Tag: London

Collect (22)

Visiting COLLECT, as an art fair for “contemporary objects” was such a different experience, compare to the museum and gallery setting we’ve been exposed to during our Field.
The excitement of new, as well as the people – makers and artists themselves standing next to their work, curators and galleries, collectors and enthusiast – made the viewing different. Sometimes it was more critical, but mostly more open minded and eager to learn more: from the makers themselves, by handling the objects or discussing with other visitors.

Serpentine Gallery and the V&A (20, 21)

Straight after our final Field Trip to the North of England, we went to London for the weekend and managed to see briefly yet another 2  exhibitions, giving us another examples of curation, exhibition space, and context.

Serpentine Gallery had very interesting exhibition on Zaha Hadid, completely changing my expectation on presenting architecture within gallery setting.
The gallery is located in the Hyde Park, so I asume that is the reason why there were such surprising number of people. It made me think that park experience must be linked to experiencing art, for majority of people.

 

A very quick visit to V&A, but so valuable  when we found exhibition on changing design and changing world’s ideas: mostly on consumerism, status and globalisation.

The Hunterian Museum, London – Wunderkammer Field Presentation

A presentation of our allocated museums, on their core collections and collectors, ethos, organisation, curation, architecture, history and context.
I was allocated the Hunterian Museum in London, within the Royal College of Surgeons’ Headquarters.

I was glad I got to research deeply and digest data on a scientific based collection. My fascination was quickly directed to the strong ethos of careful observation and objective scientific method, that led John Hunter to collect around 15,000 specimens.
This approach, and the exhibits themselves, helped him to make a number of breakthroughs in medical surgery, which the curation of the museum reflects.

During my presentation, straight after the presentation on another science based collection of Wellcome Foundation, a deep conversation on ethics emerged.
The collection itself, as well as how some of the artefacts were acquired, raised questions on what is appropriate in art, medicine and science.
The exhibiting of the objects, human parts, in a public museum setting requires special attention, that’s why the ban of photography in Hunterian Museum.

Rachel Whiteread, House, 1993

An ambitious cast of a complete Victorian house in east London; doomed to be demolished, as all the other terraced dwellings.
Showing absence through presence of emptiness.
Creating a public sculpture with private/domestic space.

Rachel Whiteread House 1993 Photo: Sue Omerod © Rachel Whiteread

The road has been destroyed in the second Wold War bombing.
By the early 1990’s the terrace was almost completely demolished, giving space to new tower blocks, new housing and housing preferences, new progress and change.
The last houses were tear down in 1993, with the last one used to create the sculpture, just to be demolished too, shortly after the artist received the Turner Prize for the monument.

The appropriation of absence, how no-more existing objects and their history around and after their life-time can have influence today; how they can represent and reflect on ongoing changes in our society, are pretty captivating.

My project wants to explore ideas of stability and presence, through history of changing industry in Europe, but also like Rachel’s work, through absence and ephemerality.

Resources: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/turner-prize-1993/turner-prize-1993-artists-rachel-whiteread
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2003/nov/01/20yearsoftheturnerprize.turnerprize17
http://www.artangel.org.uk/projects/1993/house