Wednesday 30 March 2011

Anthony McCall: Vertical Works at P3

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This piece first appeared in the Architectural Review.

It is a peculiarity of art in the modern world that unless an artist creates a supersized piece in the public realm or has been tagged with the enfant terrible epithet, he is not likely to be a household name. And so, not having (yet) done the former or been called the latter, despite a wonderful retrospective at the Serpentine in 2007-8, Anthony McCall is shamefully unknown. This will predictably change, given that McCall recently won a commission from the 2012 Cultural Olympiad to construct Projected Column in Liverpool: a 5km-high swirl of steam and cloud rising above the city, visible from Lancaster to Llandudno. 

While the spectacle of the column will do much to raise McCall’s profile in the UK, this grand public commission will surely struggle to match the sublime works on show in Spruth Magers’ recent exhibition of McCall’s drawings and vertical works. The Vertical Works - Breath, Breath III, Meeting You Halfway, and You - have been installed in the vast, industrial hangar that is Ambika P3 in London. They are simply incredible: animated line drawings projected onto the floor from 10 metres up result in huge, conical tents of light; shapes that shift and vary in degrees of opacity, sculptures of solid light.

Unexpectedly, the Vertical Works make visible Newton’s observation about the nature of light: it isn’t actually white but a mixture of colours where each colour corresponds to a particular wavelength.  When I pass my hand through McCall’s beam or peek the toe of my white shoe under the light, I can see that the fat white line is actually edged with pink and green; a wonderful, if unintentional, detail.

There will be inevitable comparisons with James Turrell and Thierry Dreyfus, and while I’m a keen admirer of both, McCall’s work is different. Turrell and Dreyfus use light to transform an existing space; McCall uses light to create space. The difference is remarkable. These are works to look at, of course, but also to interact with. You can move in and out of the structures created by the lights, or run your hand through the lightwall. It’s as engaging to observe people interact with the works as it is to observe the works themselves. It seems that McCall’s light pieces equally unsettle and fascinate. I’m amused to note that, at the private view, people spend more time looking at the works through their camera phones than through their eyes. Like Sontag’s insightful observation that photography is often used as a defence mechanism, I suspect that people feel uncomfortable in the face of the sublime. And so, they take their pictures and leave.

Me, I’m fascinated; completely astonished that light and haze can create spatial definition on this scale. Sitting in the dark looking at the works, I keep coming back to the world of pure mathematics and mathematicians’ favourite concept, ‘elegant simplicity’ – a work need not be complicated to be effective. 

The works also act as an exercise in the art of looking, or perceiving, what’s present. There’s a strange feeling that comes over you the longer you look at the works, a feeling that you can’t quite be sure what you’re looking at: are the works light or architecture, do they move or are they stationary? Neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran offers a brilliantly irreverent take on this particular conundrum: ‘it is as if each of us is hallucinating all the time and what we call perception involves merely selecting the one hallucination that best matches the current input.’

In some cases, being reminded of how complicated and imprecise the act of looking actually is can be overwhelming, even a bit depressing. But the wonder of McCall’s vertical works is that no matter how beautiful the sight of his light sculptures may be, the unsettling feeling of not being quite certain what you’re looking at is even more powerful.

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All photos courtesy Spruth Magers or the writer's own.

Monday 28 March 2011

KEW

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Went to Kew on Sunday, the loveliest day of the year so far, where all the beautiful spring flowers were in bloom.

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Thursday 17 March 2011

"Fall of Rome" treatment

I mentioned the other morning on Twitter that my friend had left me a voicemail over the weekend, suggesting that I come up with a treatment for a four-part Sunday night BBC 4 series on why the Fall Of Rome was an awful lot like the Financial Crisis. Or something like that. Given that I'm about to be unemployed I think he thought I needed a bit of a push to get my academic crossover career on track. Evidently my response was sufficiently unenthusiastic, so much so that he felt moved to write the pitch for my new TV series for me. This is probably one of those emails one ought not to share, but it made me laugh from start to finish, and so...

BBC eat your heart out.

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Dr. Crystal Bennes has a doctorate in [insert doctorate name here] from [insert institution name here]. She's still in her twenties, and is TV friendly, with her striking angular features, and salt-and-pepper hair.
 
"The Fall of Rome" [note: need good title] will be a series of documentaries exploring the reasons why Rome fell, but also looking at how this led to the Renaissance. This will be compared to globalisation and the rise of China.
 
