Free Entry

DLA Piper Series: This is Sculpture takes an ambitious and revolutionary look at the history of modern and contemporary sculpture. This new Tate collection display continues to examine and question the trajectory of artistic innovation in twentieth-century art and beyond.

Sculpture in the form of object, installation, assemblage and ready-made will sit alongside more surprising forms, such as painting, video, photography, language and performance.

In addition, key figures from the cultural arena have been invited to co-curate selected sections of the display. Artist Michael Craig-Martin and Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy offer their own inspiring interpretations of the Tate Collection. Reflecting their own specialist practice, they present us with new ways of seeing and appreciating sculpture.

Tate Liverpool continues this unique and highly popular collection display with a collaboration between Tate Liverpool curators and Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, entitled The Sculpture of Language. Opening from 11 June 2010, Duffy's multi-layered and poetic display explores the numerous ways in which artists have engaged with language through their own art.

Works featured range from the surrealist art of Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, through to Gillian Wearing’s striking photographic series Signs That Say What You Want Them To Say…

In response to the display, Carol Ann Duffy has written a new sonnet entitled POETRY that will be integrated within the exhibition. For the first time in her career the poet has devised an installation that invites visitors to interact with the display by re-arranging the words of the sonnet to create and original an unlimited poem.

World renowned hat maker Philip Treacy is the latest celebrated cultural figure to collaborate with Tate Liverpool curators as part of DLA Piper Series: This is Sculpture. His display Conversation Pieces opens from 15 July 2011, featuring artworks from Treacy’s own private collection alongside specially selected works from the Tate collection.

Treacy’s selection explores the human form and human relations, mirroring in some ways his own design process. Works by Francis Bacon and Dorothy Cross representing the human figure are shown alongside the emotive abstract works of Joan Mitchell and Jackson Pollack. Central to the display and exhibition design are two artist films by Simon Martin and Haluk Akakçe. Dramatic, playful and quirky, they demonstrate Treacy's humour, avant-garde interests and Pop sensibilities. Additional highlights include works by Vanessa Beecroft, Ellsworth Kelly and Andy Warhol.

Other artists featured throughout DLA Piper Series: This is Sculpture include Sir Jacob Epstein, Henry Moore, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Arman, Yayoi Kusama and Cornelia Parker. 

Previous contributors to DLA Piper Series: This is Sculpture include director and artist Tim Etchells, and designer Wane Hemingway and his son Jack. 

Free tours of DLA Piper Series: This is Sculpture are available daily at 12:30, just ask in the foyer. 

Explore DLA Piper Series: This is Sculpture

Wayne and Jack Hemingway's Sculpture Remixed room will close on Sunday 26 June.  

Please note that some of the spaces in This is Sculpture may close for installation work for short periods of time. Please call ahead of your visit if you would like further details.