In Liverpool the Blackmarket theme deals with the relationship between human being and its material world in the moment when things lose their form, deteriorate, rot, explode, slides into decay and remembrance and forgetting lose their distinction. In our economy of waste, garbage is the repressed side of consumption, whilst non- biodegradable, radioactive toxins have made waste an ecological survival problem. In response to this we have developed a range of methods to stabilise waste, such as recycling, burning, conserving or archiving.

THE RHETORICS OF DIALOGUE

IT WAS ONLY WHEN I HEARD HOW YOU UNDERSTOOD ME THAT I KNEW WHAT I HAD SAID. OSWALD WIENER

Blackmarkets are based on the concept of dialogue, as a “flowing through meaning”. At the Blackmarket knowledge is not given as a lecture, but told as a story. Knowledge is not information that can be called up, but a matter to be negotiated between the client and the expert in the act of communication. This also means dealing with knowledge as lies, as simulation, as promises, as betrayal, as a paralinguistic phenomena and as silence. What counts here is not what one knows, but how one knows and how one can pass it on. Complex yet charming exchanges take place between expert and client in order to keep the process of informing, communicating and understanding in motion, and to help it succeed.

Seven experts will reflect on their different professions and how the dialogue is a constitutive element of their working process.

Geoffrey Beattie
Head of School and Dean of Psychological Sciences at the University of Manchester. He has published 15 books and has been the resident psychologist on all seven “Big Brother” series.
1. The gestures in a dialogue: talking with hands
2. The role of silence in a dialogue

Richard Bentall
Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Bangor. His most recent book “Madness Explained” (2003) received the British Psychological Society Book Award. Dialogues with people who are not there: The nature of auditory hallucination

Anne Hesketh
Speech and Language Therapist, researching and teaching at the University of Manchester. How to talk to someone who can’t: Communicating with people after a stroke

Steve Naylor
Detective Superintendent and part of Liverpool Police Force’s Major Incident Team, accredited Senior Investigative Officer. Theory and practice of interviewing witnesses and suspects involved in major crime

Julia Nelki
Child Psychiatrist in community multidisciplinary service and lead of school based mental health service for refugee children, Liverpool. Dialogues with children in impossible situations: What is it like to be a refugee?

Roger Phillips
Broadcaster on BBC Radio Merseyside since the early 1970s. How to talk to people you can’t see: Dynamics of the radio phone-in

Imogen Stidworthy
Artist whose work addresses aspects of language in her installations, sound and video works. “My focus is on communication and the roles of speech and language in performing and de?ning it. Working with speech as a sculptural material opens out dimensions of space, body, sound, architecture, thought and language of the voice”. Languages and their borders, shibboleths and other vehicles and obstacles in the process of communication. With reference to her work and in particular the aphasic dialogue.

A SHADOW PLAY FOR A DIALOGUE DUO

The duo first met in Tel Aviv during late adolescence and have been in touch ever since, first in Tel Aviv, then in Paris, and now in London. Dan, who lives in Tel Aviv, occasionally flies out just to meet Eyal, or else meets him in Israel while he is filming. Their greatest common pleasure is conversing and like all good conversation, theirs spans more than one topic – politics, sociology, history, cultural criticism, economy and philosophy are covered, as well as their personal lives. They are in a perpetual friendly disagreement, which both find very stimulating.

Eyal Sivan, documentary filmmaker, producer (with film production company Momento!) and essayist, born in Haifa, Israel, lived in Paris from 1985 and now lives in London. He has directed more than ten feature-length documentaries including: “I love you all”, an essay about social control and security through surveillance camera images of the Stasi former East Germany (2004) “Route 181, fragments of a journey in Palestine-Israel”, a documentary road-movie shot on the virtual border between Palestinians and Israelis as decided in UN Resolution 181 for the partition of Palestine, co-directed with Michel Khleifi (2003) “The specialist” the trial of Adolf Eichmann, based on archive material and inspired by “Eichmann in Jerusalem. A Report on the Banality of Evil” by Hannah Arendt (1999). His cinema work has won awards at many international film festivals.

Dan Dolberger is co-founder and Executive Vice President of First Life Research, an early stage technology specializing in semantic intelligence. He is a high-tech entrepreneur by occupation, a journalist by profession, a social psychologist by education, a philosopher by orientation, a generalist by essence and a culture observer by hobby. During the past 13 years he has filled various marketing and managerial positions in several high tech companies. Previously he has worked as Editor in chief of an Israeli newspaper, and filled several editorial roles in Israel’s two largest daily newspapers. Dan has also lectured on Internet marketing and media philosophy at the Huzliya Interdisciplinary Center. He holds an MA in Social Psychology and a BA in Philosophy from Tel Aviv University.

Blackmarket No. 11 is part of the Bluecoat’s Liverpool Live programme for the Liverpool Biennial 2008. Presented in association with the Live Art Development Agency. Supported by Arts Council England, Liverpool Culture Company and the Goethe Institut Manchester

Production Management: Frauke Luther, Berlin

Team Liverpool

Research / Production Assistant: Vanessa Bartlett

Production for the Bluecoat: Richard Kingdom

Technical Director Sara Smith

Assistant Set Design Laura Pullig

Hostesses: Rhiannon Breakey, Sarah Gladden, Henriette Huppmann, Kira Kirsch, Sophie Tsang, Angelica Vanasse, Sarah Forrest, Paul Currie (runner), Andrew Hunt (runner)

Second Hand Knowledge Dealers: Kathryn Cooley, Charlotte Emmett, Charlie Steer, Annie Taylor-Goob

Shadow Play

Palentypist: Francis Barrett

Pianist: Claire Jones

Technical Staff: Dan Abbot, Dave Berger, Gary Dyson, Joe Sharp, Tom Smith

Internship: Graham Flood, Laura Outterside, Kate Seaton

Make-Up: Kelly Fogg

Documentation: Leon Seth (film), Alex Wolkowicz (photo)

Printdesign: Katrin Schoof