The theme of the Liverpool Biennial 2012 is ‘The Unexpected Guest’, and asks artists to draw their own conclusions on what it means. This created an extensive plethora of different and ‘out there’ variations on the same theme.
One of the more left field pieces, and one of the more overlooked biennial pieces, is Suzanne Lacy’s two pieces on rape and sexual violence, displayed in the Cunard Building. Lacy is known predominately as a performance based artist she produced a piece in the 1970s called The Weeks in May which involved a self-defense class, among other events, to highlight sexual violence towards women. 35 years later, for the Liverpool Biennial she has modified her concept to once again highlight sexual violence and questions society’s reaction to the victims of ‘unexpected’ and unwelcome violations.
This first, Storying Rape, is a video installation set up in the historic building’s pier side. Surrounded by massive marble pillars that marked the entrance and exit of many of the more ‘wanted’ passengers to and from the new world, hangs a single screen on whichStorying Rape is displayed. The video features a round table discussion involving some leading advocates for women’s rights, media officials and experts in abuse, such as; NBC Journalist Ana Garcia, writer/director Julie Hebert, Authors on rights and abuse Dr. Jackson Katz & Dr. Francesca Polletta and LAPD department chief Charles Beck.
This work instantly becomes different to most video installations as the discussion leader, Garcia, proclaims “I am uncomfortable and confused being a part of living working art.” The subject of the art is aware that it is, and will be art. She continues that ‘using the word art with rape, is very confusing’, understanding how art is a subjective form and can be interpreted a number of ways, yet these issue need to understood.
The discussion that follows from these representatives is an intriguing conversation that raises issues to do with; the way in which rape is represented in sociality, how this is exacerbated and stereotyped in the media, how the police are trained to deal with and comfort victims, how the public react towards victims.
The second piece, which exhibits next door to the former, is titledStorying Rape: Shame Ends Here. In this installation Lacy poses the question ‘I know someone, do you?’, quite literally, as victims of sexual abuse and rape tell their story, from the speaks posed in the exhibit’s four corners. The shocking and unexpected twist with this room is that the aural reports are mixed, edited and overlapped proving over and over again it’s the same story (sure the places, circumstances and details are different for each account, but a lot of it is scarily interchangeable and full of patterns), and there should be no shame to be open about them. Lacy implores the public to share their stories and spread the message, using the Twitter ‘hashtag’, #ShameEndsHere.
Justin Lewis, Volunteer Media Team