisters