New Critical Writing North West: Voices on Lancashire & Cumbria
In 2020, CVAN NW commissioned The Double Negative to create the series ‘New Critical Writing North West: Voices on Lancashire & Cumbria’. These new pieces of critical writing reviewed and examined issues relating to the contemporary visual arts in Lancashire and Cumbria.
We’ve gathered the whole series here:
“Developing more representative art collections could not be more urgent”. The need to diversify the narrative in our public collections
Art institutions in the North West of England have been pivotal in exhibiting Black British artists over the decades, writes Art Historian Dr. Anjalie Dalal-Clayton. So why do our public art collections remain so white? It’s time for action, not mealy-mouthed statements, she says, so that museums and galleries better represent the communities they exist to serve…
“Art is an integral part of a contemporary tourist offer.” Blackpool – Anything but Monocultural
Who does art serve and how, and does it depend on place? Art Critic and Editor of The Double Negative Mike Pinnington speaks to the curators at Blackpool’s Grundy Gallery to get a picture of how the seaside town is anything but “monocultural” …
“We’re experts at taking risks.” On the fraught issue of artists’ pay
Is being an artist now so precarious as to be unhealthy? Artist Sue Flowers draws on her own experiences and those of others working in the sector to consider what more can be done…
Research In The Wild: “An ever-changing map of connected relationships”
What issues affecting the arts are to the fore in Lancashire and Cumbria? Academic Ross Dalziel highlights those embracing an ‘artistic-research-in-the-wild’ approach…
“Diversity is crucial to evolution” – How an embedded approach to contemporary art engages communities in the North West
“If the arts cannot reflect a diverse range of backgrounds, they simply will not represent who we are as a country.” Former broadcaster and art critic Bob Dickinson explores the region’s embedded arts organisations…
Duty Of Care: Why Support Parent Artists?
“Structural inequalities exert pressure upon individuals.” Curator Elaine Speight on a necessary and urgent rethink in considering the needs of cultural workers with children…