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300 Facts

Bluecoat's fascinating history revealed

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Compositions by members of the Sandon Studios Society music group, together with sounds of the Society's social life, were captured on an LP The Sandon Sound, recorded in 1965 by Bluecoat based-architect George Hall.

1965

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1988 Bluecoat exhibition, Numaish Lalit Kala, featured British Asian artists Chila Burman, Arpana Caur, Jagjit Chuhan, Amal Ghosh, Naiza Malik, Alnoor Mitha, Alastair Raphael and Shaffique Uddin.

1988

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For 2014 DaDaFest/Bluecoat exhibition Art of the Lived Experiment, curated by Aaron Williamson, Tony Heaton's Gold Lamé, a gold-sprayed invalid car was suspended in the tall Vide space.

2014

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Print studio Juniper Press has been based at Bluecoat since 2014, keeping alive the process of letterpress through workshops and their own exquisitely produced work.

2014

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Roderick Bisson - chronicler of the Sandon Studios Society, who had a studio at Bluecoat for many years - made a painting in 1941 of the wartime destruction in adjoining Church Alley.

1941

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For 1978 Bluecoat exhibition The Liverpool Nude, curated by Pam Holt, Granada TV presenter Tony Wilson did a report whilst naked - discovering at the end of the shoot that his clothes had vanished.

1978

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Cigarettes, Flowers and Videotape was US artist Tony Oursler's first solo UK exhibition - a collaboration in 1993 between FACT, Ikon Gallery and Bluecoat - and included his characteristic video projections onto dummies.

1993

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2010 Bluecoat exhibition, Global Studio, showcased Liverpool artists who had forged international networks in Germany, Austria, Pakistan and elsewhere.

2010

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Liverpool's workhouse was situated close to Blue Coat School in Hanover Street until its relocation to Brownlow Hill in 1771, the result of objections from residents in what was becoming a fashionable part of the town.

1771

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For Gina Czarnecki's 2011 solo Bluecoat exhibition, children were invited to donate milk teeth to an ethereal, transparent sculpture in the gallery.

2011

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Sierra Leonean highlife and 'palm wine' guitarist and singer Sooliman E. Rogie performed in 1988 at Bluecoat in a programme of global beats curated by Jayne Casey.

1988

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A Contemporary Music Network commission, bringing together emerging North West poet Lemn Sissay and US jazz legend David Murray's big band, was premiered at Bluecoat in 1996

1996

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In 1993, future Mercury Prize winner Talvin Singh performed at Bluecoat with Sugar Hill Gang's Skip McDonald and Adrian Sherwood.

1993

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Edmund Clark’s photographs of Guantanamo Bay were included in Confined, a 2011 Bluecoat exhibition themed around imprisonment.

2011

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Nobel prize winning novelist Doris Lessing visited Bluecoat in October 2001 to read and talk about her work.

2001

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In 1994, Wirral-based artists Amrit & Rabindra Kaur Singh, better known as The Singh Twins, presented Miniatures at Bluecoat, the first exhibition of their Indian miniature-influenced contemporary paintings.

1994

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During the 2003 European Year of Disabled People, Bluecoat and DaDaFest collaborated on Senseless: Art/Bodies/Misfits, a touring exhibition from Austria.

2003

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Recipient of Shape's Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary for a disabled artist, Sally Booth was resident in a studio at Bluecoat in 2009, later presenting her work in DaDaFest.

2009

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Australian artist Julie Gough's HOME sweet HOME (Forget Me Not), based on graves of Blue Coat school children in the Anglican Cathedral cemetery, was shown one the main gallery at Bluecoat in the first Liverpool Biennial in 1999.

1999

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US minimalist composer Steve Reich visited Bluecoat in 1987 to witness his Four Organs being performed as part of a Steve Reich Day in Liverpool.

1987

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On 27 September 1967, Yoko Ono performed at Bluecoat to a packed audience in the Concert Hall, the event captured by Granada TV. She returned to perform at the venue in 2008.

1967

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On 27 September 1912, the Sandon Studios Society held a reception at Bluecoat for Anna Pavlova, principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet. 300 people attended.

1912

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In 1913, Sandon Studios Society member, writer and satirist Maud Budden created Curly Wee and Gussy Goose with artist Roland Clibborn, a cartoon strip which ran for many decades in The Echo.

1913

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In 1991, Bluecoat exhibition A Table For Four presented work by four emerging female British Asian artists: Nina Edge, Bhajan Hunjan, Tehmina Shah and Veena Stephenson, part of Bluecoat's contribution to the MILAP festival, which was largely based at the

1991

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