Sunday, January 27, 2013

Deciphering the distorted identities

‘Thresholds’, an ongoing group show at Tate Liverpool seeks to question the uncertain and slightly blurry boundaries of geographical, political, cultural and personal, identities. The exhibit explores an array of powerful themes like British identity, the global effects of acute regional conflicts and migration. Split into three different sections, it displays artworks drawn from the vast Tate collection.

‘Stranger than Self’
This particular section explores how artists in the UK have responded to British identity in terms of its culture and history. Artists in this section raise questions about ‘quintessentially British’ notions of beauty and tranquillity, address the political nature of images constructed by mainstream media, and offer a wider context of contemporary Britain in its cultural expansion and inclusion.
‘Shifting Boundaries’
The second section looks at mobility and migration in relation to globalisation. From tourism to shared tastes, the impact of worldwide travel is explored in works by Martin Parr, Eugenio Dittborn and Pak Sheung Chuen.
‘Territories in the Making’
Last but not the least, this one seeks to address the political implications of regional conflicts and their global effects. Highlights include Yukonori Yanagi’s subtle critique of European imperialism, Pacific 1996, and insights into a banal side of Palestinian daily life by Yael Bartana, in Kings of the Hill 2003.
Among other artists who have been featured in the thematic exhibition are Hurvin Anderson, Kadar Attia, Keith Arnatt, Sophie Calle, Jimmie Durham, Layla Curtis, Peter Fischli, Gilbert & George, David Weiss, Simryn Gill, William Kentridge, Thomas Hirschhorn, Mark Titchner, Mark Wallinger and George Shaw. The show is being hosted as part of the ongoing Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art that showcases artworks, holds projects and includes a wide range of art related events.

One among the biggest international contemporary art festivals in Britain, it unfolds through a series of projects and exhibitions that try and rediscover the city through existing and newly commissioned works presented at some unexpected and unusual public spaces apart from the city’s galleries, cultural venues and museums.

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