alien encounter

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Had a nice day out in London on Saturday.  I took the girls to see the Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art at the Barbican Centre.  It was an interesting exhibition – basically presenting contemporary art as an anthropological exploration by Martians.  It was well done – with the work categorised into ‘Ritual’, ‘Ancestors’, ‘Magic’ and so on.  One of my favourite sections was the ‘Relics and Spirits’ which had some hilarious pieces such as Shag carpet relic from Elvis Presley’s jungle room, graceland’ – Jeffrey Vallance (2006) which is a piece of shag pile carpet stolen and then preserved as a holy relic in an ornate stand.  There was a painting of some vague puffs of pastel colour entitled something like ‘a representation of the human aura’.  A woman was getting very grumpy over how it could possible be real art – the usual thing about anyone being able to paint it etc.  I thought it was very funny – the ultimate charlatanry – if you believe in auras then you could believe in the painting!  There were some great pieces – Jenny Holzer’s Truisms were projected on a moving LED strip about double the length of the one pictured here.  N particularly liked them and was mesmerised by them and stayed and watched the full cycle.  She laughed out loud at ‘Expiring for love is beautiful but stupid’.  It displayed the ‘but stupid’ after a delay.  I rather like the salutory ‘Action causes more trouble than thought’.  M fell in love with a stuffed pig tattooed with scenes from the Little Mermaid.  I don’t know who the artist was.  But I think it was probably Wim Delvoye.  I couldn’t get M to express exactly what she found so appealling, all she could say was it was ‘amazing’ and ‘beautiful’.  I guess that should be enough!

We all loved Vallance’s other installation,’Cultural Ties’ – an amazing installation featuring a roomful of frames containing ties and letters.  In 1979 Vallance mailed ties to heads of state around the world with a letter suggesting that the exchange of ties could strengthen the bonds between their country and the US.  Amazingly many heads of state reciprocated and their ties are on display along with the accompanying letter.  Some sent his tie back, politely explaining that they did not accept personal gifts and others simply sent thank you letters.  There must have been at least 30 on display including the ties of Anwar Sadat and King Hussein of Jordan.  Some heads, such as Samoa, explained that ties were not customary and so sent another token, as did the Pope who kindly sent a silver talisman coin.  I’m not sure why I find such artworks so appealling but I enjoy the harmless mischievousness and the audacity of the idea – plus the resulting work is fascinating to peruse.

I was particularly pleased to be able to take the girls to the Barbican centre for the first time.  I remember when it was opened amid much controversy.  I always enjoyed going there – it used to be the venue for the Royal Shakespeare Company in London and I saw some brilliant performances there.   It’s a huge venue, bold in scope and design and I think it’s remained contemporary.  Here are a few photos (taken on my mobile hence the poor quality):

M & N enjoying a drink

After the exhibition I took the girls shopping in Oxford Street and left the car in the Barbican Centre car park as I had a cheap day ticket.  When we returned I treated them to a hot chocolate as the walk from the Tube in the freezing wind was bitter!  They couldn’t wait to try out their purchases and M is carefully making up N’s eyes (black liner finished off with a topcoat of blue glitter!).  There is something so trusting and tender in the way they are relating to each other.

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Filed under art, photos, wonderful

Tags: Barbican, Jeffrey Vallance, Jenny Holzer, Wim Delvoye