LAYERS of LIVERPOOL Mapping a Sense of Place
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LAYERS OF LIVERPOOL Mapping a sense of place Written by Laura Davis and Fiona Shaw Edited by Inge Panneels and Jeffrey Sarmiento Layers of Liverpool: Mapping a sense of place Written by Laura Davis and Fiona Shaw Edited by Inge Panneels and Jeffrey Sarmiento Graphic design by Małgorzata A. Rudnik Copy editor: Caroline Russell Printed and bound by Lulu.com ISBN: 978-0-9566344-5-0 © Wordscapes 2013 Laura Davis and Fiona Shaw are hereby identified as the authors of this work in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or other- wise, without prior written permission of the publisher. Whilst eve- ry effort has been made to verify the text and images, the author and publishers cannot accept liability for any omissions or errone- ous statements. First published in April 2013 by Wordscapes Metal @ Edge Hill Station Tunnel Road, Liverpool L7 6ND www.wordscape.org.uk A note from the artists The Liverpool Map is a technically ambitious sculpture that embraces 800 years of history that have shaped this city. Seventeen layers of fused glass encapsulate its heritage and identity into a snapshot of the city of Liv- erpool in 2008, its year as European Capital of Culture. The Liverpool Map project was a true team effort. It could not have taken shape without the the contributions of content and opinion of the people of Liverpool, the generous support and knowledge of the National Muse- ums Liverpool staff, Phil and Alexis Redmond, the unwavering guidance from Open Culture through this long project, the dedicated labour of a small army of staff and students at the National Glass at the University of Sunderland who made Liverpool Map a reality, and finally the commitment from publisher Wordscapes and de- signer Małgorzata Rudnik to bringing the Liverpool Map to a new audience in print. Needless to say, our families have provided huge amounts of support and encouragement throughout the mak- ing of both the sculpture and the book. We couldn’t have done either without them... Inge Panneels and Jeffrey Sarmiento Contents PART ONE – BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT 6 An introduction, Professor Phil Redmond 8 Liverpool – a potted history 10 regeneration and the Capital of Culture bid 12 2007: 800 years 14 2008: Capital of Culture 18 Creating a Legacy for Liverpool 24 The Peoples’ Choice 26 The Work Begins 30 PART TWO – PART THREE – Emotional boundaries THE MAP’S LAYERS 32 54 TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENTS 76 People’s city 56 An introduction, Charlotte Corrie 34 New York of Europe 58 An Introduction, Barbara P. Beadman 78 History 36 Post-war Liverpool 60 The task ahead … 80 The lie of the land 38 City of learning 62 The evolving map 82 From seven streets 40 Community 64 The installation 92 Transport drives growth 42 Culture 66 Thanks … 94 Liverpool around the world 44 Lifeblood: sport 68 Photo Credits 96 Shifting boundaries 46 Lifeblood: music 70 Liverpool spreads out 48 Lifeblood: Liverpool people 72 Sights that say ‘Liverpool’ 50 Lifeblood: the arts 74 5 PART ONE - 6 BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT The Liverpool Map didn’t just happen of its own accord; it is not a piece of art for art’s sake. Its creation marks a spe- cific time and place in Liverpool’s recent history. It is part of the legacy of 2007 – the city’s 800th birthday year – and of its triumphant reign as European Capital of Culture in 2008. But it also symbolises a renaissance – a city that has plumbed the depths since its 1930s heyday; bombed more heavily than any other English city outside London during WWII; inner - city housing clearance; the mechanisation of its famous docks with containerisation in the 1970s; unem- ployment, civil unrest, footballing triumph and tragedy – all have shaped this unique west coast city in the post-war years,shifting communities, accents and allegiances. If Cap- ital of Culture year was a chance to invigorate the city physically, the Liverpool Map was a prime op- portunity to investigate past emotions and fu- ture aspirations. 