introspective/relationships

"Relationships," held in the Liverpool Academy of Arts, was the largest of the student shows arranged as part of the Practise and Publication module. I liked many of the works on show a great deal, and I felt a lot of it was very poignant and worthy. I did however think that the space itself felt sort of characterless, and few of the works engaged strongly with the idea that their artwork was being produced for a specific display space. This is something I feel guilty of with how I chose to display my own artwork, too, however, so I have no real right to criticise.

The works produced for the second show of that evening, "Introspective at the LSU," felt more successful, with a slightly stronger sense of identity and shared ethos. All the works in the small, office rooms, felt really accomplished and were, at times, very captivating. Rachel's films combined to menacing effect, Tasha's installation was otherwordly and ominous, and Louise's room was a really artfully combined and poignant arrangement of objects, tones and moods. These works probably went the furthest in overcoming the flat, empty atmosphere of the Student's Union.

I think maybe some other works weren't serviced the best by being displayed in the SU. Freya's work is something I rate and always enjoy seeing, but I thought the lighting and atmosphere of the room it was displayed in was just too flat and sparse to do it justice. It's one of my favourite works produced by my peers, but I'd be dishonest if I said I could totally overlook its display environment in appreciating it. I had similar feelings about many of the more wall-based works, but I'm aware that the logistics of displaying in an SU must have been quite hard to deal with. None of the work was inherently flawed, in fact I thought it was all really good, it's just that the space still felt officey. I had to deal with similar annoyances displaying in the Corke gallery.

One thing that I felt all the works benefited greatly from was the friendly, fun atmosphere of the show. It was easygoing and casual in the same sense that "Mementos" was, and it's something that not all of the exhibitions I've been to this year have shared. It goes a long way to making an experience memorable, and I think during the course of "Introspective," the LSU definitely housed a lot of worthy and enjoyable opportunities for memorable experiences.