The Cunard Building: Liverpool Biennial 2012 - Review #4

The following extracts are two of my reviews taken from my joint feature for LS Media with Rosie Dodd. For the full article please visit:http://liverpoolstudentmedia.com/2012/11/the-cunard-building-liverpool-biennial-2012-review-4/

Liverpool to Let – Superflex

The collaborative art group, Superflex, contribute Liverpool to Let (2012) to The Unexpected Guest. In the Biennial’s main art space at the Cunard Building, a series of ‘To Let’ signs hang above the viewer’s head.

Liverpool to Let - Superflex

The Danish art group approach this project having been “struck by the abundance of empty office and commercial spaces in Liverpool’s financial district”. This piece conjures up ideas of recession, economic struggle and job insecurity that is indicative of contemporary society.

It is possible to view Liverpool to Let as an interpretation to the Biennial’s over-arching theme of ‘hospitality’. Although Liverpool may well be seen as a welcoming and vibrant city, it is not without its problems. Like many UK cities, Liverpool has suffered from the economic crisis of 2008. Liverpool has a history with a struggling employment market, yet Liverpool to Let perhaps plays with the collective conception of unemployment by illustrating a troubled financial district, and therefore problems for Liverpool’s middle class.

Through Superflex’s restaging of the ‘To Let’ signage, the audience is presented not only with a representation of Liverpool’s current economic climate but with historical documentation; the reasons behind this financial struggle may be open for debate but the audience cannot deny the reality of this situation. Like the sword of Damocles, this signage hangs above the audience with the potential threat of devastating all in its path.

Testimony – Mona Hatoum

Mona Hatoum’s Testimony (1995 – 2002) can be found at the Cunard Building, amongst her other contributions to The Unexpected Guest for Liverpool Biennial 2012 until 25 November. Hatoum presents her audience with a short video installation which focuses on a close-up of human anatomy.

Hatoum says that she comes from “a culture where there isn’t that tremendous split between body and mind” and perhaps the viewer may recognise this cultural influence in Testimony. By isolating the anatomical image on a black background the audience focuses their collective attention as they ask what part of the body they are presented with – although the title may give the audience a gentle nudge in a particular direction.

Testimony - Mona Hatoum

The Palestinian artist “suggests that nothing and no one is innocent” and this is arguably illustrated with Testimony as the viewer silently guesses what they see, but refuse to voice their assumptions out of potential embarrassment. Perhaps it is this possibility of embarrassment that Hatoum also wishes the viewer to question.

The body frequently appears in her work often acting as a metaphor for social struggle, and arguably brings political questions (particularly those concerning gender politics) to the fore.

Testimony is a hypnotic piece from which it is hard to tear oneself away, it asks the audience to be in a constant state of uncertainty whilst they ask a series of questions from, ‘What am I looking at?’ to ‘Should I keep my opinions to myself?’ and ‘Should I feel embarrassed about what I see?’. Through such questioning, Hatoum allows the audience to re-examine themselves, as well as their cultural and political significance.

Leung Mee-Ping - Out of Place: Review

http://liverpoolstudentmedia.com/2012/11/out-of-place-review/

Curated by Hong Kong’s Museum of Art, Leung Mee-Ping’s Out of Place (2012) can be found at the All Are Guests exhibition, Hong Kong’s contribution to City States at the Copperas Hill Building during Liverpool Biennial 2012 until 25 November.

This is a video installation with a difference allowing for a semi-participatory experience as the viewer walks in between the projection screens which the artist presents. Mee-Ping’s projections involve imagery of busy city streets across Asia showing “a series of solitary figures, drifters who undergo similar experiences in different cities.” With the ingenious and dynamic outlay of projection screens viewers feels like they are wandering through these streets with the artist.

Photo Courtesy of UoL Contemporary Art Society

Out of Place plays with Liverpool Biennial 2012’s theme of ‘hospitality’; as viewers wanders through the arrangement of projection screens, they mimic the action of moving from street to street and in doing so potentially illustrate a darker-side to the idea of tourism. The artist and viewer passively observe the events and action which unfold in the street scenes, rather than wishing to interact with documented drifters the viewer instinctively moves to the next projection, demonstrating notions of detachment with the surrounding world.

