Critical Writing Index

7th Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art

by Francis Frascina

Art Monthly, Nov 2012, no. 361, pp. 18-20

This review critiques the Biennial, referring to it as a “lost curatorial opportunity.” The author offers a brief discussion of Liverpool’s historic practice of “police provocation” and the police departments racist practices, of the political climate in England immediately before the opening, and a historical account of Liverpool’s role within the slave trade, rendering the venues of the biennial of extreme importance; which Frascina unpacks. The 7th Liverpool Biennale features works by artists dealing with notions of marginalized identity: John Akomfrah’s video installation The Unfinished Conversation, which responds to Stuart Hall’s work on race and identity politics; Suk Kuhn Oh’s work that deals with notions of identity in regards to the western gaze; and Nadia Kaabi-Linke’s video installation “No” which investigates and critiques homeland security and immigration.

ITEM 2012.137 – available for viewing in the Research Centre

Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited

The Unfinished ConversationJohn Akomfrah

Ahmet Ogut

The Manners of KoreaSuk Kuhn Oh

Morris Louis

NoNadia Kaabi-Linke

Runo Lagomarisino

Mona Hatoum

Storying RapeSuzanne Lacy

Three Weeks in JanuarySuzanne Lacy