Venice Biennale

This was my first visit to a Biennale in Venice, although I had visited the city several times before. There were four artists work that I particularly wanted to see and thereafter I was happy to browse and see what I chanced upon.

I have been looking at the work of Goshka Macuga at the whitechapel Gallery and so wated to see the piece that she has in Venice. Plus Ultra is a classic piece Macuga's of politically driven work. Depicting the members of the G20 smiling down on the rest of the world it takes the form of a gigantic banner wrapping itself around the pillars of the Arsenale as if they were the Pillars of Hercules and it is about to bring the whole world crashing down around itself. Very powerful, moving, piece. Tteia I,C by Lygia Pape represents her ambitious work on three-dimensionality. These square forms of carefully lit gold thread are said to represent cosmic immateriality. Certainly as you move around this huge piece the visible areas change, with some sections appearing to hover unattached in mid-air. Delicate yet powerful this was perhaps the piece that I most wanted to see and I was not disappointed.
Tomas Saraceno was another artist who's work I wanted to see, again it is three dimensional lace by any other name and again I was not disappointed. Galaxies Forming along Filaments, like Droplets along the Strands of a Spider's Web may not have been the most succinct title in the Biennale but it was certainly descriptive of the work. One of the highlights of this piece was the way that people were interacting with it, it was possible to walk around the edge of it to the next room but most people chose to work their way through the piece, occasionally catching the elastic cords and causing a ripple of movement through the work.
An unexpected delight for me came when examining my photos and discovering that the black covered cord was in some way reflective. I rarely use the flash on my camera, and often find other people's flashes distracting, but before leaving this gallery I had taken a few photos using flash and found that it had bounced off the cord giving a totally different impression of the piece - almost eerie.
I looked at the work of Tim Noble and Sue Webster at the start of my MA and this was the first chance that I'd had to see their work in the flesh. The incoherent pile of pieces of scrap metal on the floor of this semi-derelict building gave absolutely no clue as to what they would reveal when correctly lit. Fornicating Rats seemed oddly appropriate to the state of the building which must surely have seen its fair share of uninvited small furry inhabitants.
In the same building I was delighted to come across the work of Jamie Shovlin. Notorious for his ficticious archives; Naomi V Jelish, Shovlin is again working with ideas linked to archives. The framed pictures on the walls appear to be press cuttings of various world leaders.
Closer inspection reveals them to be pencil studies of press cuttings that show the quality of his traditional artistic skills as well as the playfulness of his manipulation of his audiences perceptions. A detail of 40th Incumbent is shown right.
Amongst the other works that I was particularly taken with were Library by Woojung Chung.

Moon Dust (Apollo 17) by Spencer Finch at the Arsenale.

In Ethics in Dust Jorge Otero-Pailos has used latex to clean one of the walls of the Doge's Palace. In doing so it becomes a repository of the pollutions and degradation that has affected the exterior of the building over the centuries.

The reverse of the work shows how detailed this information can be.
Kukulkan by Guatemalan Dario Escobar, also at the Arsenale.
Although Maria Grazia Rosin's work is primarily about her glass I was fascinated by the video projection, Buco d'aqua, that was part of her installation.

I found Pascale Marthine Tayou's installation rather hard going, due to being somewhat under the weather, but thought the video projections onto a disgorged out-falling of rubbish were absolutely stunning

Lace in Translation

Lace in Translation is showing until April 3rd at The Design Centre, Philadelphia University. Three contemporary art/design studios have drawn inspiration from the Quaker Lace Company collection, held at the Design Centre.

Demakersvan, the Dutch design studio have created a lace fence for the drive at the Centre. It is one of their classical lace designs that owes much to the floral tradition of European bobbin lace, most notably Brussels and Chantilly. Seen here against a backdrop of trees the flowing nature of the pattern stands out particularly well.

Cal Lane is an internationally know sculptor who uses her welding torch to challenge the traditional male/female conventions. Here she uses it to cut lace patterns from oil tanks, contrasting the femininity of the lace with the masculinity of the industrial, metal, containers.

