Art

I went to London for a work thing. Because of how long it takes to get to London I got to go down the day before. The venue for the thing was practically next door to Tate Modern, so I'd have been a fool not to go.

Tate Modern doesn't (as far as I know) have a version of the Barbara Kruger piece, 'I shop therefore I am', I based the header image on. Took me ages to pose and light my hand holding a card and after all that I'm damn well using it. So there. (I'm quite pleased with it)

Tate Modern seems… different from how I remembered it. I recall it had more art on display, maybe I'm imagining it. Some rooms just have one thing in them, there are a lot of space-filling audio and video installations. It just seems like there's not enough to fill the space. I think the paid-for exhibitions are better, certainly the Leigh Bowery one was packed with stuff and was great. I recommend going.

The last time I visited was before the Blavatnik building got built. So, quite a while ago. They've added a mezzanine to the Turbine Hall too which breaks the space up a bit. I liked how open and cavernous it felt before. You don't really get to feel that other than in cathedrals, and now… you don't get that here anymore either.

They've got the original of Maman by Louise Bourgeois sat on the mezzanine now. It gives me the creeps, but I like it for that. 'War of The Worlds' meets 'Alien'. The eggs in it though. No.

I've seen some of Tate's collection of Giacometti sculptures at Tate Liverpool and they were displayed in big white rooms with bright lighting. Here they're in near darkness picked out with spotlights. It's quite startling going from daylight into there and to worry about tripping over something and going headfirst into The Art. It makes you stop and get your bearings. I can see why they've done it, the sculptures are deeply textured and the lighting adds lots of contrast to show that up. I could have done with a place to sit down in there though. There was a staff member who had a seat, and she seemed to be there to tell people to turn the flash off on their phones.

The tanks are strange. There's an actual tank there you can go in, with art in it, lined with the iron panels and everything and it still smells of oil. I asked the (flash warden) staff member if the smell was real or whether they sprayed it on for ambience and she said it genuinely is the original smell of the place.

I am happiest with early to mid-20th Century modern art, probably because when I was growing up that's what any modern art books were about. It feels like 'home' in a way. That's what I came to Tate to see.

One complaint: it was very very warm in there. I was sweating and overheated in every room. Maybe the art needs to be kept hot, but I found it very difficult.

OK, two complaints: put some more seats in!

Something I'd forgotten about 'Fountain' was that the original was lost (or maybe it wasn't) and Duchamp made new ones and authorised a set to be made. The one in Tate Modern was from the set of eight made in 1964.

I could have sat in the room with Babel for quite a while. Except there were no seats and I don't like sitting on the floor. I wasn't sure if the radios were actually on and working or whether there were speakers playing a recording, but apparently they are all live radio broadcasts. They're all set to the quietest audible volume so you can't hear any one, just all of them together. It's a kind of white noise that's more like being in a shopping mall or busy pub. It's nice. It's also dark and blue in there and the radios give a warm glow. Cosy.

The Degas 'Little Dancer of Fourteen Years' sculpture was a surprise to me. I thought I knew about it and turns out I hadn't been paying attention at all. There are a lot of them for a start. This isn't the original. They all have different clothes. I thought the whole thing was bronze and didn't know they're wearing actual tutus and bows. It's good to learn new things, eh.

Leigh Bowery!

I wasn't going to visit any of the paid exhibitions because it all said 'book in advance' and implied it was going to be busy. I was there first thing in the morning and it seemed pretty quiet so I went to the desk and got a ticket for the Leigh Bowery one. Actually, I went to the desk, got pointed at a QR code which opened the Tate website on the page where I could buy a ticket online. Yet another online account added to the roster of online accounts you need to do anything at all. I got my ticket (convoluted process with a few deceptive patterns, many 2FA steps and far too many emails) and showed the barcode to the QR code person and got into the exhibition.

I was aware of Leigh Bowery before, but this exhibition tied a few things together. I took photos of some of the outfits (mainly to send to my sister) but there was a lot more in the exhibition, photos and videos, postcards, letters, interviews and so on.

It was before my time being on 'the scene' (ha ha, who calls it that now) but there were enough echoes of all this that it seemed familiar. A bit too familiar in places. The exhibition hints at the grubby reality of it all. This was from when the police just raided gay venues for a bit of fun, to show off how powerful they were and don't you forget it. Still, it was mostly fun if you were young and foolish.

And because it's London

So close to St Paul's and all the landmarks, I took lots of photos of all of it. I love that the Millennium Bridge exists, it's so busy. Lots of tourists of course but it's just a place to stand and look at London around you. I'm not a fan of London or big cities in general, but when I'm there I can't help but gawp at it all. Within a few minutes of getting off the train I've already passed more people than live in my whole town. Ridiculous.