Column - Liverpool Biennial

The Unexpected
Guest
The Unexpected Guest explores notions
of hospitality. Leading and emerging
artists have been commissioned to make
permanent and temporary public artworks,
as well as long-term community-based
projects. Works by over 60 international
artists unfold across the city in its major
galleries and a range of sites including
The Cunard Building, the LJMU Copperas
Hill Building, The Monro, Liverpool ONE,
Everton Park and Anfield.
Hospitality is the welcome we extend to
strangers, an attitude and a code of conduct
fundamental to civilisation, as well as a
metaphor whose conditions and energy
inspires artists. In a globalising world,
increasing mobility and interdependence
are changing the rules of hospitality.
There are different ‘cultures of hospitality’,
often co-existent in the same place.
Our awareness of such complexity and
migration between nations and cultures
makes clear distinctions between host
and guest increasingly difficult.
All works are commissioned by Liverpool Biennial
unless otherwise stated
Opposite: Photo of The Cunard Building by Edward Park
4 3
1 The Cunard Building
Sylvie Blocher
The Series: Speeches, 2012
Blocher’s project is to intervene with
significant political speeches and utopian
manifestos, each of which promised
happiness or emancipation but failed
to deliver. Each is re-told in a way that
acknowledges changed contexts –
bringing new voices, new forms of energy
and a sense of catharsis to the texts.
Andrea Bowers
City of Sanctuary, 2012
Artist and activist Andrea Bowers
amplifies the launch of Liverpool as a
City of Sanctuary for asylum seekers and
refugees. Bowers and STAR (Student
Action for Refugees) have collaborated
with designer Sam Wiehl to create a
visual identity for the campaign.
Mona Hatoum
A selection of recent works, some of
which have never been seen in the UK,
are presented in The Cunard Building.
In these works, the viewer will be
confronted by unusual mappings of the
world and ideas of cultural arrogance
and political ignorance.
Jeanne van Heeswijk, Britt Jurgensen,
Debbie Morgan, Graham Hicks and
the residents of Anfield
The Anfield Home Tour, 2012
Saturdays 11.30am
Visitors are invited to join a heritage tour
to Anfield. The tour presents the impact
that regeneration has had, and continues
to have, on the lives of people in the
neighbourhood. An intervention and audio
work can be found in The People’s Republic
Gallery at the Museum of Liverpool,
amongst the exhibits on labour history.
Bus departs from The Cunard Building. Places limited.
Booking essential: 0151 702 5234