OUT OF THE SHADOWS
Interactive artwork for The Bluecoat Contemporary Arts Centre, Liverpool
Out of the Shadows is part of the Looked After Children exhibtion exploring the history of the Bluecoat building and the unheard voices of the children it housed.
Out of the Shadows reveals ten forgotten faces from the Blue Coat School. Each of these focuses on a character – including boys and girls, former pupils and a teacher - represented by a silhouette. The stories of the children are largely lost, but through a collaboration involving Stand + Stare, the Bluecoat Art Centre Looked After Children project team, academic research, and creative workshops with people who have experienced care, we have imagined ten stories.
The inspiration for the installation came from a silhouette book from 1822 at Liverpool Record Office featuring profiles of school pupils accompanied by some teachers’ reports.
Stand + Stare have devised a fictional, contemporary narrator, Amy Watts, who presents the research and overarching narrative. The other scripts and poems have been generated by participants working on the project, exploring real and fictionalised characters.
Out of the Shadows is part of the Bluecoat’s Echoes and Origins project, exploring the eighteenth-century origins of the building through an engagement with local people.
Collaborators
Fabricator: Aron Duckworth
Creative technologist: Barney Livingston
Voice Artist (Amy Watts): Gillian Kerney
Dance Artist: Paula Hampson
Writer in Residence: Margy McShane
Thanks also to the Bluecoat research and production team:
Bryan Biggs, Angela Cheveau, Michelle Girvan,, Adam Kenyani, Janet McCusker, Janaya Pickett, Corinna Robinson, Jacques Verkade, Laura Yates
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