New Exhibition Space - Kif

By Colin Serjent

Artists in Liverpool regularly decry the lack of venues in the city to exhibit their work, but some of their problems may have been resolved with the recent opening of the Kif Gallery based in Parr Street.

Situated adjacent to the former Jump Ship Rat gallery, which closed over a year ago, they have secured a three year lease on the building - with funding support from the Scarman Trust - and will be holding many exhibitions there during that time.

"We expect to get a lot of interest from artists, not only from those locally based but also from outside Liverpool who want to set up exhibitions in our building," said Dominic Lewington, one of four people who will run the Kif; the other members of the collective are James Pagella, Tom Sumnall and Tom Wood.

"All types of art will be encouraged to use the space," added Dominic. "Not only art exhibitions - which will have a duration of between four to six weeks - but theatre, dance, and film and video shows will also be held there."

"Given time, we want to establish an arts centre in the building - which we consider to be a perfect spot - and has huge potential, but funding from other sources will be necessary to achieve this aim".

The Kif will also be used by bands for rehearsal and recording purposes. Zukanican, Prophets of Doom, Hand Museum and Surge are among the bands who currently utilise the space for rehearsing.

The courtyard will also be used during the summer to screen movies onto the wall of Kif.

You can contact the Kif Gallery through their website: www.livingbrain.co.uk
Or call in to speak to them, Monday - Friday between midday and 5 pm.