Janice Kerbel

Janice Kerbel, Fight, 2018. Installation view at Blundell Street, Liverpool Biennial 2018. Photo: Rob Battersby

Janice Kerbel, Fight, 2018. Installation view at Blundell Street, Liverpool Biennial 2018. Photo: Rob Battersby

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Janice Kerbel (b. 1969, Canada) lives and works in London, UK. Kerbel has explored a recurring theme of communication (and sometimes its absence) in the form of print, performance, light and most recently sound. She was a Sobey Art Award finalist in 2006 and was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2015 for her performative work DOUG (2015), a nine-part song cycle performed by six singers. She has held teaching positions at the Slade School of Fine Art and is currently Professor at Goldsmiths College. 

Fight is a series of silkscreen posters by Janice Kerbel located outside Bluecoat. Kerbel first choreographed an unarmed fight for a group of 12 individuals. Every action of the fight was recorded on sheets of paper the size of a body, using text in the area corresponding to the part of body where the impact is received. These drawings act both as recipients of action – becoming illegible with the layering of type – and a score for future action. The drawings were then printed onto campaign poster paper, which are presented from the ground up, emphasising their relationship to humans. Kerbel is interested in how fights can both erupt and dissipate unannounced, regardless of context or setting.

Recent group and solo exhibitions include Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (2016); MoMA, New York, USA (2013); The Arts Club, Chicago, USA (2012); Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre, Canada (2012); Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Germany (2011); Chisenhale Gallery, London, UK (2011); and Tate Britain, London, UK (2010).

Janice Kerbel at Liverpool Biennial 2018

Fight, 2018
Screenprint on billboard paper
Commissioned by Liverpool Biennial
Exhibited outside Bluecoat