AND Liverpool

The Liverpool leg of Abandon Normal Devices draws to a close for now, after five frenzied days.

This inaugural AND festival turned out to be a truly unforgettable experience for all involved, and as we move forward to the next exciting incarnations in Cumbria, Lancashire and Manchester we’re reflecting on and celebrating the achievements of AND Liverpool 2009.

With New Cinema and Digital Culture at the heart of our festival, screenings of diverse, surprising, sometimes provocative films were essential viewing. We got viewers’ senses tingling with Be Good, delivered a dose of animated black humour in Mary and Max and provided access to a hidden world with Jamie King’s Dark Fibre.

Visitors flocked to venues all around Liverpool to see world-class exhibitions by The Yes Men, Carolee Schneeman, Apitchatpong Weerasethakul and Duane Hopkins and came away provoked and inspired.

Artists and filmmakers involved in the festival gave us fascinating insights into their ideas and working processes in a series of masterclasses and artist presentations. The AND Salons and were a hotbed of healthy debate around the key focus of the festival – questioning normality. Split into four themes; CONTRACT, INFECT, COMPETE and DESIRE, speakers from across the culture, science, health and sport sectors presented a variety of visions of the way we live today, with some great discussion from the audience, all expertly chaired by Professor Andy Miah.

Events such as Interface Amnesty and Blast Theory’s ‘Rider Spoke’ workshop gave visitors the chance to interact with artworks and sometimes even become part of them.

As well as getting the streets of Liverpool buzzing we lit up the city with projections by Krzysztof Wodiczko, KMA and DJ Spooky, as well as films presented on big screens from Clayton Square to Pier Head.

The AND team want to thank so many people who made this happen and came to experience the festival – the filmmakers, artists, contributors, venues, volunteers, and of course, visitors. We can’t wait to welcome you to Cumbria, Lancashire and Manchester in 2010 and back to Liverpool in 2011.

However, while the five-day festival closed with a bang on Sunday 27 September, Abandon Normal Devices is far from over...

There's still plenty to tickle your creative tastebuds here in Liverpool. Head to FACT for the UK premiere of Primitive, a new multi-screen video installation by ground-breaking Thai artist/filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Galleries 1 and 2, until 29 November) and Jaki Middleton and David Lawrey's amazing zoetropic Sound Before You Make It installation in the Media Lounge (until 29 November). At LJMU's Art and Design Academy, you can catch the Yes Men exhibition until 25 Oct, and over at Open Eye, check out Duane Hopkins' meditative show Sunday< before it closes on October 4.

Meanwhile, plans are already afoot for the April arm of the festival, when AND heads for the hills to visit a series of remote and rural locations in Cumbria, Lancashire and online presented by folly. Check the AND website and sign up for the mailing list for regular updates.

Did you visit the very first AND Festival? If so what did you think?

We would appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to fill out this survey, just click on the link below. This will really help us with the development of this new and exciting festival!

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