On Saturday 3 May METAL launched its 2008 Capital of Culture programme at the oldest passenger railway station in the world with work by two international duos:

NEXUS – The Metal Pavilion

Colombian, father and son, artist/architect team, Luis Fernando and Juan Manuel Peláez, have been working with Metal, the Liverpool Biennial and the neighbourhood of Kensington to create an outdoor public ‘pavilion’ on the station approach to Platforms 3 and 4. NEXUS, funded by Liverpool Culture Company will play host to a wide variety of cultural gatherings, performance and events throughout 2008, and will create a focus for a celebration of arts and culture for local residents, schools, organisations and visitors. Inspired by the stations historic importance, and in particular by an area of wooden paving (Grade II* listed) dating back to 1836, the artists have created a network of posts that grow in stature as they cascade downwards towards the station – recalling the moorings for ships which suggest the idea of travel from the past.  Sensitively lit at night the structure has been designed to be a beacon for the area, a visual statement of ambition and aspiration for the use of the station as a cultural resource.

Al and Al - THE LOST ARK AND THE INVISIBLE READING ROOM

Internationally renowned digital artists, Al and Al complement their concurrent solo exhibition at FACT with a site specific installation in the building where the FACT work was created. The artists have been in residency at Metal for the last 18 months using Edge Hill Station as their blue screen studio, and simultaneously contributing to the momentum and commitment to bring the station’s historic buildings back into a useful community and creative life. THE LOST ARK AND THE INVISIBLE READING ROOM will present a series of works which use Computer Generated Image techniques, at the forefront of modern, special effect, film-making, through which Al and Al’s films investigate the mirror between fantasy and reality, and the immersion into a virtual world. The building will be transformed to present the artists work, alongside work created by other invited local and UK artists, as well as local residents.

“The ultimate experience for us has been to work in the first train station in the world! We don't think we have ever been anywhere with more extraordinary resonances! We see it as the equivalent of an artist going to work at the NASA space station in 200 years time! “ Al and Al.

For both sets of artist’s in our opening programme, Edge Hill represents a revolution in our way of experiencing the world. The world became smaller the day The Rocket left Edge Hill on its way to Manchester. Over a hundred years later Metal will once again bring crowds to the site and mark out its cultural and historical significance.

About Edge Hill Station

Edge Hill Station is an historic and architectural landmark of international importance. This station is where passenger travel by rail began in 1830 as Stephenson’s Rocket pulled out of Edge Hill with the Prime Minister and the Duke of Wellington on board as the Liverpool to Manchester Railway was opened for business. There are still visible signs of the pioneering engineering techniques as the Liverpool to Manchester Railway Company cut through the rock to create a level route through to Lime Street Station. The station today consists of two island platforms, each with an original building of 1836, and still running trains on the Merseytravel local network - making this possibly the oldest station in continuous use and in its original form in the world.

The excitement and commitment of the engineers and the authorities of the time to the grand and ambitious idea of the mass movement of people by steam power is still strongly resonant in the architecture and atmosphere of the place today. The buildings are an existing demonstration of the power of ideas, and belief in those ideas, to transform a landscape – physically and metaphorically. They provide an inspirational starting point for all kinds of artistic, creative, heritage, business and educational activities that will make a significant contribution to the regeneration and transformation of the neighbourhood of Edge Hill and Kensington, as well as across Liverpool and the North West.

METAL’s 2008 programme will continue throughout the year with an eclectic mix of visual art, music, poetry, theatre, spoken word, comedy and live art performance to create an exciting new multi-disciplinary venue on the edges of the city centre.

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