Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Let's Visit the Tate Modern


Here I am outside the Tate Modern. I seem to have inadvertently started a series of self-portraits using reflected imagery. Reflect, reflect, reflect....something I certainly know how to do.
Before leaving Calgary, I had looked at the Tate Modern Website, but I had absolutely no idea how enormous the building is. Everything here seems enormous. The city, the population, the noise, the markets (there are 70 in London), the galleries (there are 100 in the East Side alone), the museums. I am sure you could fit everything of a cultural nature that we have in Canada into the Tate Modern space. It is in an old hydro generation plant (if my memory serves me well) right on the banks of the Thames.
I had seen a little video on the Tate website of the Rachel Whiteread installation, but again, I just couldn't imagine the size of it. Thousands of white corrugated plastic boxes stacked like giant building blocks into various configurations. People were pouring through, almost literally as you can see in this photo.
I ventured down and wandered through it all. It brought back memories of going to Banff with my family as a child and visiting a large throne made of ice on Banff Avenue. I took some photos and I noticed that almost everyone else was taking photos too. There was a playful feel in the space, almost like being in a playground with a bunch of children. Everyone was posing and taking photos and children were having to be restrained from using the blocks to build something of their own or to sit on.
The people taking photos were using film cameras, video cameras, digital cameras and mobile phones. I became fascinated with this and so I started to take photos of people taking photos. I am sure I spent an hour in there stalking people and trying to photograph them without them knowing. Of course with so many cameras going off all over the place it wasn't all that difficult.
I wandered all through the museum .... well, I ONLY made it through 5 floors, but it looked like the 6th and 7th floors didn't have any displays. The Jeff Wall exhibition had been taken down and they were reinstalling, but there was certainly enough there to hold my attention for 6 or 7 hours. Yes. Six or seven hours! Now those of you who have been to a gallery with me know that I do tend to spend quite a bit of time looking, but this was beyond anything I have experienced. I am sure those of you close to me will be happy that you aren't with me, as I don't think I know anyone who has the stamina I have for galleries. It seems to be an unquenchable thirst at this point in time, and since I know I will be back to "Little House on the Prairie"land soon enough, I just want to soak it all up. Will tell you more about other parts of the gallery at another time.
Thanks to Bob for replying to my plea for help in rotating my images!

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"I seem to have inadvertently started a series of self-portraits using reflected imagery. Reflect, reflect, reflect....something I certainly know how to do."

This is so you Patti. Now can I see some reclining at water's edge? Absolutely just kidding- do not lay down at the water's edge with your camera!

M.M.

7:26 AM  

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