Yeah Yeah Yeah I’m Luminescent

Last month I went to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the O2 Academy in Glasgow.  The gig was fantastic and you can read my review on the Skinny website or check it out in the magazine which is out now.

Apart from the music the Karen O’s fashion was as inspiring as usual in a leopard print leotard accessorised with a selection of mono screen print capes and scarfs (for want of a better word) in simple tribal designs.  Half way through the set she added a flourescent pink face mask decorated with a swirl of electro luminescent wire which began at the nose.  Unfortunately my mobile phone completely failed to capture the moment and google has let me down in the search for someone who did.

What impressed me the most about her look was how easy almost every element would be to recreate at home whilst still looking effortlessly cool.  You could get the leotard from American Apparel (the new Zig Zag design is a close match), print the fabrics yourself on white cotton (even old sheets would do) even the face mask would be fairly simple.  Ever since then I have tried to pick up some EL wire but haven’t managed to find a supplier outside the US but fingers crossed I’ll be able to wear a bright pink mask out on the town some time soon!

Is Your Dress Changing Colour or Are You Just Pleased to See Me?

Last night I got an amazing chance to model some wearable technology at Cryptic Nights in Glasgow.  It was all part of a night of fun and games in which the wearable technology section was curated by Sarah Kettley.  Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to see any of the other events but I was given a really gorgeous design made by Jo Hodge which more than made up for it!

The top and skirt were made using recycled men’s shirts and responded to both heat and light by changing colour.  You can find lots more information and better pictures on Jo’s Blog including some pictures of the skirt in sunlight which makes the lining change colour.  The outfit was designed to make people aware of how they move, their body language and their interactions with other people.  It definitely had that effect with lots of people coming to touch the outfit and see the results.

All this was great inspiration for the electronic bunting project I have been working on which I have posted on Ravelry.  Hopefully soon I will get round to adding some pictures and a description here too so watch this space…

Famous Art, Not So Famous Faces part 2

Of course visiting the Tate Modern wasn’t all bad! I managed at last to capture the phenomena of people taking pictures of themselves with art work…

Here are some people enjoying themselves at the Dominique Gonzalez Foerster exhibition in the Turbine hall.

Of course I didn’t miss out on the chance of a photo op. Here I am in Cildo Meireles installation Fontes.

Despite all the people this is one of the best exhibitions I have been to in a long time. It’s difficult to be interactive and thought provoking at the same but Meireles manages it. I can’t recommend it highly enough!

What do you do when art is too popular?

You know the feeling, you’re on your way to a gallery and you feel very very hip. You’re an insider, one of the in crowd. No one is as cool and as cultured as you are. Until, that is, you get to the gallery and discover that it’s packed to the rafters like an art historical meat market.

The question is, what do you do when art becomes too popular? This has been a problem for sometime. When I went to see Turner Whistler Monet at the Tate Britian in 2005 visitors were being hearded in by a man with a megaphone. Around the paintings people were ten deep. It was an example of shameless overselling. Now, I do believe that as many people as possible have the right to see art, especially when it is a national instituion. But selling a room to capacity just doesn’t work, this doesn’t create new converts it just puts people off.

Three years later it seems like nothing has changed. When I went to see the Rothko exhibition a few weeks ago at the Tate Modern it was just the same, as this sneaky iphone picture shows.

To be honest this picture doesn’t do it justice, there were far too many people. Basically you know something has gone wrong when you have to queue up to read vinyl wall text. It is especially problematic when viewing art which should create an intimate and sacred experience.

This doesn’t just happen at large institutions, at the Fruitmarket Gallery’s summer exhibition of the work of Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller the queues were so long that even after three visits I didn’t manage to see the whole exhibition.

I’m not blaming the galleries, at least I don’t think it is always intentional, although in the case of the Tate I do sometimes wonder if this is the result of barefaced capitalism. But how can this problem be solved? This is a dificult question without any easy answers, beyond longer opening hours and longer runs there isn’t much else that can be done. A painting isn’t a film, it can’t be shown on two screens at the same time.

Perhaps galleries and museums need to be brave enough to limit numbers going into the gallery, to hold people back until a room is cleared, to say come back later rather than selling to capacity and hoping for the best. Otherwise this is the high water mark and soon no one will come back and art will definitely lose its cool.

Mladen Stilinović – On Money, Zeroes, etc at CCA

I got a chance today to have a quick look round the Mladen Stilinović exhibition at the CCA in Glasgow. I really enjoyed the show and wish I could have spent more time with it.

What interested me most was the use of language in his text works which were sometimes written in English and sometimes written in Croatian (at least I assume it is croatian, strangely I couldn’t find any reference to the exact language in the labels). I particularly liked the work An Artist Who Cannot Speak English is No Artist (1991) which embodied exactly what I have been thinking about the use of the English language in contemporary art lately.

Here is a sneaky picture I took of the work on my mobile phone whilst the gallerina wasn’t looking (terrible I know but at least I didn’t use flash!)

For those of you who want to see a nice installation shot of the work click here

Famous Art, Not So Famous Faces

I’ve been noticing a trend recently which I think is worth mentioning. It started at the Louise Bourgeois retrospective at the Tate last year. Outside the the Tate Modern there were lots of people queing up to have their photos taken with one of the large spider sculptures.

Then at the Centre Pompidou this March I saw more people again taking pictures of themselves with Bourgeois giant spiders. Of course not wanting to miss out on the fun I had to have a picture taken too!

Going around this month’s Gi festival in Glasgow I’ve noticed lots of people doing the same particularly at the Jim Lambie show at GOMA. This fascinates me, Its as though people are treating the art like celebrity.

I want to start collecting these pictures. Although I haven’t managed to get a shot of other people doing it without them noticing… watch this space!