German artist Carsten Höller - ‘the guy that makes the slides’ - is no stranger to London, having installed ‘Test Site’ in the Tate’s Turbine Hall in 2006. Nine years later he’s back, whipping up a media frenzy with his current exhibition ‘Decision’ at Southbank’s Hayward Gallery and triggering the age old question ‘but is it art?!’ from critics and the general public. BBC’s Arts Editor Will Gompertz thinks not, imploring us to question more what is and what isn’t art. With the idea that anything can be art no longer an avant-garde concept, he sees ‘Decision’ as no more than a collection of ‘fairground type rides that happen to be in an art gallery’. The main concern seems to be whether in 2015, contemporary art is being reduced to nothing more than entertainment. However, a recent panel discussion led by Ralph Rugoff, Director of the Hayward Gallery, raised an important point: since when were art and entertainment ever separate? The title of this blog takes inspiration from the very name of this discussion. |
In need of a theatre fix, I headed off to watch the award-winning ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ at Covent Garden’s Duchess Theatre to see if it lived up to the reviews. Essentially a play within a play, the comedy sees the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society stage ‘Murder at Faversham Manor’, a murder mystery like no other. It’s hard to say when the play itself actually starts. Whilst the ticket start time was 7.30pm, the actors could be seen asking those enjoying a pre-show drink in the bar if they had seen a dog on the loose, and scouring the audience in the auditorium, creating the uneasy feeling that one of us was destined to be singled out for our own stage debut. The bar staff and stewards too were in on the act, interacting with the cast as they beckoned and called. The audience was made aware of the society’s supposed past cock-ups during the prelude, thus setting up expectations for what was to come...
Art and football may be an unlikely pairing, but its one that was posed by my football-loving boyfriend early on in our relationship during a casual chat in Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum. It’s not unusual for people to question how various things can possibly be art, or to declare ‘I could do that!’ at the sight of a renowned Minimalist masterpiece. It’s hard to define exactly what art is, not least because it is constantly in flux; movements come and go bringing new perceptions and audiences with them. Today art is not determined solely by material specifics (i.e. the canvas or object itself). It is accepted that Contemporary Art is founded on ideas and thoughts, with temporality and spectator experience often forming the basis of the work...
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