DLA Piper Series: Constellations @ Tate Liverpool, ongoing

What do Man Ray, Paul Nash, Christo, and Simon Starling have in common? The answer is something a bit tangible, a bit art historical, and a bit subjective – connections Tate hopes to reveal by displaying them in a room together. At the end of July, Tate Liverpool unveiled the final section of a re-hang of its permanent collection, using ‘trigger’ works to create nine groupings; an approach it's calling Constellations.

Assistant curators Stephanie Straine and Eleanor Clayton say that developing Constellations has allowed them to position artworks from “different art historical paths” alongside each other, “making visible hidden connections and involving audiences in formulating the reading and understanding of art.” Once they saw the works side by side, some surprising relationships emerged – such as the “physical and performative” interplay between Isa Genzken's Two Loudspeakers and Claude Cahun's I Extend My Arms.

To help explain the theory behind each grouping, the curators use diagrams and a list of key words (an interesting precursor to an exhibition called Keywords, opening at the gallery next spring). For Man Ray and co these words include: surrealism, readymade, staging, bodily, and fetish. Arguably many more items in the Tate’s collection could be described using these words; however, a huge amount of work has obviously gone on behind the scenes to hone each cluster of pieces, and it isn’t only the rejection of chronological or thematic groupings that makes Constellations different. To continue the stars-in-the-sky motif, some of the pictures hang on specially made structures in the middle of the room instead of on the wall. This clear Perspex backing allows the reverse of the frame to be seen, providing a privileged glimpse of something usually hidden that should interest the geekier art visitors among us; the revealed stickers and stamps are like each picture’s personal passport.

Not every 'constellation' makes complete sense on first viewing – some connections even seem a little contrived (Picasso to Wolfgang Tillmans? Not sure) – and the groups can be a slight distraction from some intriguing works that haven’t been on display in the city before, including a series of Louise Bourgeois etchings, a tea urn from Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane’s Folk Archive, and traces from the Marina Abramović performance Rhythm 0. But perhaps the show just needs a few revisits. [Linda Pittwood]