In a dramatically changing city, we turned to its immediate location as a site through which to investigate the past, the present and the potential of the future. With traces of Liverpool’s social and economic history mapped onto it and representing a wide range of international communities, Bold Street really is the world in one street.

In 2007, we invited artists Michelle Wren and Katie Lips to create The Bold Street Project. Working with Bold Street traders, residents, shoppers and our community internet TV project, tenantspin, to develop a piece of work that captures the essence of the street, the artists have combined oral histories with documentation from civic and private archives.

Michelle has created a three-dimensional sculptural model of the street with new media content - curated and arranged by Katie Lips - embedded within it. Fuelled by the social software tools available to all on the World Wide Web, the piece embraces the many stories that make up a location’s history. Anyone can log on to the project website and leave their photographs, stories and memories, and as the exhibition goes on, the story will grow.

The project blog draws material from a wide range of sources. With everything from early E Chambré Hardman portraits made on Bold Street to the short-lived Café Berlin, content by Jeff Young and Pete Wylie,
interviews with shop-keepers and Jegsy Dodd performing 3am in Bold Street, this is a non-linear collage of content.

This exhibition marks the beginning of BOLD, a three-year programme of artist residencies, projects, collaborations and educational events.