“The society which has abolished every kind of adventure makes its own abolition the only possible adventure.” Paris, May 1968


Thursday 1 July 2010

Step right up and see the disappearing Arts Council Grant.

I was wandering past Tate Modern the other day and thought that I might as well take a gander at whatever was on offer in the turbine hall. Peering over the balcony I saw that the hall was completely empty save for one girl sitting cross legged in the middle of the floor. I shouted down to inquire if she was the installation but she assured me that she was just having her photo taken by a mate. Well it's not always easy to tell. It was Tate Modern who took the old saying of not knowing a work of art from a hole in the fucking road to it's logical conclusion by presenting a crack in the floor as a modern masterpiece. And why not? The gallery has been in trouble recently for it's association with BP. Perhaps the oil lapping against the Louisiana coastline is in fact a huge art installation.
Readers of this blog will know that I have always been fascinated by the short cons of the fairground, the three card trick, that kind of thing. Sometimes it seems to me that the art scene is the true modern incarnation of that old shadowy world of wrestling and sideshow shenanigans; only not as honest. The snake oil drummers of the past are best represented today I suppose by what we like to call "complimentary medicine". The biggest con of all? Well I think you know what that is.

2 comments:

Gitane said...

C'mon Raymondo art is everywhere and you haven't got to go to the Tate to worry about its absence! My neighbour is laying a patio (badly and brutally) to satisfy the demand of his partner. I've watched this spectacle from our bedroom window for months and months and the satisfaction I get from his effort is grand. He complained the other day about their puppy staff walking on the slabs and upsetting the balance of his work! Michelangelo would have recognised his effort to create a thing of beauty to improve his and her life. He's also putting a sundial on the patio "somewhere" and has decided to put it in the shade to confuse and increase the belligerence of his partner: priceless! I'll provide you with a key to my house and free mint tea with a view of my neighbour's spectacular effort where you can sit and ponder.

ray said...

Gitane. Your comment is the best piece of art critique I have read for ages and has put me in a good mood for the rest of the day. Cheers