About the weekend

Liverpool celebrates a twentieth century visionary.

In 1972, cult American musician Captain Beefheart (1941-2010) had his first ever exhibition of paintings at Bluecoat. 45 years later, Liverpool’s centre for the contemporary arts is the focus for a weekend that will consider him as a ‘Twentieth-century visionary’ working across music, visual art, writing and performance.

Devised by independent curator Kyle Percy, working in collaboration with Chris McCabe (poet and Head Librarian, National Poetry Library, Southbank Centre, London) and Bluecoat’s Artistic Director Bryan Biggs, the programme features music, poetry, a symposium, a walking tour, a fanzine, an archival display and a student exhibition – involving artists, experts and fans.

Presenting Beefheart as more than just an idiosyncratic musician of the 1960s counter-culture who gave up music to develop a career as an expressive painter, the programme will also explore his specific relationship to Liverpool, where he performed several times, and his continuing impact upon the city’s musical and creative scenes.

On this blog you'll find some sneak peaks into the poems, talks, and visual work that will be included in the weekend, and the odd surprise....