Lorenzo Fusi moves to Open Eye

As the arts transfer window closes, the Biennial curator Lorenzo Fusi has moved across the city, to be the new artistic director for the Open Eye.

Lorenzo curated the 2010 and 2012 Liverpool Biennial, latterly with help from new Director, the very hands on Sally Tallant, and we always wondered how that relationship would work. Well, now we know. It doesn’t. Tallant’s already talked about opening up the Biennial to include music, “It’s crazy we’ve never done it before” she told us last year, ahead of Rhys Chatham and his 100 guitarists. We noted at the time how granular Tallant’s style was. Make no mistake, she has come to shake it like a Polaroid installation.

In retrospect, this year’s Biennial did feel like a game of two halves. Of something stirring. Schizophrenic, almost. Lorenzo is certainly a vibrant, engaging presence on the Liverpool art scene, and, for us, we’ll be eternally grateful for his bringing Ryan Trecartin to the last but one Biennial. Yes, we were touched. But whether he was the man to work beneath the new Biennial’s artistic director was always going to be a moot point, and we know that Tallant has seismic changes in her sights. We wait with breath baited to see what happens next. The Open Eye could certainly use his energy and dedication to the city, and he’s spoken often about his commitments to grass roots creativity, which is a good thing to cling onto in the current climate.

Prior to his appointment at the Liverpool Biennial, Lorenzo was Chief Curator at sms contemporaea and Palazzo delle Papesse Contemporary Art Centre in Siena (Italy) and he continues to give lectures regularly at Hope University, Tate Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool.

“Open Eye’s resilience and rich history represent an important legacy and an incredible source of inspiration for me. Over the last 40 years, the organisation has consolidated its unique role in the local and national cultural arena. I am thrilled to now take the lead towards a new phase of this history, building on the gallery’s already established reputation and tradition,” Fusi said.

We wish him well.