Stages #7 explores the concept of Empire and its manifestation in contemporary visual culture and design.
“Empire is materialising before our very eyes.”
(Hardt & Negri, Empire, 2000)
Liverpool established its international reputation as a pre-eminent gateway for shipping, trade and the movement of people in multiple, sometimes troubling, ways. The city created to service this exchange – dense in buildings, public spaces and infrastructure, financed with colonial profits – became a major port of the British Empire. Today, Liverpool presents an even more complex story, having undergone serious decline since the industrial period, followed by intense regeneration when it became European Capital of Culture in 1998, and now part of the ‘Northern Powerhouse’.
Set against this backdrop, with Liverpool as both subject and stage, the Design & Empire [working title] symposium challenged some of the aspects of Liverpool’s imperial legacy whilst reflecting on wider current practices within design and visual culture. How does one reflect the other? How does Empire materialise in contemporarycultural practices? How can we discuss this without becoming part of the problem?