Story of the week:
Has to be those pesky students (one of which I used to be). They just don't know when they are beat. Here they are protesting (again). Good luck to them. I didn't join them because I like to have the happiness beat out me through the mundaneness of everyday life rather than at the hands of policemen with truncheons.
Opinion: can the home of art ever be outdoors?
Students of history are taught, from quite early on, of the
power that a museum has on shaping your opinion of an event. Setting for
example, the holocaust or slavery at the very lowest depths of an exhibition space
and then going on to set related events such as the foundation of the state of
Israel or the inauguration of President Obama at the pinnacle of an exhibition
and bathed in light the audience will give out quite clear messages about what
an audience should take away. Some may be sceptical of that kind of a leading
argument from a museum, but at least it is a starting point. Anyone with
initiative can then go away and challenge that story; unfortunately most don’t,
but that is another issue.
In an art gallery it is no doubt the same. Every picture is
put next to another for some sort of reason, some semblance of cohesion so that
the punter can make sense of what is an awful lot to absorb in a short space of
time. Taking art into the audience gives no narrative and can be seen as just
being for the sake of it. If you are aware of it you can work hard to in your
own mind to counter it (should you wish to).
So it was with a fair bit of trepidation that I paid a visit
to to Kensington Gardens to see “Turning the World Upside Down” a range of
sculptures from Anish Kapoor which had been dotted around the park in a
seemingly random fashion. The sculptures themselves one could not really argue
against; they were clearly accomplished works. But why were they outdoors?
The apparent intention of the works is “to call in to
question the viewers’ relationship to both the work and the surrounding environment,”
this sounds very lofty and noble and indeed exciting. What you actually get is a
sense that the objects have been placed at random in this open space. Considering
they are made of highly reflective steel they are fairly static and the fact
that they are so out of place in the natural environment, a feature which could
made them intriguing, only makes you
realise that pieces belong in an art gallery and not in a park.
I was left so bewildered by the installation/exhibits that I
wondered if any art can work outside. Gaudi who is as synonymous with Barcelona
as Lionel Messi ,is one artist who did take art in to the streets with huge
success. His organic structures had a real meaning to them in the age of
futurist modernist architecture with its stiff, regimented lines.
Banksy, is another one who as taken art out in to the
street. His messages are no nonsense “down with the system” ones (I’ll leave it
to you to decide whether he’s being ironic or not) and they add to urban
landscape, something that we already had lots of, graffiti and something that
we have little of in the streets, Art. Hence the controversy he evokes ( He
recently visited my neck of the woods to much hype and clamour.http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/8682588.Southampton____Graffiti____is_a___20_000_Banksy_original_mural/
)
Gaudi had functionality, Banksy with his graffiti was more
urban than concrete. These are artist who make their art relevant to the
outdoor space – graffiti doesn’t work as well indoors and architecture’s home is
the outdoors. You walk past a Banksy or a Gaudi it has some relevance or
purpose for being where it is; but when you just plant it for the sake of it
gets lost because it has no use. Galleries and museums are there for a reason.
Pictures of the Week: National Museum Singapore
The Pictures for this week come from the recent exhibitions
at the National Museum in Singapore. The freaky triangles are toby’s favourite.
Photos courtesy Ray Tang
Music of the Week: What's in a name?
Names and artwork can go seamlessly together, and so can
names and songs. Get the title right, and it will capture the emotion of the
song and get a reaction from you before you’ve heard the first note.
But in music there is also a sense of play when it comes to
song titles, especially music which has no words. There is even more free range
than usual in these cases, and that means the song can be about anything, or at
least be said to be about anything. Any
thoughts about what the phrase t'hat’s not my trick Michael' could mean would be
most welcome.
Track listing
And So I Watch You From Afar – A little bit of Solidarity Goes A Long Way
Muse –Bliss
Muse –Bliss
Waking Aida – That’s not my trick Michael
Muse - Bliss by Aref
Waking Aida - Thats not my trick Michael by TobyBakare
Music of the Week
Here's are a couple of animated videos which I’m loving at the
minute; it’s good to see artist venturing beyond stop motion and strobe to tell
a story. First up we have a tad of dubstep with Benga and “Baltimore Clap,” A
heavy hit with a surreal video.The second video is a far more genteel affair
and comes from Jeremy Messersmith. “Tattoine” is a collage animation with a Star Wars theme and added "fuzzy warm feeling inside."
No comments:
Post a Comment