Art Works that Changed my Mind

Ever since I was very small I've struggled with the concept of art being anything but a two dimensional object. Even though I've looked at countless sculptures in and outside of school work, I can't say that I've ever been very taken with any that I've seen - nothing has ever resonated with me as much as a painting. This doesn't even begin to scratch the surface about the problems I have in considering film as an art form (I think I should perhaps write a separate blog post about the difficulty I have with modern art as a whole). This was all until I went to Berlin last summer and encountered some works of art which I thought were exceptional and definitely allowed my mind to open a little more towards the three-dimensional, the temporary and film. 

I found myself in a lovely bookshop which was so modern and full of arty magazines - I loved it and I couldn't leave without buying one. I chose to buy 'Mondial' simply because of the bright yellow cover and I honestly had no idea about what it actually contained (it turns out it was made to broaden the reference points of sport which is completely not me, but it was too late I'd bought it.) 

One of the images that did catch my eye in the magazine was Cornelia Parker, Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View (1991). I'm not actually sure what the article was about however the installation stood out to me. Parker had created a sculpture/installation which literally shows an exploded view stopped in time. All of these separate scraps of materials had been painstakingly put in an arrangement to create something that showed a snapshot of time in a still three dimensional sculpture. It was, in essence, a 3D photograph.

I found the lighting particularly impressive as it illuminated the great structure and cast beautiful shadows on the walls and floor around it, but I think what made me like it the most was how accurately it portrayed what it was trying to show and in such a beautiful way. I've always been passionate about artists showing real skill as I gain little from seeing scraps of crap being put together and called art because of the supposed 'message' that it's trying to portray. For me, Parker's idea was a simple one but one that was well executed, embodying a balance between a message, beauty and intelligence. 

Cornelia Parker, Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View (1991)

     As I mentioned before, I struggle with seeing film as an art form in the same league as a great painting. I visited the Hamburger Bahnhof when in Berlin and I was so disappointed by all of the art inside it apart from an exhibition which we stumbled upon by chance: Julian Rosefeldt. Manifesto. Inside the room of the exhibition everything was dark apart from 13 consecutively playing screens with Cate Blanchett portraying different characters. Rosefeldt chose to use different historical and modern manifestos and developed characters that Blanchett would play to bring a modern day context to these powerful words. As soon as you walked in you were hit by a disturbing image as versions of her face surrounded you in different contexts on large screens. 

Julian Rosefeldt. Manifesto

All of the films could be heard playing over one another, and when I first walked in I thought it was awful. But being able to tune in and out of the different films was a wonderful experience, as you could be engrossed in one aspect whilst another was going on, perhaps even making me feel a little anxious as I would not be able to see all of the films at once, yet at the same time being able to hear them all. 

Blanchett was highly commendable in her presentation of all the roles which added to the whole experience. In my opinion this was artistic and deserved the merit of being called art as the setting and elaborate discussion between the films themselves and with the audience created an interactive atmosphere and experience. 

Although these two works are in the minority of art that I enjoy which is not a painting, they definitely made my mind more open to other variation and concepts within the art world.