7 Introduction to part one - Phil Redmond - (Capital of Culture and context) PHOTO: Phil with Liverpool Map; generic L’pool shot? Remembering, through our shared in Liverpool, but how they in fact see culture. Remembering who and what the boundaries of their state. Of place we were as much as we are. Remem- and mind. bering what had helped shape us. Re- membering that we have some of the Not merely an accepted administra- best museums in the world. Remem- tive boundary drawn for bureaucratic bering that without our museums we neatness, but where are the real city cannot remember. Remembering that boundaries that encompass the ac- memories are made today and held in cent and state of mind that it is to be trust to help shape our future. a Scouser? The identity that defines the real people of Liverpool? You will have heard of Liverpool. That is what the Liverpool Map You will have heard of Scousers. You symbolises. An identity shaped by the winds and may have heard of Capital of Culture tides of fortune and adversity that 2008. The first two have been around Commissioned as part of the Open have ebbed and flowed, like the great for over 800 years and are likely nev- Culture: People’s Projects, the map river on which bank the city sits. er to be forgotten. 2008 may become along with the Liverpool Saga, the Song Since the granting of its Letters Pat- a distant memory and risks fading and the Capital of Culture Bench, ent in 1207 and the building of the from our collective consciousness. used the power of the media to har- world’s first wet dock in 1715, trade, But we must not let it. It was a time ness the thoughts ideas and sugges- wealth, fortune, infamy and fame of revival, renewal, regeneration and tions of the people of the city to not have flowed to and from the city as remembering. only try and define what it is to live it stood, once at the centre of Em- 8 Introduction to part one - Phil Redmond - (Capital of Culture and context) PHOTO: Phil with Liverpool Map; generic L’pool shot? pire, but always on the edge of glob- er by the involvement of the Liverpool grand vision of Liverpool stood out, al change. Daily Post and BBC Radio Merseyside, fusing as it does more than glass, en- to make sure this was truly a piece of twining old and new, past glories and 2008 then, seemed like a suitable op- public art. deep pain, our living and breathing portunity to stop, take stock and cultural icons, beloved buildings; lan- mark this moment in time. History The Liverpool Map is not just a multi guage, literature and landscape. To- cannot be captured, remembered or - layered collection of the city’s past. gether, through their research, and shape our shared culture without the Nor just the collected thoughts of its the contributions of Merseyside’s artefacts that act as our guides and citizens; it is also intriguing as a piece public, they painstakingly built up the interpretative tools. The Liverpool Map of art. Its technical achievements sur- multi - layered persona that defines is such an artefact. pass anything attempted in its field what it is to come not from the city, before, while its physical qualities are but the state of place and mind that It links our 800th Anniversary and distinctive, vibrant, and enchantingly Scousers call, home. Capital of Culture year; it links the attractive. new Museum of Liverpool, its home, So read on, learn more, recall lost to its founding streets and traditional The commission brief included the memories, discover new things, but boundaries; and it links our collective need to create ‘a reminder in years above all, come and have a look for consciousness to established views of to come of how people in Merseyside yourselves. the city. Alexis and I pledged financial saw themselves, culturally, geograph- support to allow Open Culture and ically and historically’. We saw a wide Professor Phil Redmond National Museums Liverpool to com- variety of approaches and ideas, but Chair, National Museums Liverpool and mission this project, brought togeth- Inge Panneels and Jeffrey Sarmiento’s originator of the Liverpool Map project 9 A potted history Though ‘Liverpool’ brings echoes of The city we know was founded in trial Revolution saw ships import and a romantic, distant past, most of the 1207, when John – now King – signed export goods around the world from city you see now has appeared in lit- the town’s charter. But growth was Liverpool; the world’s first passenger tle over 100 years; the Liver Buildings, slow, and it wasn’t until 1880 that train line ran between Liverpool and Port of Liverpool and Cunard build- Queen Victoria made Liverpool a city. Manchester and the city thrived in the ings, two cathedrals and Albert Dock 18th and 19th centuries, becoming the are all relatively recent additions. Liverpool’s estuary drove its growth: second city of the British Empire. Elizabeth I granted letters of marque The neolithic Calder Stones – in the to sailors, giving them privateer sta- Liverpool’s pre-eminent position as a park of the same name – are older tus – sanctioned piracy – which gen- port also made it a hub for passen- than Stonehenge. And while Bronze erated great wealth. Trade with the gers.