Liverpool Biennial 2012: The Bluecoat

The central hub of the Liverpool Biennial is held at the Bluecoat and one piece of work held there is film art. It is by John Akomfrah and is called The Unfinished Conversation. its around 45 minutes long and is filmed using archived photos and film from the mid to late 20th Century on Racism in the world. It is shown on three-channel video and the screens are large. The screens flick between film, photos and orange screens for breaks between each section. The film can at sometimes be shocking with violence and death and is based around Stuart Hall's memories. Stuart Hall was born in Jamaica and studied at Oxford where he received his MA. He worked for the New Left Review, one of the most influential political journals, and is more to the left on the political spectrum as the name suggests. During the film Stuart Halls voice is played over the film and he talks about his life. What Akomfrah was achieving in this art work was to show the theory that identity is not a being but instead becoming where peoples opinions are formed in real and fictive spaces. the Liverpool Biennial is running till the 25th November 2012 and is all about contemporary art and is all over Liverpool and from what I have seen so far is great and well worth a see!