Open Eye Gallery
{{Short description|Gallery and archive in Liverpool, UK}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox museum
| name = Open Eye Gallery
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| image = File:Optimizing, Open Eye, Liverpool.jpg
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| caption = Replica of Stonehenge in the foyer of the gallery, used as the scene of performance art during the summer of 2018
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| coordinates = {{Coord|53.4037|-2.9936}}
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| established = {{Start date|1977}}
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| location = 19 Mann Island, Liverpool Waterfront, Liverpool L3 1BP
| type = Registered charity
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| key_holdings =
| collections = Bert Hardy, Edith Tudor-Hart, Chris Steele-Perkins, Tom Wood
| collection_size = 1600 prints from 100 photographers{{cite news|first1=Apphia|last1=Michael|accessdate=6 April 2018|title=New Open Eye Gallery space, Liverpool|url=https://www.wallpaper.com/art/new-open-eye-gallery-space-liverpool|work=Wallpaper|date=7 November 2011}}
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| director = Sarah Fisher{{cite web|accessdate=6 April 2018|title=People – Open Eye Gallery|url=http://openeye.org.uk/people/|website=Open Eye Gallery}}
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| architect = RCKa
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| website = {{URL|openeye.org.uk}}
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Open Eye Gallery is a photography gallery and archive in Liverpool, UK{{cite web|accessdate=5 April 2018|title=Letizia Battaglia: Breaking the Code of Silence|url=https://www.ft.com/content/eefcbab6-9ed3-11e3-8663-00144feab7de|website=Financial Times | first = Rachel | last = Spence}} that was established in 1977.{{cite web|first1=Laura|last1=Robertson|first2=Mike|last2=Pinnington|accessdate=5 April 2018|title=Top 10 arts venues in Liverpool|url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2014/mar/28/top-10-art-venues-liverpool|date=28 March 2014|website=The Guardian}} It is housed in a purpose-built building on the waterfront at Mann Island, its fourth location.
Open Eye Gallery comprises an exhibition space on one floor and an archive space on another, and has large-scale graphic art installations on its external facade. It is the only gallery dedicated to photography and related media in North West England. It is a non-profit organisation and a registered charity.{{cite news|accessdate=6 April 2018|title=Who's in the House: Live in harmony|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/whos-in-the-house-live-in-harmony-1110251.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/whos-in-the-house-live-in-harmony-1110251.html |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|newspaper=The Independent|date=31 July 1999}}
History
Open Eye Gallery first opened in Whitechapel, Liverpool (1977–1988); then Bold Street (1989–1995); then Wood Street (1996–2011); and finally Mann Island (2011–present).{{cite news|accessdate=6 April 2018|title=History – Open Eye Gallery|url=http://openeye.org.uk/history/|newspaper=Open Eye Gallery}}{{cite web|accessdate=6 April 2018|title=Aesthetica Magazine – Open Eye Gallery Liverpool Presents, Mitch Epstein; Chris Steele-Perkins, Opening 5 November|url=http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/open-eye-gallery-liverpool-presents-mitch-epstein-chris-steele-perkins-opening-5-november/|work=Aesthetica}}{{cite news|accessdate=6 April 2018|title=Picture preview: The Open Eye Gallery reopens|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/picture-preview-the-open-eye-gallery-reopens-6257152.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/picture-preview-the-open-eye-gallery-reopens-6257152.html |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|newspaper=The Independent|date=4 November 2011}} Its current building was purpose-built.{{cite web|accessdate=5 April 2018|title=Open Eye Gallery|url=http://rcka.co.uk/work/open-eye-gallery-2/|publisher=RCKa}}
Lorenzo Fusi was appointed its artistic director in 2013. Sarah Fisher replaced him as executive director in 2015.{{cite web|accessdate=6 April 2018|title=Open Eye gets new boss|url=https://confidentials.com/liverpool/open-eye-gets-new-boss|website=Confidentials}}
Notable photographers and exhibitions shown
- Toshio Iwai (1995){{cite news|accessdate=6 April 2018|title=A hard art to swallow|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/a-hard-art-to-swallow-1618797.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/a-hard-art-to-swallow-1618797.html |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|newspaper=The Independent|date=9 May 1995}}
- Jacob Aue Sobol (2006){{cite web|first1=Sean|last1=O'Hagan|accessdate=5 April 2018|title=Photography: Jacob Aue Sobol: Sabine, Liverpool Open Eye Gallery|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2006/may/28/art3|date=28 May 2006|website=The Guardian}}
- Mitch Epstein (2011)
- Chris Steele-Perkins (2011)
- Martin Parr (2012){{cite news|first1=Sean|last1=O'Hagan|accessdate=5 April 2018|title=Open Eye Liverpool's current shows – in pictures|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2012/jan/22/open-eye-simpkin-lueck-parr|newspaper=The Guardian|date=22 January 2012|issn=0261-3077}}
- Tim Hetherington (2013){{cite news|accessdate=6 April 2018|title=Tim Hetherington: The humanity of war|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/tim-hetherington-the-humanity-of-war-8790183.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/tim-hetherington-the-humanity-of-war-8790183.html |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|newspaper=The Independent|date=30 August 2013|first=Rob|last=Sharp}}
- Alvin Baltrop (2013){{cite news|accessdate=5 April 2018|title=Alvin Baltrop's NYC pier photos to be shown at Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool |url=https://www.gscene.com/news/alvin-baltrops-nyc-pier-photos-to-be-shown-at-open-eye-gallery-liverpool/|newspaper=Gscene|date=14 November 2013}}
- Letizia Battaglia (2014)
- North: Identity, Photography, Fashion curated by Lou Stoppard and Adam Murray (2017){{cite news|first1=Catherine|last1=Jones|accessdate=5 April 2018|title=Fascinating photographs of Liverpool street fashion at the Open Eye Gallery|url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/open-eye-gallery-street-fashion-12409905|newspaper=Liverpool Echo|date=5 January 2017}}{{cite news|last1=Dazed|accessdate=5 April 2018|title=How the north of England impacted style|url=http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/33880/1/how-the-north-of-england-impacted-style|newspaper=Dazed|date=30 November 2016}}{{cite news|accessdate=5 April 2018|title=exploring the north of england's influence on fashion and visual culture|url=https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/qvbdnm/exploring-the-north-of-englands-influence-on-fashion-and-visual-culture|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180406230405/https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/qvbdnm/exploring-the-north-of-englands-influence-on-fashion-and-visual-culture|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 April 2018|newspaper=I-d|date=2 November 2016}}{{cite web|first1=Simon|last1=Chilvers|accessdate=5 April 2018|title=Northern soul: a fashion showcase|url=https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/jan/04/northern-soul-a-fashion-showcase-liverpool-open-eye-gallery|date=4 January 2017|website=The Guardian}} and travelled to Somerset House, London.
