Cubiclism

Four women artists will exhibit in the male changing cubicles of the Males First Class pool during our Open Days in September 2007.

Bridget Bowie, Christine Wilcox-Baker, Chris Williams and Lynne Williams are all north-west based artists with a string of exhibitions to their names. Driven by a common affection for this romantic building and a shared excitement to use this unique space for an art show they have combined resources.

With ideas sparking off from the history of the building and the much loved interior, visitors will encounter the artistic output of four diverse talents. A series of works have been specially created for this exhibition. Subtle sounds will echo the past. Can you hear the bathers that might be in the pool when it’s restored? Is that really a fish swimming by or someone ‘swimming like a fish’?

Mixed bathing was once forbidden in the First Class pool, but this art mixes media and has women using men’s spaces, illustrating how times have changed. The Baths are old but being renewed and it’s the same with some of the art on show. Recycled materials and natural items are blended to create a new vision.

This Arts Council England supported exhibition is timed to coincide with the Victoria Baths Open Day on Sunday 2nd, Thursday 6th, Friday 7th, Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th September. See the Open Days page for opening times

Pool Arts

Pool Arts, a group of artists that have a long-standing connection with Victoria Baths, now have a new website - www.poolarts.org

Centenary Arts Programme

In 2006 we celebrated the centenary of the opening of Victoria Baths with a programme of arts activities. A full pictorial report is here.

Other news

Victoria Baths has hosted a variety of artist-led projects over the years. Artists have used the building as exhibition and performance space, studio, inspirational site and a research resource.

Currently Transition (Arts Programme at Victoria Baths) is researching the past use of Victoria Baths by artists of all kinds. If you have ever been involved in an arts project at Victoria Baths and would like to be involved please contact Alison Kershaw: alison.sl-arts@good.co.uk or through the Trust. Your work will be included in the Victoria Baths Art Archive and may be included in documentation materials and a publication.

Transition are also examining the possibilities of future development of the programme and remains committed to supporting Victoria Baths Trust to enable artists who wish to create work at Victoria Baths, whether they be professional, student or experimental projects.

Transition

The Transition arts programme aims to bring new work by artists to Victoria Baths. We hope this will give proper recognition of contributions that artist make to the broader dialogue about the building. It is creating new opportunities for artists and creating cultural capital in a deprived area by bringing new work to new audiences and art audiences to a community project. Two major exhibitions took place in September 2003 and 2004.

Swim
For the Time Being

Swim

This exhibition featured photographs, paintings, video and historical memorabilia about the culture of moving in water. The exhibition was lent to us by Lancashire County Museums. As well as images from Manchester's baths, there were pictures from swimming pools including lidos all over Lancashire and the rest of the country. David Cubbins' photographs and video vividly conveyed the movement of the body underwater. Photographs of Morecambe's Super Stadium seem strangely contemporary, a brave modern vision of leisure of the 1930s and 40s. Prints of David Hockney's "a bigger splash" series and a small group of paintings added colour and the painter's eye for the endless refraction and reflection which has always fascinated artists as they endeavour to capture the complex delight of water.

The Swim exhibition was complemented by a series of new works specifically created for Victoria Baths, with a brief to engage with local children in the process. More about Swim