Opening Thursday 20 July –  Abacus is an interactive exhibition that encourages visitors of all ages to break the traditional rules of a contemporary art space. The exhibition features Rhys Coren, Tom & Simon Bloor, Polly Brannan, Fran Disley, Kevin Hunt, Anssi Kasitonni, Yusuke Mashiba, Trine Lise Nedreaas, Emily Speed, Mark Simmonds, William Wegman, Huw Wahl, John Walmsley – Liverpool Free School.

Commissions include Simon & Tom Bloor’s installation Loose Parts, which invites visitors to draw on the gallery walls using special chalk boards. Emily Speed will fill the largest gallery with child height replicas of architectural spaces, where strict rules and certain behaviours usually apply (such as courts and voting booths), transforming them into places of play and performance, complete with costumes.

Kids Video Art Program, a collaboration with Kunsthall Stavanger, features a selection of short films & animations by UK and international artists, including Trine Lise Nedreaas’ shimmering hula hoops, William Wegman’s synchronised dogs and Rhys Coren’s snapping fingers. Abacus responds to Bluecoat’s history as both a charity school and centre for the arts, also celebrating contemporary cultural spaces as alternative learning environments.

For more information please visit:  http://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/events/view/exhibitions/3590