Protest and Propaganda

Went to do a talk at Chelsea at short notice, after having been recommended by the very lovely Pil and Galia. Had to do a talk in the morning to some students from Poland, and then had a nightmare getting there (One train cancelled, one delayed, one tube line closed after an 'incident'). Freaked out, sweaty and stressed when we arrived, but they were very nice and hopefully it added to the crazy, intense artists from Brum vibe.

So wired after all that we had to go to some art to calm down. It's probably a bit of a faux pas to go to Tate Britain if you go to Chelsea College, but we wanted to see the Mark Wallinger Protest Installation, which I liked. Most people were looking at the front and not the other front, but we like to look at the other front. (There's a show title in there somewhere)


Mark Wallinger
State Britain 2006
Photo: Sam Drake © Tate 2006

Enjoyed the Chapman Brothers room too, full of casts of stupid/dark body/technology interfaces with great names. It was pretty dumb, but intentionally so. Of course the idiots don't realise it's not good because it's rude, it's good because it looks like it's good because it's rude...


Jake and Dinos Chapman
When Humans Walked the Earth 2006
Photo © Tate 2006

Walked past where Brian Haw has been protesting, there still seemed to be something there, but couldn't see what from the other side of the road

Managed to nip into Tate Modern just before it shut to see a blur of the Media Burn show. There was a pleasant aesthetic to a lot of the work, but it all felt like a lovingly preserved Situationist punk zine rather than a genuine call to arms.


Ant Farm (Chip Lord, Doug Michels, Curtis Schreier, Uncle Buddie) Media Burn 1975, re-mastered 2003 Courtesy the artists and Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York

Might try to get back there, cos you've gotta try the slides, right?