- Tom Wood (2018){{cite news|accessdate=5 April 2018|title=Ferry across the memories: all aboard the Mersey crossing – in pictures|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2018/jan/24/mersey-ferry-tom-wood-pier-head-in-pictures|newspaper=The Guardian|date=24 January 2018|issn=0261-3077}}{{cite news|accessdate=5 April 2018|title=Changing faces on the ferry across the Mersey|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-42637758|work=BBC News}}{{cite web|accessdate=5 April 2018|title=Tom Wood's The Pier Head goes on show at Open Eye Gallery – British Journal of Photography|url=http://www.bjp-online.com/2018/01/exhibition-tom-woods-the-pierhead/|website=British Journal of Photography}}
- Pixy Liao, Lydia Goldblatt, Johanna Heldebro, Jenny Lewis, Momo Okabe, Margaret Mitchell (2019) 'Kinship'{{Cite web|url=https://spectrumphoto.co.uk/kinship-at-open-eye-gallery|title=Kinship at Open Eye Gallery {{!}} Spectrum Photographic|access-date=31 May 2019}}
- Craig Easton: Is Anybody Listening? (2023){{cite news|access-date=2023-01-29|title=Images capture challenges of 2020s Britain, photographer says|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-64190040|newspaper=BBC News|date=12 January 2023}}
Open Eye Archive
Open Eye Gallery has a "considerable archive" of predominantly portraiture and documentary photography. "Formed in 1980, the Open Eye Archive is made up of the work of more than 100 photographers and comprises around 1600 prints."
Significant bodies of work are held by Bert Hardy (Chinese Hostel (1942) and Is There a British Colour Bar? (1949)), Edith Tudor-Hart, Tom Wood, Chris Steele-Perkins (The Pleasure Principle), Michelle Sank (The Water's Edge), and John McDonald.{{cite news|accessdate=5 April 2018|title=Archive – Open Eye Gallery|url=http://openeye.org.uk/archive/|newspaper=Open Eye Gallery}}
Work is also held by John Davies, Gabriele Basilico, Vanley Burke, Bruce Gilden, E. Chambré Hardman, Peter Kennard, Mari Mahr, Peter Marlow, Joel Meyerowitz, Simon Norfolk, Martin Parr,{{cite news|first1=Nick|last1=Moreton-LE|accessdate=6 April 2018|title=Open Eye exhibition at Kirkby Gallery|url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/incoming/gallery/open-eye-exhibition-kirkby-gallery-9348751|newspaper=Liverpool Echo|date=28 May 2015}} Ewen Spencer, Ed van der Elsken, John Edwards), Ian Beesley, Steve Conlan, Philippe Conti, Will Curwen, Paul Fazackerley, Steve Hale, Sean Halligan, Thurston Hopkins, Greg Leach, Peter Hagerty, Harry Hammond, Derek Massey, Neil McDowall, Rob Meighen, Paul O'Donnell, Caroline Penn, Michael Robinson, Ludwig Schirmer, Samantha Seneviratne, Patrick Shanahan, John Stoddart, Wolfgang Suschitzky, Jan Svenungsson, Ali Taptik, Sandy Volz, Wojtek Wilczyk, Rob Williams, and David Reid.
Publication
- The Water's Edge. By Michelle Sank and Joanne Lacey. Liverpool: Open Eye; Liverpool University, 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-84631-084-3}}. With a foreword by Patrick Henry, essays by Joanne Lacey, and a text by Roy Exley. Portraits by Sank of women who work, or worked, on the Liverpool waterfront. Published on the occasion of an exhibition.
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book | url= https://liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/products/59825 | title=Art in a City Revisited | editor=Bryan Biggs and Julie Sheldon|year=2009 | publisher=Liverpool University | isbn = 9781846310836}}
External links
- {{Official website|openeye.org.uk}}
- [https://www.flickr.com/photos/44435674@N00/4026594118 A photograph of the Open Eye Gallery building in Whitechapel, 1989]
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Category:1977 establishments in England
Category:Art museums and galleries established in 1977
Category:Art museums and galleries in Merseyside
Category:Tourist attractions in Liverpool