 “By isolating her subjects from the fabrics of everyday life [Leung Mee-Ping] seeks to encourage viewers to ponder wider social issues”, perhaps it is the audience’s mimicry of isolation and detachment from the unfolding scenes juxtaposed with the act of walking through these street scenes that make viewers contemplative of their own actions with regard to Mee-Ping’s objectives.

Dragon Dribbles #6 - The Internet is Down!

http://liverpoolstudentmedia.com/2012/11/dragon-dribbles-6-the-internet-is-down/

Wood Street: Liverpool Biennial 2012 – review #3

The following extracts are two of my reviews taken from my joint feature for LS Media with Rosie Dodd. For the full article please visit: http://liverpoolstudentmedia.com/2012/11/wood-street-liverpool-biennial-2012-review-3/


Collective Coverings, Communal Skin – Jemima Wyman

Jemima Wyman’s Collective Coverings, Communal Skin (2012) is currently on display at FACT and centres on the idea that fabric is a social camouflage. This idea is illustrated with clarity with the inclusion of camouflage fabric within the installation itself.

For this communal project Wyman “explores camouflage fabric as material with symbolic links to violence and conflict”. Through a series of community workshops during the first few weeks of Liverpool Biennial 2012, the people of Liverpool and Wyman created soft-psychedelic weavings which are currently hanging on the ground floor of FACT’s arts space.

Wyman addresses the commonly held preconception that patterned fabrics are typically seen as being passive and feminine, however in her research into patterned materials quickly discovers how such materials started being used in situations of conflict and war. This is illustrated through Wyman’s choice of incorporating camouflage (as well as other patterned materials associated with violence) into this communal installation.

With Collective Coverings, Communal Skin Wyman manages to change the collective reception of the materials used from associations with violence and conflict to a more comforting, contemplative one with the weavings, baring an arguable similarity to Native American dream-catchers. Wyman manages to make collective assumptions concerning patterned fabrics come full circle – a possible intention of the artist considering that all the weaving frames are actually hula-hoops.

Melodrama and Other Games – Pedro Reyes

Photo courtesy of UoL Contemporary Society

Pedro Reyes’ Melodrama and Other Games (2012) can also be found at FACT during Liverpool Biennial 2012. Near the entrance of FACT, the public are invited to participate in a series of interactive games which on completion allows them to claim a poster designed by Reyes himself.

Melodrama takes the form of a board game similar to snakes and ladders but with the intention of illustrating the ups and downs of personal relationships. With these games Reyes hopes to “encourage visitors to improvise new forms of social interaction with each other”, this is possibly best seen with Slow-Motion Fight where the audience are invite to have pillow fights with one another.

As a practicing architect, Reyes views relationships through the prism of his discipline and uses the format of board games to consider “the architecture of relationships in an increasingly commodified environment”. Perhaps another reason behind Reyes’ decision to tackle ideas of societal problem solving and the ‘encounter experience’ through a series of games is in response to the Biennial’s over-arching theme of hospitality. Not only do Reyes’ games present the idea of parlour games that one may encounter when at the receiving-end of hospitality; it also nods to the reasons behind the Biennial’s decision to choose ‘hospitality’ as this year’s theme – the Olympics, with Melodrama being the most obvious reference to Ancient Greece, the birthplace of the Olympics.

Melodrama and Other Games offer the people of Liverpool one of the most interactive and immersive contributions to Liverpool Biennial they are likely to encounter this year.

Ming Wong at 28-32 Wood Street

Ming Wong’s contribution to Liverpool Biennial 2012 exists in three parts – Making Chinatown, After Chinatown and The Chinese Detective, all of which can be found at 28-32 Wood Street. Wong explores Hollywood traditions and representations of the stereotypical ‘Chinese detective’ through video installations and a collection of cinematic posters from the 1930s and 1960s. Concerned with ideas of ‘what makes a Singaporean’, Wong explores the Chinatowns of the world until he is led to Liverpool, which has the oldest Chinatown in the UK.

