Claire Shirley : Liverpool Biennial Visit

This year the Liverpool Biennial, a ten week Contemporary art event, presents works by 242 artists across 27 locations. The central theme ‘The Unexpected Guest’ explores the notions of hospitality.

Having sadly missed the trip to Liverpool with my peers, I finally made it to my home City Saturday afternoon. After an interesting train journey from Deansgate to Lime street, I made my way over to FACT on Wood street. Passing one of my old haunts on the way, a little Chinese bakery, I couldn’t resist popping in for a Charsui bun. Just one bite and I was flooded with memories of my time at Liverpool college and lunchtimes spent eating them in the old bombed out church at the bottom of Hardman street, people watching and reflecting on my day so far. It got me thinking about why I would make that extra journey rather than join everyone else in the pub just around the corner, where the food was pretty drab. Why are we prepared to go the extra mile for a little bit of momentary pleasure.

Arriving at Fact I was met by the sound of children enjoying the interactive part of the exhibit and it got me thinking about communal art projects, shared experiences and shared journeys. Why do most of us prefer to make a journey in a group. It has never bothered myself going to events and places alone but there are lots of people I know of that would never go alone to a concert or on holiday. I myself quite enjoy making journeys alone without the worry of accommodating other people, allowing me to discover at my own pace, without the distraction of feeling the need to chat all the time. Its not a preference but sometimes its nice.

Heading towards the gallery spaces I was immediately drawn to the huge curtain of psychedelic pattern adorning the stairway and walls in the foyer. Made from strips of fabric wove onto at least a hundred Hoola hoops ( I regret not counting them) it had a simplistic naivety, that I found really interesting and fun. Although each hoop was originally of the same shape and size they where transformed to individual form by the addition of the fabric and how they where arranged. Some keeping their perfectly circular shape and some being pulled in numerous directions by the weight of the overall structure, they were transformed into something unpredictable. It reminded me of people and how we shape each others lives through our interactions and shared experiences. The diversity of modern day society and how we can join together to create something wonderful whilst still retaining a sense of individuality.

I started a journey of exploring the piece from every angle , because it wrapped around the internal space on three sides it gave extra dimensions to how it looked as a whole depending on where you viewed it from. The windows opposite the central section flooded it with light and I thought about how the weather or the time of day may affect its impact. I quickly decided that my favourite viewpoint of the installation was from beneath the stairway looking through one side , through which the opposite side of the piece was still visible. This gave further dimension to the piece incorporating layers of light and shadow. This gave me lots to consider in my own approach to both scale and how my work is displayed. In future I will give a lot more consideration to the enviroment in which a piece of work is intended to be displayed or used and the impact of its surrounding, or how elements such as light affect how a piece is viewed.

More food for thought came from the discovery that the piece was created as part of a collaborative project with the Liverpool community and the artist Jemima Wyman. The project title collective coverings, communal skin turns garments used for violence, such as camouflage t-shirts, transforming them into objects of comfort. Investigating the ideological history of fabric and the use of recessional materials. The artists intention of using the the canopy as a second skin to the hard industrial architecture of the building, creating an interior structure which is soft and organic was in my opinion successfully realized.