We are locked down, and yet the wealth of offerings via digital platforms has blossomed to extraordinary proportions. It’s truly an embarrassment of riches. Artists,… Read More »The best of times and the worst of times
King Charles II, his red cape borne aloft by cherubs, sits enthroned on a mound of prancing steeds, muscular servants, tritons and nymphs. So what… Read More »Baroque: art in a turbulent time
By Corinna Lotz The blame game following Labour’s election defeat is destructive. Seeing Labour MPs using the mainstream media to make poisonous attacks on Corbyn… Read More »Labour should back case for democratic revolution
Deep in the Surrey countryside, the Watts’ Gallery is hosting an intriguing display of work by William Orpen. Orpen was one of the most successful… Read More »All is not what it seems: the mysteries of a war artist
By Corinna Lotz Spirit of Contemplation, a large sculpture by Albert Toft, confronts you right at the beginning of The Enchanted Interior. Toft’s slip-sliding nude… Read More »Escaping the gilded cage
“In taking on the might of the state, the powerless challenged the way things had always been and dared to dream a different world where… Read More »Lifting the lid on the British state’s dirty role in the “Troubles”
“Beauty will be CONVULSIVE or it will not be at all”. The last sentence of André Breton’s 1928 Surrealist novel Nadja could have been written… Read More »Who am I? New work by Frances Aviva Blane
Local activists laid down a powerful marker towards creating a Citizens’ Assembly in South Tyneside at an initial event held at the South Shields Museum… Read More »South Tyneside prepares for people-powered change
There is a tension, a longing, in this splendid first-ever retrospective of Peter Clossick’s work. Through prolonged observation and countless applications of the brush, pencil… Read More »Semblance and reflection
The world is on fire but it’s a great time for art – thus Tate Modern’s director, Frances Morris, opening the first-ever UK show devoted… Read More »Russia’s female firebrand – a history with blank spots
It’s been calculated that globally we will be exchanging over 293 billion emails each day by the end of 2019. And that’s not counting WhatsApp,… Read More »From stone tablets to emojis
As Theresa May reaches out to Jeremy Corbyn in her efforts to solve the Brexit crisis in Parliament, it’s clear that the usual form of… Read More »How Labour can answer the far right’s attack on democracy
In Birds of East London Stephen Watts invites us into “an opening onto an open field”. There is “no gate to be climbed through in… Read More »Poetry as witness and engine of change
Events around the country are celebrating the bi-centenary of John Ruskin’s birth on 8 February – #Ruskin200. Thinker, campaigner, artist, scientist, educator and social critic John Ruskin was one of the most contradictory of all the famous Victorians.
He was both a man of his time and a man looking to the future – even while distraught about the world around him. He left a huge imprint on his country and globally. Countless colleges, parks, clubs and social institutions bear his name.
A thoughtful exhibition at London’s Two Temple Place offers an insight into the huge range of his interests and talents and how he remains our contemporary.
Wigan – the name is full of resonance. Little did we know that our meeting place, Sunshine House, was close to the old tripe shop… Read More »Mapping out the road from Wigan Pier
Identity, ideology & culture in a neoliberal world Presentation at Wigan Teach-In, 24 November 2018 Is culture only a tool for the 1%? What does… Read More »Creating identity in a neoliberal world