Telling Tales

Stage 1 BA (Hons) Textile Design – theory - Friday 16th October, 2009

Tutor: Emma Neuberg

Reading Images and Objects - critical thinking task Exhibition Visits:

Telling Tales, V&A

1. What is your immediate feeling on entering the gallery and seeing the works? Is the work compelling, repelling, beautiful, confusing, moving, inspiring, strange, familiar?

The exhibition was interesting, unique and well presented. It was peaceful, mysterious, adventures and intriguing. I liked the music introduction in each room. Birds singing in The Forest Glade, an old clock and a bell talking to each other in The Enchanted Castle and very wondering sound in The Heaven and Hell which I describe like water, coming through the mirror, breaking it into small diamonds with a storm on the background.

2. Choose a piece of work from each section (The Forest Glade, The Enchanted Castle and Heaven & Hell) and list the feelings and response that the work generates in you and why.

“Fig Leaf” Wardrobe by Tord Boontje, 2008, presented in The Forest Glade. This work reminded me of my childhood that was, of course, based on fairy tails that my grandfather would read me before bed. Than I would dream that my wardrobe has a fairy world. I would go in there and find a hidden door to the unknown country where I can hide from my parents, invite my friends, play games, have my own house.

The name of the Wardrobe “Fig Leaf” and “The Garden of Eden” Dress that was hanging on the tree-hanger inside the wardrobe connects my mind with Bible stories.

Tulip Vases in The Enchanted Castle are cultivated cut flowers, objects for European reality and nobility in the late 17^th century. It reminded me of traditional Russian Ceramic Art, called Gzhel.

Gzhel - the name of the picturesque suburban Moscow region, 60 kilometers from Moscow. It is associated with beauty, harmony and fairy tale. Porcelain with elegant blue and multicolor paintings became popular not only in Russia but abroad. Opposite to the work, presented at The Enchanted Castle, Gzhel was not for royalty and nobility. It formed best features of Russian ceramics and showed the highest achievements of folk art and paintings, following old traditions in the art of people. Gzhel Masters decorated each item by hand in blue pattern and color on a white background. The same colors and stile were used for The Pyramids of Makkum Tulip Vases.

In the third room, called Heaven and Hell presented works that evoke the universal conflict of life and death, heaven and hell, offering new interpritations of dreams and the imagination. Art pieces were devided into groups Anxiety, Mortality, Momento Mori. I very much enjoyed the name that was given to every work. For example, Storm Chair, Catastrophe Vase, Huggable Cushion.

I particularly liked “The Storm Chair” by Stephen Richards, 2000. The meaning of the chair can be different to every person. It can be about death, disaster, war or love – and not necessarily about the comfort of sitting. You can re-imagine the object of art in a very different and radical way.

3. Notice the display of the objects, their relationship to each other and their lighting. How might these evoke feelings of drama, interest and tension?

Display, light, materials, music are very important for presentation and can evoke different feelings. For example in The Forest Glade wooden furniture was presented, together with soft materials and colours. It gives you a feeling of being connected to nature, feeling like home, being comfortable around those things.

The Enchanted Castle had very luxury, bright, powerful presentation. I admired beautiful reach objects of art, their colour and complexity.

The Heaven and Hell had very dark room and dramatic sounds. You would almost be mystified, even scared. The room had 2 blocks separated from each other which gave the room a feeling of sharpness.

4. How might these inspire aspects of your Table Theatre?

I think that presentation plays a big role and can open the spirit of your collection. The way artists put their work together, names that were given to the objects, drawings of their silhouettes, light and other details are very powerful tools for the collection. I will surely think about the exhibition, while presenting my Table Theatre Project.

5.Take notice of the titles of the exhibits and choose two to analyse and discuss in under 300 words.

I really liked 2 displays that were presented right at the entrance to the exhibition, like the gate to the Castle. This two displays opened the gallery and influenced the mood of the whole exhibition and The Forest Glade in particular.

They were standing in a very dark corner, surrounded with black curtains, so the display light would immediately catch your attention.

The first screen showed beautiful forest, but you were kind of looking at it from the top, where you would see mostly branches. It was charming, even hypnotising forest. I had a feeling like I want to go their to search, like I lost something. It was very calm, relaxing feeling like you almost reached something and found answers for unknown questions. The display had a sound of morning birds, which we rarely experience in such organic state, especially these days, when we are so used to the sound of city, cars and people.

The second display showed a simple candle that was lighted. It had no sound, but I felt like it was speaking to me. We usually don’t stop and look at the lighted candle for a while, don’t we. But sometimes objects can have a life and very specific meaning, when you start to look for it, you can open many interesting things about this object and see what you haven’t seen before.

So I kept looking at the candle and paid attention on the background. It had silhouettes of the branches and a red light, almost like fire, which brings drama and emotion to a slow scene of lighted candle. At the end the candle light disappeared and it’s story is finished.

6. Which designers or pieces particularly caught your imagination and/or inspires you?

I liked chairs presented in the The Forest Glade: “Laser Cut Chair”, “Petit Jardin Chair”, “Clone Chair”, “Witch Chair”, “Princess Chair”, “Else Cow Bench”. Each had a unique style and story, but together they were building a powerful mood of the Forest Glade room.

Even though the exhibition was looking in the past, it was also looking into future. Some of the chairs were almost futuristic and artists used developed technology, which we could admire observing the final work. I would like to study laser cutting in future and be able to create something as beautiful as one of the chairs at the exhibition.