 It stands to reason that Wong includes his video installation (originally displayed in Los Angeles) Making Chinatown alongside his other works designed specifically for Liverpool Biennial 2012. In Making Chinatown Wong himself plays all pivotal roles in a film which draws on Polanski’s 1974 iconic Chinatown; Wong’s tongue and cheek performance arguably provides playfulness to an issue which may well cause discomfort for some viewers.

The audience may conclude that this film illustrates a cinematic vocabulary of the mid-twentieth century that enters into the collective consciousness of the period as anti-immigrant sentiment. Wong explores ideas of ‘the menace of the orient’ perpetuated through the popular culture of the period. Certainly, when viewing Wong’s collection of movie posters located in the back room of 28-32 Wood Street’s art space, the audience is arguably shocked and appalled by the vilification and mockery of the Orient’s ‘stereotypical’ representation.

With this exhibition, Wong potentially offers an alternative interpretation to Liverpool Biennial’s theme of hospitality, with the possibility that countries such as USA and the UK have not always had such a welcoming approach to newcomers.

Dragon Dribbles#5 - Seagull Attack!

http://liverpoolstudentmedia.com/2012/11/dragon-dribbles-5-seagull-attack/

The Skinny Showcase: Platform 7

http://liverpoolstudentmedia.com/2012/11/the-skinny-showcase-platform-7/

Somewhereto NW brings together artists and curators between the ages of 16-25 for The Skinny Showcase: Platform 7 in the Dickens Gallery, St George’s Hall until 25 November.

The displayed work is split into two rooms with Platform 7 artists occupying the first art space whilst The Skinny artworks are located in the second room.

With an original submission of fifty emerging artists for this project the curators (employed by Somewhereto) provide an eclectic mix of photography, illustration and textiles demonstrating the varied background and influences of both artist and curatorial contributors.

The Edinburgh-based artist Jamie Johnson’s work is found in The Skinny collection and is inspired by the townships of Johannesburg as well as the allotments of his native Leith.

Everyday Submegence - Hannah Topalian

 Johnson presents a mixed-media body of work designed specifically for this project incorporating fine-line drawing, collage and watercolour creating pieces which display an otherworldly narrative.

This notion of otherworldliness is echoed in Hannah Topalian’s arguably sublime contribution to Platform 7 with her work Everyday Submergence taking the form of digital photographs depicting ink and milk dropped into water to illustrate “the power and spontaneity of the fleeting moment.”

Topalian’s striking and contemplative work allows the viewer to apply their own interpretation to the organic abstract formations which the ink and milk solutions create.

The clear focus of Somewhereto NW is to provide artists and curators with an opportunity to fulfil their potential and showcase their talents to the public; a challenging and constructive move in an industry whose emerging participants may otherwise struggle in an uncertain financial climate where Art Council funding is repeatedly slashed.

With The Skinny Showcase: Platform 7 Somewhereto NW assists the aspirations of emerging artists as well as providing the city of Liverpool with works of some of the UK’s newest youth art contributors.

The Unexpected Guest: Liverpool Biennial 2012 - review #2

The following extracts are two of my reviews taken from my joint feature for LS Media with Rosie Dodd. For the full article please visit: http://liverpoolstudentmedia.com/2012/11/the-lift-and-the-unexpected-guest-at-bluecoat-liverpool-biennial-2012-review-2/

The Lift (2012) – Oded Hirsch

Oded Hirsch’s mixed media installation The Lift (2012) is currently on display in the Liverpool One shopping centre as part of the city-wide exhibition The Unexpected Guest.

Hirsch’s contribution to Liverpool Biennial 2012 disrupts the typical shopping experience as the public encounter an elevator which appears to have erupted from beneath the shopping precinct.

The Lift (2012) Oded Hirsch

There is an otherworldly quality to The Lift with its stylized appearance evoking the collective imagination of what a Manhattan elevator from the early-part of the Twentieth Century may have looked like.

On closer inspection a light is visible from inside the elevator and the mechanical components from within the installation create a whirring noise, while the doors appear in a constant struggle to open (albeit unsuccessfully).

