This spider, set against the austere statue of Lord Nelson and a backdrop of Liverpool’s historic Town Hall, has so much more to offer than La Princesse, the monster mechanical arachnid costing millions which scoured our streets a short while ago.
La Princesse was piece of engineering; Ai Weiwei’s bejewelled spider is a work of art. It trusts us to see in it what we will – it’s magical, creative and beautiful all at once, leaving the imagination to work its fancies.


More information: Liverpool Biennial 2008 plus The Observer Review of ‘Web of Light’ and the Liverpool Biennial.
See more of Hilary’s photographs here: Camera & Calendar; and read more articles about Cultural Liverpool.