She has also employed her welding torch to burn doilies into the grass. Reminiscent of the lace doilies spray painted onto the grass for Kantlijnen in Brugges Lane's burning takes the process one stage further with the removal of sections of the turf to provide a strong positive/negative contrast.

Tord Boontje has returned to the traditional methods of lacemakeing for some of his pieces, taking a traditional pattern and reinterpreting it on a larger scale and in unusual materials - grass and raffia. This hair piece, in grass, is part of an ensemble that can be seen in a video of a girl walking in the woods.

Raffia has been used to create this curtain for one of the windows in the Centre. Like much traditional lace it has been fabricated in section by different people and then assembled to create a larger whole. I was lucky enough to hear Tord Boontje talking about the work for this exhibition and see the video at a talk accompanying the Telling Tales exhibition at the V&A.
The piece from this exhibition that I would most like to see is his Lace Sofa, a wondrous web indeed. My interest in this piece is partially due to my desire to work in fully three dimensional bobbin lace and partially my love for truly 'Wild lace'.

Telling Tales

Telling Tales: Fantasy and Fear in Contemporary Design at the V&A looks at how fairy tales have influenced designers. The exhibition is divided into three sections; The Forest Glade, The Enchanted Castle and Heaven and Hell.

In The Forest Glade are several pieces by Tord Boontje including his fabulous Fig Leaf Wardrobe. Wardrobes have been used in fairy tales as the gateway to other worlds and the camouflage that this one would in a forest adds to its sense of danger. Each enamelled leaf has been hand cast and decorated and has its own specific place on the skeletal canopy that forms the frame. Priced at £350,000 it's a real luxury piece that would have fitted equally well in The Enchanted Castle.

On the opposite side of the Forest Glade sit three of Boontje's chairs including the Princess Chair. This beautiful white chair with its flowing skirt of white tulle is not as innocent as it at first appears for on the underside of the seat swab is hidden an image of a skull embroidered in red silk. As with so much in the forests of fairy tales there is a darker side that is hidden.

Moving into the Enchanted Castle the focus becomes opulence and a sense of 'over the top' prevails. To the right the walls and floor are mirrored giving a sense of mad glitter and glamour (see above).

Heatwave radiator by Joris Laarman is based on scaled up Rococo scrolls which provide a large surface area for the convection of heat. In its setting here it is almost lost amongst the reflected madness but in a normal home would be a major statement piece.

Also in this setting are a series of furniture pieces in black and gold by Studio Job. Designed for the Robber Barons; based on ruthless 19th century American industrialists who amassed vast fortunes these pieces are designed to appeal to today's power-hungry leaders. The use of cast bronze in these pieces references not only the heavy industry in which so many made their money but also the great tradition of patronage of the arts, especially European sculpture. Robber Baron Table is a particular favourite of mine.

Moving into Heaven and Hell the story turns to the awareness of, and anxiety about, death. Works look at life and death, heaven and hell judgement and salvation, some are beautiful others designed to invoke fear or loathing. Damned .MGX by Luc Merx is a modern chandelier that takes its inspiration from Peter Paul Rubens's the Fall of the Damned at the moment of the Last Judgement.
Storm Chair by Stephen Richards looks as if it is an explosion that has been frozen in time and motion. Formed from a variety of different timbers it references the violence that so often accompanies death and the splintering and fragmenting of families and communities that accompanies natural disasters in which so many lives are lost.

September at the V&A

I've made several visits to the V&A in September and each time have come across something new beyond the exhibition that I had gone to see.

