Marvel at the giant bamboo structures made by local artists this August!

Giant animated artworks, made entirely of sustainable bamboo, are set to come to life in this year’s Liverpool City Region Cultural Events programme. Join us to explore what we can design, make, play and build as we Imagine Bamboo is Everywhere in Liverpool City Region.

Here’s what to expect:

Bamboo Artworks:
Artist-makers from Liverpool City Region have created ambitious structures, some of which you can see in person. Inspired by local themes and landscapes, and organic patterns and forms, they have been experimenting with borinda bamboo from nearby Ness Botanic Gardens and how to combine it with other natural, recycled and recyclable materials.

Bamboo Music:
Pagoda Arts have brought together young musicians from across the region with members of Pagoda Youth Orchestra, celebrating its 40th birthday this year, to fuse traditional bamboo instruments with other instruments and sounds.

Bamboo Drums and Bamboorines:
Inventor/artist/musician Jonathan ‘Jab’ Butters has developed and built a drum kit and percussion instruments using bamboo, which makes them far more sustainable and they sound amazing!

Learn a bamboo dance, make music and watch out for guest appearances by beatboxer/musician James Lyon.
Bamboo Performance:
Performers from across Liverpool City Region have worked with director/designer Mish Weaver to experiment with animating bamboo in public space – Home will be passing through during the day.

Performers: Silvia Carmona, Deborah Davies, Paula Hampson, Kadisha R Kayani, Faye McCutcheon, Kirti Patel, Martyna Puciato, Mariana Sampaio de Magalhães Pires and Adrian Sokołowski.

Bamboo Makes:
Design and make your own bamboo creation and meet some of the artists involved in the project.

Bamboo Circus:
NoFit State Circus and Imagineer have been exploring what circus structures, skills and stories can be created with UK grown phyllostacys bamboo, donated from private gardens in Oxford, Cornwall and Somerset. See their experiments at Newton Show on 5 August and online.

Bamboo Circus Workshops:
We invite you to run away with the Bamboo Circus, meet local balance artist Grace Neville-Evans, and try out new bamboo equipment designed and made by circus engineer Tarn Aitken.
Put Yourself in the Bamboo Picture:
Share your Imagine Bamboo photos on social media using #imaginebamboo and contribute to a growing digital artwork on growing.imaginebamboo.co.uk

Bamboo Talks:
Find out more about the Imagine Bamboo project and meet artists, activists and bamboo specialists from different backgrounds, including engineering, growing, active travel and the environment.

Visitor Information:

Sat 26 August
Kings Gardens, Southport, Sefton
11am-4pm
This is an outdoor event so please be dressed for the weather! You may want to bring a picnic blanket or your own seating. Please note that we may change some performances and activities in the event of bad weather, keep an eye on our social media for more information.

Please walk, cycle or use public transport if you can. Active travel information can be found at www.liverpoolcityregion-ca.gov.uk/imaginebamboo

Why are we interested in bamboo?
Bamboo is widely held to be one of the most important sustainable materials in the world. It has uses in design, construction, green innovation, farming and carbon capture.

Local residents, young climate leaders and artists from across Liverpool City Region are coming together with engineers from Atelier One and bamboo specialists from four continents to explore bamboo as a sustainable material for the future.

We are using locally grown borinda bamboo, originally from mountainous Tibet, brought to the UK by a botanist working for University of Liverpool and grown at Ness Botanical Gardens, who have kindly allowed us to explore what we can design, make, build as we Imagine Bamboo is Everywhere in Liverpool City Region.

About Imagine Bamboo is Everwhere in Liverpool City Region:
Imagine Bamboo is Everywhere is part of the LCR Cultural Events programme which brought the Lost Castles and Constellations projects that were held in the city region in 2018 and 2019 followed by the bamboo Bridge project in Liverpool in 2021.

It is part of Mayor Steve Rotheram’s 1% for Culture programme, which earmarks £300,000 per year – 1% of the CA’s core funding – to activities designed to promote culture and creativity.

This summer’s events build on the work that took place in 2022, where 14 artists led pilot projects with communities across the city region. 24 baby borinda bamboo plants were taken home and raised by their ‘parents’ before being planted in Court Hey Park in Knowsley, to become a future sustainable building material for the planet.

Posted on 22 August 2023 under General news