As
part of the biennial Thresholds at Tate Liverpool aims to decipher the uncertain
boundaries of personal, geo-political and cultural identities. It is
effectively split into three sections – Stranger than self, Shifting Boundaries and Territories in the
Making. I was particularly drawn to Shifting Boundaries as it
investigated worldwide travel, or in other words, tourism. This was an
interesting subject matter I believe, as I had seldom come across it before
within other parts of the biennial. In terms of the curatorial approach of the
exhibition, however, I felt quite critical; for example, in one area of the
exhibition all of the photographic pieces had been placed together. This was
detrimental I feel, as it made all of the photographic pieces emerge into one
and thus made it hard to distinguish between them. I believe that categorising
pieces by aesthetic or medium is an extremely lacklustre curatorial foundation
to employ. As the photographic works were what captured my interest within the
exhibition I was quite disappointed that they were curated in such a
predictable way.
The
two pieces, which predominantly caught my attention, were Common Sense by Martin Parr and
Sophie Calle’s series of works. Martin Parr’s Common Sense is essentially a
vast portfolio of colour laser copies of photographs, which had been taken and
accumulated over four years (1995-1999). What struck me the most about the
photographs were their lurid colour – it gives them a very kitsch, tawdry
aesthetic, which reflects the theme of global consumerism quite effectively.
Although the images are quite tawdry and are of things which most of us have
seen before, Parr has in some laudable way made these proletarian images
possess a picturesque quality. I think it is truly commendable how Parr has
taken everyday images but tried to capture an essence of beauty and importance
within them – this is something of a Warholian concept, which I believe will
always sustain power because it means producing art that everyone can resonate
with.
Calle’s
series of pieces from her project The Hotel compromise both
photograph and text. They were produced as a result of Calle’s previous
employment as a chambermaid in a Venetian hotel. In the course of her cleaning
duties she began to examine the personal belongings of hotel guests.
Inexplicably voyeuristic, Calle would often find herself reading diaries,
postcards, letters and notes, as well as searching through suitcases, wardrobes
and drawers. What is even more shocking is that Calle would sometimes go to the
unbelievable extent of spraying herself with hotel guest’s perfumes, applying
on their make up and eating their leftovers. There were also times when Calle
would stand outside rooms and eavesdrop into occupant’s conversations, and
other times when she would peer into rooms to catch a glimpse of the
guests. Calle’s pieces seem somewhat part performance art and part
photographic; her performance however is obviously a private one, no one knows
of it until after the tangible art is created. The undeniably voyeuristic
nature of Calle’s piece reminded me of the work of Kohei Yoshiyuki’s that
is currently exhibiting at the Open Eye gallery. However, Yoshiyuki was
stationary to the voyeurism he encountered, were as Calle is un-shamefully
central to it. I think voyeurism is an interesting subject matter to explore
considering how the Internet and social networking has today took away our
means of privacy. Calle investigating the private aspects of the
hotel guest’s lives can be seen as a figurative for those today who use the
internet or social networking sites as a means to peer into the lives of
others.
