Issue 90 / July 2018

It’s fair to say that, artistically, Liverpool has been riding the
Capital Of Culture train since 2008. And why shouldn’t it?
It’s been a hell of a ride over the last decade: 2008 marked a
revolutionary change for Liverpool’s arts and culture scenes,
with independent creative businesses from the Ropewalks to
the Baltic Triangle blossoming alongside big-hitters like FACT,
The Bluecoat and The Walker Art Gallery, gaining international
recognition along the way. No other city knows how to show off
its creative talents quite like we do.
However, the journey started a long time before 2008, and
its first stop was in 1988 with the regeneration of the newly
named Royal Albert Dock. It started its new life by welcoming
TATE LIVERPOOL to the colonnades, bringing modern and
contemporary art to Merseyside. Dubbed the ‘Tate of the North’,
it was the first time Tate had moved out of London, making
Liverpool the official home to the national collection of modern
art in the North of England. Tate’s presence in Liverpool no
doubt caught the attention of the rest of the country and played
a vital role in the formation of art organisations such as FACT
by supporting Video Positive Festival in 1988. However, it does
leave me to question if the booming creative landscape that we
inhabit today would be so successful if it wasn’t for Tate’s move
into city; would our creative quarters still be so fertile?
“I don’t think anyone could have foreseen how many other
venues would have developed and how Liverpool would look
now in such a vibrant ecology of other institutions,” Jemima Pyne,
Tate Liverpool’s Head Of Media And Audiences muses on the
early days of Tate Liverpool. “There just wasn’t the same cultural
economy then.” Tate Liverpool started off showcasing work from
the Tate’s collection, which developed into curating international
exhibitions and finally putting Liverpool on the artistic map.
However, it wasn’t all plain sailing as Pyne recalls: “It was hard
to have ambition, I guess, because there weren’t the resources or
the ecology to make it happen.”
30 years is definitely something worth celebrating and the
two exhibitions Tate Liverpool have planned for this summer are
clever nods to the history of the building and the journey it has
been on. “I think we place expectations on ourselves,” Pyne says
as she discusses the 30th birthday celebrations. “I guess one of
the things about being 30 as an institution is it allows you to look
back at your history, what you have done previously and how you
can reflect on that.”
This idea of looking to the past and the future of Tate
Liverpool and the city was the main driving force behind this
summer’s exhibitions. Life In Motion: Egon Schiele / Francesca
Woodman is a celebration of exactly what it says on the tin,
of a life in motion, of changing times, of two artists, very
different in style but very relevant to the eras in which they
were producing art. Tamar Hemmes, curator at Tate Liverpool,
discusses the thought process behind creating the show: “We
started with Egon Schiele and the thinking behind that was,
10 years ago Liverpool was awarded the Capital Of Culture
which was an incredibly important time for the city. At the time
we had an exhibition of Gustav Klimt and Schiele was Klimt’s
pupil – we wanted a connection to 10 years ago to celebrate
that anniversary, but also to look forward because it is our 30th
birthday. So that is why we wanted to look at the relevance of
Schiele’s work today and we had some Francesca Woodman
work in the Tate collection already. We thought that their
approach to the human body had some similarities and we felt
it would create an interesting dialogue between the two artists.”
Not only is the exhibition a nod to an exciting time in Liverpool’s
past, it also alludes to the very relevant topic of gender within the
art world, across music and in Hollywood. “What we do is always
related or relevant to the time we are in now. The expectation is
to make sure that is what we are doing,” Pyne adds. “We want
to welcome as many people as possible and not just people who
love art. We believe that modern and contemporary art is really
helpful for people to navigate the modern world; it is made by
artists living and working now [and is] about their lives now. It’s
about us opening our doors.”
Opening up to the public is what the recent exhibition Ken’s
Show: Exploring The Unseen has done with great success. The
show saw a collection of art work handpicked by Tate Liverpool’s
art handler, Ken Simons, who has worked in the building since its
opening. The pieces reflect Simons’ favourite moments from over
the decades, with works from Turner and Rothko stealing the
show. Each piece is accompanied by a personal account of why
Simons picked the work of art for his exhibition and is a moving
addition to the show. Ken’s Show has allowed viewing artwork at
Tate Liverpool to become more accessible; rather than having the
gallery’s voice, you are spoken to by someone who has worked
with the pieces in ways very few people ever get to do. “Ken’s
take on the collection and how he has worked on it for so long
brought a different kind of learning and insight [to the gallery],”
Pyne explains. “We are interested in learning and academic
learning about art history, we are proud we have that but there
are other ways you can learn about art.”
Teaching people about art and bringing people into the
gallery is something Tate Liverpool puts at the forefront of their
exhibitions and something Simons, who is now retired, thinks
should be done more often: “We want to open it up to noncurators
to do things in the gallery, to work with the learning
staff to do small displays. I’d like to see our other staff be given
the opportunity I have been given – you get a different voice then
rather than just a museum voice. I think it’s something museums
and galleries have got to do now, open up [to] the community
more. That is a benefit to us because we are getting more people
in through the doors.”
To help get more people through the doors, Tate has
recently introduced Tate Collective, an initiative which allows
“Tate has an important
role to play in showing
that London is not
the only significant
place when it comes
to culture in the UK”
young people between the ages 16 to 24 to buy tickets to any
special exhibition, in any Tate building, for £5. On top of that,
students and staff at all of the Liverpool universities get into
Tate Liverpool shows for free, which as Pyne suggests is “one
of the benefits of being a young person in Liverpool”. Making
art accessible for young people from an early age is vital for
driving people to all types of art galleries and towards creating
art. To help with this, a Tate Exchange open experiment has
begun at Tate Liverpool. It is a space developed by artists and
practitioners from Tate and beyond to encourage members
of the public to collaborate on new ideas and discover new
perspectives on life through the use of art. Tate Liverpool have
worked with local arts organisations on the project to create a
space open to everyone to enjoy pop-up art, live performances,
workshops or just to meet like-minded people. It’s a brilliant setup
that is encouraging people to explore art galleries in a nontraditional
way and raise awareness for all the talented artists
and creative people that reside in the city. “I think Tate Liverpool
has an important role to play in showing that London is not the
only significant place when it comes to culture in the UK. There is
Egon Schiele, Self portrait 1914
so much going on in Liverpool,” Hemmes explains. To really bring
that to the forefront of people’s minds with programmes like Tate
Exchange is an exciting step to raising awareness of Liverpool’s
vibrant art scene.
Tate Liverpool does have that kind of big brother feeling about
it, but it would be wrong to say that it dominates art in the city.
If anything, it creates reassurance that Liverpool is a city worth
investing in, in terms of time, people, money and the opportunities
to bring more art to everyone who wants to explore the world
through their creativity. So here is to another 30 years of Tate
Liverpool and to another 30 years of Liverpool as a whole leading
the charge on making arts and culture accessible to everyone. !
Words: Sophie Shields
All images © Tate Liverpool
Egon Schiele, Seated Girl 1910
tate.org.uk/liverpool
Life In Motion: Egon Schiele / Francesca Woodman is showing at
Tate Liverpool until 23rd September.
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