LIVERPOOL.- An exhibition examining the usefulness of art and twenty-first century arts centres opening at the Bluecoat, Liverpool’s centre for the contemporary arts.

Featuring work from a wide range of UK-based artists RESOURCE is inspired by the 1927 founding manifesto of the Bluecoat which states that the organisation was set up to promote not only the arts, but also the ‘diffusion of useful knowledge’.

The resulting exhibition includes artists whose work suggests or subverts a practical purpose, alongside interventions into the infrastructure of the Bluecoat by publishing collectives and designers. Many of them have made new work for the exhibition utilising the building’s hidden resources - its studios, performance spaces, print rooms and the people who use them - opening up the day-to-day working life of the UK’s oldest arts centre.

Art works as temporary resources available for visitors include Sean Edward’s sculpture which provides dividing walls for the exhibition, Jack Brindley’s museum-style audio guide which layers a fictional narrative over the building, Ian Whittlesea’s exercises in becoming invisible, and the Piracy Project’s reference library of bootlegged publications – open for browsing and new contributions by the visiting public.

RESOURCE also features working methods which highlight both what we might learn from each other and how we can work within an economy of means. These include Anne Harild’s prototype shelters co-designed with Blue Room, a group of adult artists with learning disabilities, and Daniel Eatock’s contribution, an installation determined by the materials left over from previous exhibitions.

The curator of RESOURCE, Head of Programme at the Bluecoat, Marie-Anne McQuay, said: “Active as a base for artists since 1907 when the building, a former school dating from the 18th century, became empty, the Bluecoat was inaugurated as a fully-fledged public arts centre in 1927. The founding manifesto includes a commitment to ‘promote the arts, literature, science for adult instruction and the diffusion of useful knowledge’. This statement of intent suggests art’s value to social and civic life then, but also resonates now.

“Taken as a whole, the exhibition extends its enquiry into its own surroundings, questioning the nature, but also future possibilities of arts centres. Is their value based solely on what is presented publicly or what is produced behind the scenes? What new resources should a 21st century arts venue offer to remain useful to the public which they serve? The artistic and civic functions of an arts centre will be considered through related talks, workshops and other events over the summer.”