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

The Manners of KoreaAhmet Ogut

NoSuk Kuhn Oh

Storying RapeMorris Louis

Three Weeks in JanuaryNadia Kaabi-Linke

Runo Lagomarisino

Mona Hatoum

Suzanne Lacy

Suzanne Lacy