The sheer spectacle of Hirsch’s The Lift is undoubtedly the most arresting feature of the piece; but it must be noted that it is impossible to view it without also catching the viewers’ collective reflection that is mirrored on the elevator doors.

Here perhaps, the Israeli-born artist asks the audience in his first public realm commission to use this viewing of the installation as an opportunity for self-examination in relation to the notion of consumerism.

The decision to place The Lift in this particular part of the Liverpool One shopping district may itself be something of great significance to both themes of hospitality and consumerism; situated on Peter’s Lane The Lift is just a stone’s throw away from high end retail outlets such as Hugo Boss, Ted Baker and Jaegar to name a few.

As the viewer encounters The Lift and sees their own reflection in the elevator’s metal doors they potentially encounter a figure weighed down with luxury garments or on their way passed the designer stores coveting the items on display in the shop windows (and in so doing catch their own reflections once again).

It is this mixing of quiet contemplation with the awe of spectacle; the sense of the “real but not logically realistic” (Hirsch’s assistant, Ran – www.thecelluloidwickerman.com); and the juxtaposition of the mundane with the bizarre and seemingly hazardous that make Oded Hirsch’s The Lift so captivating.

Ancient Film (2012) – Sun Xun

Ancient Film (2012) is Sun Xun’s mesmerizing contribution to The Unexpected Guest and is currently on display at The Bluecoat.

Ancient Film (2012) Sun Xun. Photo courtesy of UoL Contemporary Art Society

Xun presents his audience with a mixture of animation projections and large-scale drawings depicting scenes of nature and with a hint of mythology that is unmistakably Chinese in style.

With Ancient Film Xun “explores the cultural traditions of hospitality in his native China” (www.liverpoolbiennial.co.uk) as well as illustrating the notion of transition over a millennia through referencing of Eleventh Century style in his drawings and with the application of Twenty-first Century technology to project his animations.

Here Xun appears to have struck a delicate balance between the two centuries.

The projection of the animation itself promotes ideas of antiquity, magic and a sense of otherworldliness with the dithered edges to the animation frame and in so doing reinforces Xun’s intentions to explore traditions and customs of the Song Dynasty.

The sheer scale of the work inspires awe as once again Xun masterfully juxtaposes two contrasting features – the tranquillity of nature with the intensity of its own actions.

With his drawings of crashing waves and scaling mountains the audience is given an interesting interpretation of the theme of hospitality; the images invite the viewer to explore this world yet warn of its potential perils.

A Detail of Ancient Film. Photo courtesy of UoL Contemporary Art Society

The power of nature and the magnitude of its force is probably most evident in the large scrolls which hang in the same space as the animation projection; these are details of the animation itself and allow for the audience to be swept up with admiration for this painting style as well as illustrating the evolutionary processes of Xun’s project.

Ancient Film is a breath-taking example of contemporary Chinese art and allows both the viewer and artist to reference the past and explore its traditions through modern means.

On 21^st November Liverpool Biennial 2012 invites the public on a tour of The Unexpected Guest. To bokk tickets contact 0845 220 2800 or visit@biennial.com.

Dragon Dribbles #4 - Bombfire Night

http://liverpoolstudentmedia.com/2012/11/dragon-dribbles-4-bombfire-night/

A Handy Format for Writing Brief Art Exhibition Reviews

I made this guide for writing art reviews when I first started contributing to LS Media’s Arts section. It’s pretty useful especially if you’re only given a limited word count and you have a ton of deadlines to meet in a short space of time. This article format isn't limited to art reviews and can easily be adapted to help with the writing of product reviews, etc. This format helps to keep things concise and is most useful for anyone writing in an article format where the reader can leave at any given point and still have a general idea about the article's content.

Article Outline:

  1)          Artist’s Name

  2)          Title of Piece /exhibition (year)

  3)          Where is it on display and until when?

  4)          Is it part of an over-arching exhibition?

  5)          Brief description of the piece

  6)          Context

  7)          Aims/Symbolism/Metaphor

  8)          Quotes from artist/ artist’s intensions

  9)          Relation of piece to the rest of the exhibition

10)          Final statement.