It was announced at 9pm on Saturday 16th May that the Williamson Art Gallery and Wirral Museums gained the public vote during a contest with 4 other national venues to win the opportunity to host a major exhibition in October working with internationally known artists, Davy and Kristin McGuire.
The Williamson Art Gallery and Museum, Birkenhead winning bid was to invite the McGuires to use two marble statues, ‘Pauline’ and ‘Love’ to create a series of grottoes. Using projections, lighting, textures, sound and print, the gallery will be transformed into an enchanted garden animating a narrative imagined and developed with staff and visitors. As well as the exhibition, the Williamson team and Friends of the Williamson will create a special ticketed gala evening around the theme of the McGuire’s artwork and hope it will be as successful as the BAFTA gala held earlier this year.
The competition was part of the Museums at Night festival in Friday 30 – Saturday 31 October 2015, the recent Light Night in Liverpool is the spring offering in the scheme. The bi-annual UK-wide festival attracts visitors into museums, galleries and heritage sites by throwing their doors open after hours and putting on special evening events. Co-ordinated by non-profit cultural publishing organisation Culture24, Museums at Night is an opportunity for the cultural and heritage sector to come together around a single, simple campaign that is attractive to venues, audiences and the media.
Jo McGuire, Development Manager at the Williamson Art Gallery said of the news:
“This is so exciting for the Williamson and will give us a great opportunity to show two of our wonderful marble statues in an original setting. Thank you to everyone for your support”