Artist Nina Edge to Exhibit at Unity Theatre and you can visit on LightNight

Ritual Bombardment in the Charnel House of Power explores political influence in the digital arena

Artist Nina Edge is to present a series of drawings in Unity Theatre’s Bar in an exhibition running 15 May – 12 June. The exhibition forms part of Unity’s LightNight celebrations, interpreting the festival’s theme of ‘Ritual’. Unity’s evening of experiences – The Ritual of Voting – will see visitors entering an adventurous reimagining of a polling station with puppets, film and sound.

Ritual Bombardment in the Charnel House of Power explores the rituals of voting; seeing information, hearing debates and discussing points of view before deciding how to vote. She asks how this process has changed for the digital era, where online opinion formers exert anonymous influence. The population is now exposed to a battery of coverage, but appear to be less powerful and more unhappy than ever.

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Nina trained as a ceramicist and became known for subversive use of craft materials in shows with Black British artists in the 1980s. She has exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Tate Liverpool, and FACT amongst others.

She became interested in how political messaging impacts the public when she was a candidate in local elections in 2004 and 2005, and again as press officer for a parliamentary candidate in 2015. She saw the change between communications either being delivered by hand, or happening face to face on the doorstep, to social media being used to message voters. But now all that has changed. With evidence that online platforms are a vehicle for paid influencers, Nina is left wondering if the people – the voters, have taken decisions, or if there is something going on, that we can’t quite see.

The drawings produced for Unity’s Ritual of Voting grapple with that – with what we can’t quite see.

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Gordon Millar, Artistic Director and CEO of Unity Theatre, comments:
“Nina is an internationally esteemed artist with an impressive track record of exhibitions at admired venues in the UK and abroad, alongside meaningful community engagement here in Liverpool. The exhibition will truly enhance our LightNight celebrations, and we are privileged to present her drawings until 12 June.”

The exhibition is part of an evening-long programme of experiences at Unity Theatre this LightNight. The theatre’s interactive, playful take on a fundamental ritual is perfect for all ages, is free of charge and open from 5pm to 10pm for attendees can drop in at any time.

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