Lewis Biggs' perfect day
Lewis Biggs is Director of the Liverpool Biennial, Britain's largest festival of contemporary visual arts. He tells us about his perfect day in Liverpool.
"My perfect day would be in Liverpool, starting at a place which is only there at low tide! I would walk down the beach at Crosby, gazing at the Welsh hills, through Antony Gormley's Another Place to where I could see around the wall of the Seaforth Docks, and look up the Mersey to the Pier Head. I'd like to imagine being on a liner emigrating to a new world.
Back in the city centre, I'd be ready for breakfast near Richard Wilson's Turning the Place Over (www.liverpool08.com/events/event_details.asp?dms_id=182641) opposite Moorfields station. It's the most spectacular moving architecture you've ever seen. (Take it home on your mobile phone, like everyone else.)
I would then walk through the shopping arcade of the amazing India Buildings (between Water Street and Brunswick Street), which feel like an authentic 1920s New York skyscraper. The architectural detail is sumptuous.
I'd get a thrill from Peter Ellis' Oriel Chambers (1864), across Water Street. It's arguably the most significant building of its age, with the iron frame and curtain walling prophetic of the entire Modern Movement.
I could easily spend the rest of the morning at the Walker Art Gallery (I always make time to look at the Degas), with lunch at the Conservation Centre before walking down to Albert Dock to see the great shows at Tate Liverpool.
By tea-time, I'd be at the Bluecoat. This beautifully conserved 18th century school building has been exquisitely transformed by Dutch architects Œbiq into an arts centre for the 21st century. There's a great café and the enclosed garden at the back is a brilliant place to sit and talk about everything you've seen.
For my evening, I'd migrate up the road to the FACT Centre, located in the Ropewalks, where you're never further than 10 yards from a bar. It's the place to experience contemporary moving image artworks - and catch the best new movies after dark. I'd end my perfect day with a meal and room at the Hope Street Hotel."