Visual Dialogues
Rebecca Guest
The aim of "Visual Dialogues" is to create a dialogue between regional and national art collections. The display is organised by the Creative Consultants, which is a lively group made up of 15-25 year olds who advise the gallery on how to appeal to young people. They use dynamic interpretive tools in order to help visitors actively engage modern and contemporary art, and to connect with it in new ways through technology.
The Creative Consultants explore relationships between personal interests, objects and social issues. They look at a range of corresponding and divergent ideas in subject matter and symbolism. Their project at Manchester Art Gallery centres on ideas of conflict and resolution, which they explore through two works on loan from the Tate. The results of this idea feature attention-grabbing Tracey Emin’s appliqué blanket Hate and Power can be a terrible thing. The second work is Jacob Epstein’s sculpture Torso in metal.
The two art works are juxtaposed against a unique interactive computer that wants to know: 1. How do you feel today? and 2. What would you like to shout about?
The idea of this display is to engage young people’s interest in art and allow them to voice their opinion on the current and increasingly important themes of conflict and resolution. So . . . does it work?
Epstein’s sculpture was constructed following the First World War, made out of bronze, and is meant to represent a victim of the violence of modern day life. It is said to be a symbol of a new age showing a once-menacing figure to be vulnerable and impotent, but, to be honest, the statue did very little to impress me. I could appreciate the work that went into the construction of the sculpture, but the message was lost. I was preoccupied with the sculpture’s resemblance to the look of a tortured robo-rapture from Jurassic Park and could not grasp the true importance behind the piece. A question that this poses for the super computer with all the questions is why is the artist’s work losing its edge? Emin’s work however, was more simplistic and brought the message of the world into reality for me.
"You cruel heartless bitch," spelled out in flower embroidery, made me feel quite harsh on Epstein’s work, but Emin’s message was powerful and conjured up thoughts of all that was wrong in the world. The slogan carries a powerful message to Britain’s former prime minister–without naming names–but isn’t exactly subtle in spelling out Emin’s disdain for Mrs. Thatcher. "How did you get away with it? I’ve always said you should be tried for crimes against humanity." The fact that this artwork is a woman’s critique of the "powers that be" made the message particularly potent.
The display is well worth a look and anything that engages young people’s interest in art and wants feedback over their real opinion is definitely a good thing. The fact that art can represent such powerful messages in a unique form can make the reality more accessible and rich. I think the idea behind a young person’s enterprise of this nature with support from Tate is a great idea and I look forward to their next exhibit. In short; dialogues are created, and that is progress.
