Up to Liverpool for a 3 day Biennial blast, giving me plenty of time to take in the diverse nature of Britain’s biggest contemporary arts festival.
Before my Thursday session in Daniel Knoor’s “Naked Corner” I went to the Europleasure building for Alfredo Jaar’s “We wish to inform you that we didn’t know” an emotional, thought provoking piece that left me not so much angry as disappointed at the ignorance of the “civilised” world. Then next door for Cristina Lucas’ “Touch and Go” which is supposed to convey messages of the fragility of the capitalist system which passes through and leaves decaying remnants - yes it did, but it was also the perfect fun antidote to the Jaar installation.
I was joined by my twitter friend Scott (@merseytart) and stripped to our pants we took up residence in the window, our corporate messages were “A diamond is forever” (Scott) and “Just do it” (me). Performing with someone else was a very different experience to the other week, as the audience are not focusing solely on you and you can observe the interaction between viewer and model whilst occupying the same space. The most surreal moment was a woman down on her luck, albeit numbed by the effects of the can of special brew, who crossed from the other side of the road and licked a smiley face onto the window in front of us…
Friday morning came and I was alone, the message I had chosen was “Join the debate” and this brought out another aspect of the viewing public, whereas the earlier messages had simply been read, the audience took this one as an instruction, and I had countless people knocking on the window asking “what debate?” or “what are we debating?” Although the project is about the ownership of language, I put my own spin on this and invited the audience to debate about whatever they wanted, including two elderly ladies who starting a good natured argument about whether it was art, so I told them, there you go, you’re having your debate…
Friday afternoon I took in Laura Belém’s “The temple of a thousand bells” a most beautiful piece and in a classically perfect setting, followed by Danica Dakic’s “Grand Organ”, another uplifting piece which brought together the amazing organ of St George’s Hall, with the building’s other role as court of justice. The time period of the Hall’s conception was also inferred with the children looking like workhouse kids one minute and gentrified scholars the next.
On to Saturday and with no-one else taking part I had a split shift from 11am to 1pm and then from 2pm to 4pm. This gave me time for a quick look around the Biennial installations in the Bluecoat before heading to Renshaw Street. My chosen message for Saturday was “Capitalist Tool” which I felt probably sums up the objectivity of standing in the window, those portals for the manufacturers and retailers to prise your hard earned, or ill gotten, gains out of your pockets. Midday I met with my friend and fellow plinther (Gormley‘s “One and Other”) Jensen Wilder who bought me lunch, a delightful mug of “scousers’ breakfast” tea and brought me up to date with what was going on with his life. Then it was a quick tour of the upper floor of the old Rapid building, before my second performance of the day, which meant I was there when the 3:30 tour came around, which was informative and gave me a deeper insight into what I was actually doing!
Once dressed, it was off to St Luke’s church where I met some Spanish tourists who recognised me from earlier and wanted a clothed picture of me too, then to FACT for a warming mug of chocolate, and there I meet some ladies who asked “did we see you naked earlier?” Well at least people noticed what my face looked like!
A fast train to London, and onto the disorganised chaos that is public transport in the capital on a weekend. London is fun, but my heart was lagging 200 miles behind me as I descended into the Nether World of Hades, or the Northern Line as London Underground prefer to call it..
No comments:
Post a Comment