The show is called Easy does it, which ironically Supercollider never really does when exhibiting work. Often thought of as Blackpool art’s ‘older, brainier brother’, Supercollider has never shied away from the conceptual and challenging when curating its critically acclaimed program of art shows.
Set in its unassuming space on Cookson Street, Supercollider has been home to a wide range of national artists’ work over the last year. Its current show Easy does it is a group show for a change. Coming hot on the heels a week after Lee Machell’s very successful show Detail, Easy does it continues to set the bar high for Blackpool’s contemporary arts scene.
Easy does it comprises work from a dozen artists and is the final show for an evolving trilogy of exhibitions which have spanned the country from Glasgow to Cambridge. It’s a wonderfully eclectic mix of work. Visitors experiencing audio work sit (quite literally) alongside elegant wooden structures peppered with commonplace objects, masses of jewellery chains create a curtain of ‘bling’ and a leather jacket sprouts legs and threatens to jump off the wall. And these are walls which have sections that have swapped places with the parquet floor. Supercollider curator, Tom Ireland, created the most ephemeral work in the form of a gin-based cocktail that speeds the evening along with aplomb.
The preview evening on 23 August (which can be quite restrained affairs) had a great turn out. Dozens of people, in a constant stream, created a real frisson of energy and it felt like Blackpool’s art scene was really focused in one space. This influx of viewers was (alongside the quality of the work) partly down to Blackpool’s creative population attending the excellent Charabanc shop’s opening night event, and the Grundy gallery opting to stay open to bridge the events with its recently opened Zoe Belloff show. All three venues (Supercollider, Charabanc and Grundy) benefitted from this mutually shared crowd of people. Perhaps dual event openings could be the way forwards to really build momentum for the new season of creative event
To see the new show at Supercollider, head on down to 59 Cookson street, Wednesday to Saturday 12-5pm. Easy does it runs until 14 September.
Image courtesy of Garth Gratrix.
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