The unique selling points of this series will be the use of swearing, for comic effect, plus a new take on an old subject. This is a timely documentary, and could be seen as essential preparation for the next fifty years. The character of Dr. Crystal Bennes will be essentially cut in two: where the script refers to Crystal, this will be her anarchic side, swearing, demonstrating through example and generally causing mayhem. Where the script refers to Dr. Bennes, this is the sober, academic, reflective side. Dr. Bennes will mostly (but not exclusively) be used in voice over. Split-camera tricks might be used, to have both in frame at the same time.
 
Example scene:
 
FADE UP TO: A dance floor, modern day London. A selection of listless HIPSTERS lope around, to slightly bland, modern cool music. They're wearing low-cut t-shirts, primary coloured cardigans, skinny jeans and those tiny gym plimsolls that look like the kind the poor kids wear.
 
DR. BENNES (VO)
When the fall of Rome is generally talked about, it's usually in these terms:
 
CRYSTAL jumps onto the dance floor. The HIPSTERS look startled.
 
CRYSTAL
Dance, motherfuckers! This is my dance floor now!
 
The HIPSTERS try and ignore CRYSTAL. She barges through them, and starts gyrating wildly, without a care for how this appears. Some HIPSTERS tut slightly, and continue their mild little moves. CRYSTAL pulls a whip out of her back pocket, and begins cracking it at them.
 
CRYSTAL
I said dance, you useless fuckers! This is my dance floor! Dance, like your life depends on it! (shouting) Because it does!
 
CRYSTAL continues to crack the whip, while dancing. The HIPSTERS look terrified. They begin to dance wildly, fear in their eyes. CRYSTAL has no mercy.
 
CRYSTAL (shouting)
You will all be flogged!
 
The music turns darker, more edgy. CRYSTAL pulls a violin from off camera, and begins manically bowing it, in the manner of Grozart.
 
CRYSTAL (shouting)
Now dance a jig, like your life depends on it! Because it does!
 
DR. BENNES (VO)
Unfortunately, the truth is rather more complex. In the current academic debate, these are thought of as the main reasons for the fall of Rome. Lead.
 
CUT TO: CRYSTAL sitting at a café table, with a glass of wine in front of her. A caption appears on screen: "No. 1: Lead in the water supply and food". CRYSTAL takes a sip of wine, and immediately spits it over the camera lens.
 
CRYSTAL
This is disgusting. There isn't nearly enough lead in this wine.
 
She picks up what appears to be a salt cellar from the table. It is full of a grey dust. From her actions, it appear to be very heavy. She sprinkles it liberally into her wine. She takes another sip. This appears to satisfy her. She laughs manically, before reaching for her forehead, as if she suddenly has a massive headache. She looks confused. And irritable. Has a seizure, and falls off the chair.
 
DR. BENNES (VO)
A general apathy, arising from generations of decadence
 
CUT TO: CRYSTAL reclined on a chase lounge, wearing her normal, modern clothes. A caption appears on the screen "No. 2: General apathy, arising from decadence". A ROMAN SLAVE enters, carrying some grapes, on a silver platter. He respectfully lowers the platter to her level. She takes a grape without looking, and eats it. A look of disgust crosses her face.
 
CRYSTAL (shouting)
I said I wanted peeled grapes, you asshole!
 
The ROMAN SLAVE drops the platter in fright, and goes onto his knees, in terror. CRYSTAL stands, grabs his head by the hair on the back, and grinds his face in the grapes.
 
CRYSTAL (shouting)
Peeled grapes, motherfucker! Peeled!
 
Thrash metal plays over this image.

Tuesday 15 March 2011

Not for Sale

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When I finished my PhD just before Christmas, I envisioned a future of endless hours of leisure time; catching up on books I'd been meaning to read, sherry in hand, sun on my face. Alas, that hasn't come close to reflecting the insanity of how busy I now find myself.

For the last couple of months, I've been planning an exhibition in my flat in Hackney Wick. About a week ago, my flatmates decided they didn't want an exhibition in the flat after all and so I either had to find a new venue - and fast - or cancel. Thankfully, a venue was found and all was not lost. The exhibition opens today and there's already lots of information about the show here, so I won't repeat myself.

Do check it out if you're so inclined. If not, here are some nice photos of works by artists in the show instead...

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