London, Day #18

Monday

Today is the first Fourth of July that I've had to write the date on a piece of paper. An odd feeling, but one that I could potentially get used to. The fourth has never been my favorite holiday, the only thing that wore me out was not being able to have the day off like everyone else I know!

In class we had two lectures, the first by our professor, Pierre (who is wonderful), on Scandal and Censorship in the art world. We started with the Fountain, of course, and then moved into the idea of one work of art in a themed exhibition causing some trouble.

After the lecture by Pierre, we had a lecture by a guest artist/lecturer. The information he was to lecture on was really interesting (Abstract art), but he basically just verbatim read his lecture (which was like a written essay). There is a huge difference between reading an essay and speaking about a topic that you have a lot of information on. It was really hard to pay attention to a lecture that was basically someone reading an extremely academic analysis of abstract art. Too much.

Then we went back to the Tate Modern to look at their photography exhibits. In their "permanent collection" section, they have works by six different artists that are called "New Documentary Forms." We discussed the idea of new documentary forms, but I was really unimpressed with the idea as something that should be shown in this kind of art space. I did, however, like one of the artists, from Ukraine, Boris Mikhailov.

This photo is from his series "Dusk" which are gelatin silver prints that have been dyed (they are not cyanotypes).

After spending what I thought was too much time in this part of the museum, we went to see the Taryn Simon exhibition called "A Living Man Declared Dead." The works were extremely powerful and very difficult to take in (especially after an already long day), and I wish we had started with this incredible project as opposed to the "documentary" bullshit from the 5th floor.

London, Day #6

Today we had one lecture in the morning about appropriation and installation art. It was very interesting as these are two more art fields that I am a bit unfamiliar with (With the exception of Barbra Kruger and Felix Gonzalez Torres).

One of the coolest installations that was mentioned was an installation by an artist named Rebecca Horn. The installation consists of a piano that is hung upside down, and after a specific time period (like 15 minutes) all of the keys fall out and make a big sound.

Here is an image:
Another installation artist whose work I really liked was Vito Acconci. It's called Bad Dream House, and there are several different ones. I could not find an image of the one that was built inside of a gallery space, but here is an image of one outdoors that sort of has a similar vibe:

Also here is a work by Boetti, "88 Maps Embroidery." It's a really interesting piece, and I'm sorry I don't have a better image of it.

Here is a work by Tracy Emin, it's entitled "Everyone I have Ever Slept With 1963-1995." The piece is both an environment and an installation, which is cool when the two intersect.

After our lecture we went to the Tate Modern. We decided to walk there from Bloomsbury by way of Somerset house (so the other ladies could see the Ai Weiwei heads). It took a while, and of course we got caught in the pouring rain, so from the waist down we were all soaking wet. When we finally arrived at the Tate Modern we only spent an hour there (so I am going back again on Friday and maybe even once more after that). We split into two groups, and I was with the group that also had my professor. We walked into several of the galleries and looked at works in comparison, had discussions about curatorial choices that were made in certain spaces, and then we were also shown works we had to study. After we had looked at many works like this, my teacher took us to see the new re-installation of the Ai Weiwei Sunflower Seeds, "Just for Alyssa," he said. Then when we got there he asked me to talk about the Artist and the work, and so I did. I mean I was quite proud of myself, but I didn't want to stay on my high horse for too long, so I just smiled when I was done for quite some time.

When we were done at the Tate Modern, we took the Tate Boat (which goes from Tate to Tate). It's about a 15 minute ride, and then we arrived at the Tate Britain. There we saw an environment piece entitled "Coral Reef" by Mike Nelson. The piece made me extremely uncomfortable. It was a series of bunker-like spaces that were behind several doors (it was very much like being in a maze where almost every door opened and there was not really a clearly marked exit). In each of the rooms there were weird artifacts like clown masks, playboy magazines, communist manifestos, semi-automatic guns, muslim prayers. It was a very odd space and I felt extremely uncomfortable, so I left. It was kind of like being in a horror movie where you knew there was nothing that could pop out at you, but you didn't know what you would find next either. Not my thing. Most of the people in my class loved it, however, but I was willing to be honest. I think it's an incredible installation, but only for that, I don't like it beyond having respect for the artist's work.

After that, one of the ladies in my group introduced us to a British friend of hers, and he showed us around the area. We had a nice sit in the park, and it was very relaxing.

Then I went home and made yummy pesto with Gnocchi, and celebrated Ai Weiwei's newfound freedom (YES! He was released on bail today!!!!!!).

Tomorrow is all lectures and no play, but then I am going to have drinks with a woman that my parents know, so we'll see!