Course Trip To London//Day One

I had the most brilliant most exhausting three days in London. I have been to London more times than I can count and this was my third trip this year, but never have I seen or experienced as much as I did on this trip.

Thursday consisted of an early start, two hour train journey, dropping off our bags at the Generator Hostel (which was surprisingly pleasant for a hostel) and straight into the first gallery visit of many; Disobedient Objects at the V&A. The exhibition consisted of objects and pieces of art work designed and used in revolutions and protests. The ideas and design of some of the objects were fascinating, but as part of an exhibition the pieces were mainly unattractive and wasn't the kind of work that really appeals to me.

 

The next stop of the day was both galleries at the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens. In the first gallery we saw work by American artist, Trisha Donnelly. The work we saw was a mix of sculptural work and video installations. "Donnelly's work is neither abstract nor representational. Her videos oscillate and ripple, offering only suggestions of their content; the images too present only hints of the shape and reality through their many processes, occasionally betraying a subject or location." The work was very ambiguous, with the subject matter of the images being mostly unclear, but were interesting to look at as they were very 'trippy', and trigger a long thought process about the subject matter and how the videos were edited and put together. The exhibition looked good and was curated well, with artworks fitting together and working well together; for example the way the projectors were arranged so that as the public walks around the gallery shadows are cast in front of the projected videos.
In the next gallery we saw the work of Cerith Wyn Evans, which was even stranger and more ambiguous than Donnelly's work. Evans "examines the transformative 'Site/Sight/Cite' effects that light, sound and duration have on spaces and their occupants. The site of the gallery, perception of sight, the citation of references are multiple and swarming." Around the gallery there was sounds, light installations and a piece around the whole space which played with the idea of both light and duration. The piece was made of an LED light formed into a seemingly jumbled string of words that took a while to read because it spanned around the whole gallery. The gallery space was dimly lit, which allowed the light installations to be the main focus of the exhibition, and causes the public to concentrate more on the strange, yet relaxing, sounds involved in the exhibition.



Cerith Wyn Evans at the Serpentine Gallery



After the Serpentine Galleries, we walked to Richard Serra's exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery on Davies Street. The area of London we were in was clearly a very wealthy, posh part from the designer shops and expensive car dealerships we walked past, so the gallery seemed to fit in with the surrounding. We hadn't made a booking, and as the gallery was a commercial one, the gallery assistant was surprised to see such a large number of students turn up.  However she did spare a few minutes of her time to talk about Richard Serra's work, processes and the commercial art world with us. The gallery space is small, and only one, however large, drawing by Serra was displayed. Serra is a sculptor, who makes large scale, simplistic sculptures, but this drawing piece was made using paintstick on handmade paper. The drawing was a simple one, with the paper mostly covered in the dark, thick paintstick, with small amounts of the paper still showing. We were all grateful for the gallery assistant giving her time unexpectedly, however we all left the gallery in heated discussion and anger after we all felt she had been rather rude to us and treaded us as if we were stupid, naïve students. The phrase "I think you should all go and educate yourselves" was used, which left us all gobsmacked and hurt, considering we are all studying art at Sheffield Hallam to educate ourselves on the subject. Aside from that, the exhibition was interesting. The space was a very simple, stylish space, with white walls and black floor and doors, so the monochrome drawing by Serra looked right in the gallery and showed it off very well.

Richard Serra, Drawing at the Gagosian Gallery

Over all the day was extremely interesting and thought provoking, but equally tiring with the huge amount of art work and sights of London we took in in a matter of hours.