Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art Open at Tate Modern
Walking towards the new Switch House building from Southwark tube station, yous might error it for a department shop car park. However, moving closer, the squat athwart building emerges as a rather strange architectural object, bulging out into the space that has been behind hoardings for the by few years. I went forth to exam out the idea that Tate is now fulfilling its promise to become a truly 'global' fine art museum and was curious to see how much of 'Asia' is now being represented and how. In that location is already something non-Western in its earthiness. In the words of Laura Cumming, 'Information technology is a mountain, a fortification, a battleship, a Boom-boom, a truncated and torsioned pyramid, a cliff, a mount, a auto park, with horizontal slits for windows, that offers visitors from its southern approach a view of convex concrete walls that look as if they are made of rammed earth.'[1]
TEXT : Katie Hill
IMAGES : Courtesy of Tate Modern and the Artists
The twisted broad shape of the external edifice is much lower and squatter than I had imagined information technology would be and its summit took me aback, especially when juxtaposed with nearby towers such as the tall elegant chimney of the quondam Power Station and the exquisite sharp cut of the Shard nearby. Spatially though, the cut of the edifice integrates the immediate area and will grow into itself successfully, absorbing the thousands of weekly visitors who are already pouring through, lingering on the grass or sitting at the tables outside. As Adrian Searle points out: 'the Switch House feels similar information technology belongs.'[two]
Inside the cavernous, raw space of the Tanks on the lower level, the highlight for me is a wonderful multi-screen installation of the Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul, a infinite in which you can lie on cushions and sink into the darkness arresting these cute filmic meditations on Thai histories and landscapes. Wen-Ying Tsai's 'Umbrella', installed in a very dark room was less successful as an experience, equally visitors were unclear as to how to interact with this kinetic sculpture, which was nigh impossible to see.
On Level 1, overlooking the Turbine Hall, a big tree by Ai Weiwei is placed centrally in the acting infinite (Tree, 2010). By now familiar from the Regal Academy courtyard display and a recent iteration in Cambridge at Downing College, the tree consists of: 'dry, expressionless branches, roots and trunks of numerous species of tree, such every bit camphor, cedar and ginkgo', […] gathered from beyond the mountainous southern region of his native China', an uncomfortable assemblage that projects a forced naturalism. I'm not sure how well this works in this particular location, just it certainly poses a question and possibly its awkwardness is a deliberate play on the inside-outside dynamic that is role of the Turbine Hall experience as people flood through, using it equally a public space. Aesthetically, the tree appears more effective within a group in the architectural framing of the RA courtyard and the beauty of the Downing College garden. This one is left as pure sculpture in the grey monumentality of the concrete surrounds.
The contempo endorsement by the establishment of the British-based Pakistani artist Rasheed Araeen (b.1935), is a welcome addition and has been a long fourth dimension coming. As an important and contentious figure in the British fine art world, who founded the of import periodical Third Text, Araeen has continually pressed for acknowledgement of the ever-problematic marginalisation of Asian art within a postcolonial context. His work 'Nil to Infinity', 1968/2007 in the Tanks, is a welcome presence in the display of 'living sculpture', consisting of one hundred geometric wooden cuboid frames painted blue, that are arranged in a block but can be moved around into potentially infinite formations.
In the new displays, both the historical avant-garde and contemporary do include Asian contributions. Sheela Gowda'southward film shown in a minor room on level four, (along with Ai Weiwei's portrait of Caochangdi), is a delightful insight into her own environment of Bengalaru, a short slice on the artist, her studio and the social and spiritual context of her piece of work 'Behold', 2009, already on display in the Boiler Firm. This work is made of thickly disordered skeins of paw-woven human hair, traditionally placed on car bumpers to ward off accidents. Other works by David Medalla and Li Yuan-chia connect contemporary audiences to the participation of Asian artists in the global avant-garde from the 1960s onwards.
Tate Modernistic has arguably never completely overlooked artists from Asia, as evidenced in diverse works already on display in Tate Modernistic. Yet, every bit a vital space for modernistic and gimmicky art in London, the overall bias has inevitably been the narrative of Western modernism. These pregnant additions of Asian artists in the Switch House are highly selective and highlight the difficulty of meeting the demands of a popular tourist destination too every bit an art-going public keen for a distinct experience. Chiefly, they give a minor but helpful insight into artistic discourses from parts of Asia and complement the important work of Tate's Asia Pacific Research Centre, which actively nurtures enquiry in the field. Sometimes it is like shooting fish in a barrel to lose sight of how much Tate Modernistic has done to transform London'due south cultural landscape. This new improver is a further testament to Sir Nicholas Serota'due south vision as a true cultural leader looking at the long term in a challenging financial and political environment.
Late into the afternoon, I could see people lingering on the broad window seats looking out, occupying the space with ease. The Switch House is an unpretentious, autonomous space with a certain warmth to it and an openness to the futurity. Here, a number of relevant and interesting works by contemporary Asian artists can now exist seen in London exterior the historicising framework of the British Museum or the V&A. This is an important stride and 1 worth valuing.
The Switch House opened on 17thursday June, 2016. It was designed past the Swiss architects Herzog and De Meuron.
[1] Laura Cumming, 'Tate Modernistic's Switch Business firm review – richness and grandeur',Observer, 19th June, 2016.
[two] Adrian Searle, Tate Modern's Switch Firm review – brain-fizzing fine art to power a pyramid', Guardian, 14th June, 2016.
Katie Loma(Program Director, MA Modernistic and Contemporary Asian Fine art, London, Sotheby'south Establish of Fine art) is a regularly invited speaker for exhibitions and events in numerous institutions and galleries. Her recent work includes In Conversation' with Ai Weiwei, Tate Mod, selector panel/author, Art of Modify, New Directions from China, Hayward Gallery, London, and specialist advisor/writer for The Chinese Art Book (Phaidon 2013). She as well co-edited a special issue of the journal Visual Art Practice on Contemporary Chinese Fine art and Criticality, published in 2012. She is manager of OCCA, Office of Contemporary Chinese Art, an art consultancy promoting Chinese artists in the UK.
Source: https://www.cobosocial.com/dossiers/asian-art-at-switch-house-tate-modern/
0 Response to "Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art Open at Tate Modern"
Post a Comment