We do like a good museum, from those old-fashioned slightly dusty numbers (who shall remain nameless) to the hipper variety, such as The Manchester Museum, which of all UK museums arguably does the best job in combining a historic collection with 21st century details. The North is studded with museum gems, though, from the gargantuan World Museum in Liverpool to the small but perfectly-formed Police Museum in Manchester. Read our picks of the best here.
A pair of beehives looks as out of place here as a Jersey cow at Piccadilly Station
The fight to save our honeybees starts here: in the city’s museums and galleries, hotels and art projects. Standing on the roof of Manchester Art Gallery, the city is a grey landscape of brick and…
This was an exercise in curatorial magic. It proved that art is alchemy.
What happened during Manchester’s two nights of #lovecollecting, curating and artistic alchemy. Richard Wentworth is a very good teacher. We have watched him shape and guide a flimsy idea about what to do for Museums…
Electronic, mashed-up blues provide a soundtrack to Wentworth’s exhibition in a night
Richard Wentworth and friends curate an after-hours experience in Manchester this week – prepare to get lost and found. Fancy a night at the museum? Good. You’ve come to the right place. As the nationwide…
A mystery tour, a people’s museum: an exhibition in a night...
Three days of after-hours events led by the artist Richard Wentworth celebrate the very best of our museums and galleries. A mystery tour, a people’s museum: an exhibition in a night. What links them all,…
It is a million miles from the roaring traffic of the Oxford Road visible from its windows
Victorian ephemera? Check. Artists’ books? Check. It may be small, but this is one Manchester museum that has more than a few treasures up its sleeve. Some things are kept hidden away. Kept behind closed…
Lost & Found is an accidental trailblazer for Manchester International Festival
The urge to collect is instinctive – and provides Richard Wentworth with the raw materials for a nocturnal occurrence in the city. Humans have been keeping collections since we first moved through the forests clutching…
Like magpies on speed, us Brits can't help but swoop down and collect things
From rare vinyl to Marvel comics via taxidermy, human eyeballs and celebrity hair – whatever you collect, share it with the world. We’ll come right out and say it. We have a bit of a…
Natural history collections are like the libraries of the natural world
The historic natural history museum reinvents itself – again – and puts animals and fossils above books. Manchester Museum has always been a place of wonder – it’s one of those glorious Victorian-era venues with…
Stephen Hurrel’s Beneath and Beyond fuses science and art in a terrestrial symphony. Ever wondered what Planet Earth sounds like? A sound art installation at MOSI, one that explores cause and effect, feedback loops and…
Thatcher may have “inspired” a generation of protest art, but a new show reveals an emerging generation using art for political means. Can protest be curated? Or does the act of curation defuse its anger,…
As the Iraqis mark a grim anniversary, we look at how the Iraq War is represented in books, TV and film. Ten years since the start of the invasion of Iraq. It hardly seems like…
A new exhibition at the People’s History Museum uses digital trickery to recreate democratic trouble. Red Saunder’s new show at the People’s History Museum may have more of an art gallery feel to it than…
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creativetourist: @Dukestudioleeds @Colours_mayvary We'll get hounded out of town for merely suggesting it... :) # about 15 hours ago.
creativetourist: That's *lovely* MT @7streets: We've launched a print version of SevenStreets - The Almanac - out in Liverpool today http://t.co/V1yiovTfV7 # about 17 hours ago.
creativetourist: Happy birthday to ya: @tateliverpool turns 25 & we talk to one woman who's been there the whole time: http://t.co/89TMefu7Bc #TL25 # about 23 hours ago.