The Chair Arch in the courtyard garden was based on arches that were made to commemorate special occasions in Victorian Britain, usually made from local materials they also celebrated local industry. This arch is made from Ercol chairs. It was interesting to see how the public interacted with the arches, the children especially loved racing in and out of the structure. My favourite images of it are the close-ups where the arch is lost but the skeletal structure remains.
Rock Fusion Table and Rock Skin Rug by Arik Levy are on the ground floor of the Sackler Centre. I thought this was such a clever combination of the decorative with the functional. It's always worth taking a walk through the Sackler centre and looking to see what's going on in the education space.
Wasted was briefly installed in the tunnel entrance to the V&A. A collaboration between architect Ian Douglas-Jones and designer Ben Rousseau, it is a seating area based on the foil lined paper sacks in which tea leaves are transported to Britain and which are unrecycleable. Turning the ordinary into the extraordinary, waste into beauty. The smell was tantalising and the contrast between the brashness of the foil walls and the compressed bags as used for seating could hardly have been greater.
This piece of 'coffin lace' (below) was a real surprise to me. I've searched for the term on the Internet on a number of occasions but only ever come up with rather dull strips of false upholstery pins in single or double rows. This piece is fabulous, given by Julian Litten, museum number M.233-1984. Now that the V&A have digitised much of their collection I must do some browsing to see what else they have hidden away that is of interest to me.

In Praise of Shadows

In Praise of Shadows was shown as part of the London Design Festival at the V&A. Showcasing the work of 21 European designers it highlights the EU directive to phase out low-efficiency light bulbs from September 2009, the new efficient bulbs are often regarded as being harsh and unsympathetic but these designers prove that energy efficient light can also be beautiful.
Having been involved with the creation of the first incarnation of Sonumbra it was a real delight to see Sonumbra II by Loop.ph in full working glory in a darkened setting where the moving patterns of its display could be fully appreciated. The electroluminescent wire emits a cool blue light that races and chases according to the chosen computer programme, the effect is mesmerising. A real triumph of 21st century technology combined with traditional lacemaking techniques.

Lucid Dream by Eric Klarenbeek (Netherlands) plays on the ability of glass to transmit light by using it to spread the light from the source LEDs through the entire surface of the bubbles.

Fragile Future by Drift (Netherlands) combines an electrical system and LEDs with that most ethereal of natures creations - dandelion heads, to create a sculptural piece that spreads across the wall. The light here is soft and subtle but the overall effect is one of warmth and comfort.
Medusa by Mikko Paakkanen (Finland) is inspired by the movement of jellyfish. Constructed from fibre optic rods a micro-processor controlled motor slowly moves the rods so that the piece expands and contracts hypnotically. Fortunately the motor can be stopped at any desired point so it can be held in a chosen form.

Handbuilt

Handbuilt, Presented by the Crafts Council at the Sackler Centre in the V&A. This small exhibition showcases the work of five UK based makers including Gary Breeze: Lettercutter and Ptolemy Mann: Woven Textiles.

Charlie Whinney (formerly sixixis) produced this superb sculpture of sinuously twisting wood. Their website is well worth a visit to see the range of work that they produce including lampshades and furniture.
I've seen a lot of beautiful glass recently so I was surprised by how taken I was with these pieces by Eleanor Long. Perhaps it was the way in which the echoed the curves of the works around them or possibly it was the subtlety of the light that hinted at the possibilities of what lay beyond. Small but beautifully formed these pieces could fit into any home but when the glass lines are used at full scale in architecture they are stunning (see her website).

Walter Jack Studio were also showing very sinuous work but this time in solid concrete. Designed as a retaining wall in to be built in sections the scale is given by the model figure in front of the right hand section of the image above, you need to look carefully! The actual blocks of concrete just cried out to be touched, not the normal response to this impersonal material.

What's It For?

What's it For? New work by Oxfordshire Basketmakers at Vale & Downland Museum, Wantage.

Product of an Iron Pour by Alison Berman gives a clue to the diverse range of mediums in which this group works, the moulds made of newspaper are almost as desirable as the finished product, I was especially taken with the way that Alison had left the pouring funnel to become the stand.

Jo Gilmour's Contraptions for colonising cubes are a continuing theme within Jo's work. Constructed from fine lengths of Phormium leaf, and attached to stout hazel rods, these tumbling clusters give wonderful shadows and a great sense of movement.

Grass Nest by Judith Ferns, made from decorative grasses this delicate little basket evokes the soft whispering of summer breezes.
In complete contrast are the Gourds by Alison Urwick, hard and solid yet whimsical and intricately decorated. Alison says she treats all problems as opportunities viewed from the wrong end, however you view them these pieces are a joy to behold.