Tate Modern and Infinite Mix
The video installations in the Tate Modern were all from different artists of different ages and backgrounds, each utilizing the space they had in different ways.
One of the first installations we saw was the Hyundai commissioned "Anywhen" by Philippe Parreno in the Turbine Hall. It transforms the spacious entrance hall into an open urban night sky. Lying under the hundreds of lightbulbs hanging above created the illusion of looking at a clear night's sky. But the hypnotizing narration and the faint sound of rain and thunder gave the feeling of being in the safety and the comfort of your own home, the feeling contradicting what your eyes are seeing, making the whole experience extraordinarily surreal.
Another installation that left an impression with me was the “Memory of a Square” by Gulsun Karamustafa. It’s a two-screen video installation with one screen depicting the story of a family in Turkey throughout several generations and the other showing footage from various important for the history of the events. The whole installation was over 10 minutes and in the beginning the footage shown on the screens didn’t seem related. But in the family footage, the audience can see pictures of some of the family members seemingly at present at the events, connecting the stories. The footage from the events is always shaky and chaotic contrasting greatly with the the orderly household and the daily routine of the people living there, with the footage of the family shot entirely in stationary cameras.
I spent a long time in the Tanks in Tate Modern, mostly watching “Primitive 2009” by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, an award-winning Thai artist. It’s a multiscreen video installation showing a surreal fictional story of a town in Thailand. Each screen shows different video. The isolation of that small town in Thailand could really be felt thanks to the artist using several small screens in the enormous hall instead of large projections like most of the other installations.
Infinite Mix;
Ugo Rondinone’s “THANX 4 NOTHING” was an immersive installation and it shows the poet John Giorno performing a poem he wrote for his 70th birthday. Different perspectives were shown on each wall and every TV on the ground. It alternates between long shots, close-ups and medium shots. The editing really enhances John Giorno’s performance, keeping up fantastically with the pace of his powerful delivery.
The video installation “Opera (QM.15)” by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, was really memorable. The very life-like hologram of the artist lip-syncs to arias performed by the legendary opera singer Maria Callas, while dressed as her as well, in a derelict corridor. Having to stand 30m away from the installation itself, the sound of the songs echoing in the freezing concrete corridor, really made the installation memorable and and chilling.
