Hello Biennial Blog,
This entry has been a long time coming since I took over Sacha Waldrons position as Programme Assistant in September, but better late than never. So first things first, I’m Hannah Pierce, nice to e-meet you.
I’ve just returned to the office today after 2 weeks working on another short festival in Ireland called Terminal Convention. Developed by Static Gallery, Liverpool it’s currently taking place in the Decommissioned Terminal of Cork International Airport. Read about it here www.terminalconvention.com
In addition to an exhibition, art fair, farmers market and music festival there was also a three day symposium titled Airport Art: Is it a Terminal Convention? (See what they’ve done there?) Speakers included Charles Esche, Annie Fletcher, Steven Ten, Alistair Hudson, George Yudice and Stephen Wright among others, all chaired by John Byrne, liberating his inner game show host….. and attended by a number of past and present Liverpool Biennialists.
Topics covered in the departure lounge included;
-Double ontology
-The guilt of the art fair (with a full apology)
-The museum as a place of antiquity
-The museum as an activist space
-Aerosexuals (google it)
-The user value of Art “one can be a drug user, but never an Art user”
-The Market as Condition of Possibility for Art
-Government money paying for wayward experimentation – We should be more useful.
-The over saturation of Art in the public sphere, is it time to apply a de growth?
-The Bermuda Triangle
All punctuated by Douglas Gordons rendition of Perfect Day by Lou Reed seeping through from the duty free, where every work he has produced from 1992 is being exhibited on a loop. And of course the regular arrivals and departures of Aer Lingus, the runway is still fully functional.
Douglas Gordon. Pretty much every film and video work from about 1992 until now.
The discussion saw academics not only asking questions but also suggesting a few answers. Charles Esche argued that the model of the museum is now is redundant, maybe we don’t even need it anymore (the Van Abbe no longer shows any temporary exhibitions, but continue to commission new works). This approach to programming opens up new possibilities for curatorial and performative use of the archive – look at their four part Play Van Abbe exhibitions here http://vanabbemuseum.nl
Annie Fletcher, Van Abbes exhibitions curator agreed “ There are many ways to archive, just don’t wait for it”
Unfortunately this is where I have to admit that I’m procrastinating a little, and that there is a rather large spreadsheet for the 2010 Touched archive awaiting completion. So in heeding Annie Fletchers advice I will go back to Excel and make sure that the recent festival and all the images are available online for you very soon, just don’t wait for it….