Watson, Grant, 2014, Show, Exhibition or Event, Keywords: Art Culture and Society in 1980s Britain
Abstract or Description: | Keywords: Art, Culture and Society in 1980s Britain, co-curated by Grant Watson and Gavin Delahunty, is a new take on how the changes in the meaning of words reflect the cultural shifts in our society. This dynamic exhibition takes its name and focus from the seminal 1976 Raymond Williams book on the vocabulary of culture and society. An academic and critic influenced by the New Left, Williams defined ‘Keywords’ as terms that repeatedly crop up in our discussion of culture and society. His book contains more than 130 short essays on words such as ‘violence’, ‘country’, ‘criticism’, ‘media’, ‘popular’ and ‘exploitation’ providing an account of the word’s current use, its origin and the range of meanings attached to it. Williams expressed the wish some other ‘form of presentation could be devised’ for his book, and this exhibition is one such interpretation. Almost sixty works by artists such as Rita Donagh, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, John Latham, Stephen McKenna, Carl Plackman, Donald Rodney, Jo Spence, and Anne Tallentire are grouped in relation to key words from Williams’s book. Words such as ‘liberation ’, ‘behaviour ’, ‘unconscious’ and ‘romantic’ will be juxtaposed with works, encouraging further exploration and debate. To represent the impact of oppositional politics in Liverpool we are displaying all 20 original copies of The End, a fanzine with a political overtone produced during the 1980s by musician Peter Hooton and Phil Jones. Central to Keywords has been its public talks programme by major figures from the spheres of art, theory, activism and politics. To date this has included lectures by Linda Bellos on Equality, Douglas Crimp on Theory, Geeta Kapur on Practice, Leo Bersani on Sex and Tony Bennett on Culture. This outstanding line-up was completed with a lecture from Baroness Lola Young on the meanings of the word ‘Ethical’. Keywords was previously on view at Iniva (the Institute of International Visual Arts), London 27 March – 18 May 2013 ahead of being relocated to Tate Liverpool. The exhibition is organised by Tate Liverpool in collaboration with Iniva, London. |
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Events: | Title Location Dates Type Keywords: Art, Culture and Society in 1980s Britain Liverpool, UK 28 Feb - 11 May 2014 Museum/exhibition |
Official URL: | http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-liverpool/exh... |
Subjects: | Creative Arts and Design > W100 Fine Art > W190 Fine Art not elsewhere classified |
School or Centre: | School of Arts & Humanities |
Date Deposited: | 19 Dec 2016 12:11 |
Last Modified: | 28 Nov 2019 15:26 |
URI: | https://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/id/eprint/2543 |
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