The arrival of Museum MAN in Liverpool is like a breath of fresh air to the sometimes predictable arts scene in the city. It looks destined to play a major role in bringing internationally recognized artists to exhibit here for the first time, as well as giving opportunities to Liverpool-based artists to exhibit their work in the space, and also give them the opportunity to show and promote their work abroad.

Museum MAN

By Lee Stronjnic

Run by Australian Adam Nankervis, Museum MAN has already put on a number of diverse and challenging exhibitions since it began staging shows at its venue, based in a top floor flat at 48 Rodney Street in the city centre.
He uses every room in his large flat to exhibit art - a spare room, which looks upon the Georgian buildings based in the street, a living room, the hallway, kitchen, bathroom and toilet!
But Museum MAN will use a far bigger space, at a location still to be decided, during the next Liverpool Arts Biennial event in 2006, which is run over a ten week period.
"I will be holding several exhibitions, under the title of Blueprints, during the Biennial," said Nankervis, "with the aFoundation helping me to support the artists I will be working with in any way I can. Local artists will come together and create what I hope will be far-reaching links with international artists."
The aFoundation, with the driving force of Liverpool-born art entrepreneur James Moore behind them, have provided a large amount of financial assistance to the Independent sector of the Biennial since the inaugural event in Liverpool in 1999.
"Museum MAN will serve as an umbrella for the Blueprint project, and will be organic and ever-changing," he added.
Museum MAN, which is an ironic joke on Adam's surname, was previously based in an apartment in Berlin, and held many exhibitions of artists from a range of countries.
As well as being a performance artist, Nankervis, who spent several years in Berlin and has also lived in New York , London and Copenhagen, is also a photographer, video-maker, installation artist and writer.
Nankervis, who exhibited his work during the 2004 Liverpool Biennial, formerly had an apartment and cellar in Falkner Street, where he held art performances and gigs.
"I have no criteria as to what should or should not be shown", he remarked. "I don't want to alienate anyone from the space I use. I have an open door policy. Any artist can come to me and put forward an idea for an exhibition to me.
"During the next Biennial I will include high profile together with non-profile artists - it will be a totally democratic process."
Nankervis is especially keen to promote Liverpool artists abroad.
"It is interesting to take Liverpool artists and their work abroad,"he said, "for example to Berlin earlier this year at the Kunst Salon, and also offer the opportunity for German artists to exhibit their work for the first time in Liverpool. It creates a cross-pollination between the artists from both cities. The German artists were very inspired by the art work being produced by Liverpool artists.
"I also took work by Liverpool artists to the Venice Biennial during the summer, and hung the work in a café, which had a beautiful environment."
Museum MAN, which stages a new exhibitions virtually every two weeks, has shown work by internationally recognized artists since Nankervis moved to Rodney Street in May, including Frank Schapel, David Medalla, Cyril LePetit, Jean Dubuffet and Neal Brown, as well as an exhibition celebrating the work of John Ruskin and Kurt Schwitters, titled 'The Kathedral of Erotic Misery', curated by Jill Rock.
Exhibitions of the work of Liverpool-based artists have included a group show, titled 'Rixhibition', curated by Richard Wilkie-Riley, a solo show by Simon Bendi, and 'S & M', featuring Colin Serjent and Sue Milburn, who run the artist collective Red Dot Exhibitions.
“I particularly liked this exhibition,” commented Nankervis,"it was almost autobiographical in content. It showed not only aspects of their own art but also the trajectory between their art and life through documentation. There were direct links between my construct of what Museum MAN began as and the way the two artists adapted to the space.
"The interrelationship between these two people and the bonding between them came through, including the generosity of sharing a space non-competitively, which was refreshing. There was a naked and honest process involved in the way they staged the show."
Among the exhibitions taking place at Museum MAN before the end of the year include the work of Dutch artist Sebastian Schlicher, beginning on 12 November; four artists from Beirut in a show, starting on 26 November, titled 'Out of War' - Arabic television station Al-Jazeera are reportedly planning to feature this exhibition on one of their programmes; as well as the work of Marco Stepanov. The starting date of this show is 10 December.