Thursday, 23 April 2009
Just a thought about my visit to the Tate Liverpool - I did notice there were more people in the part of the gallery where it was free entry than in the special exhibition galleries where a substantial entry fee was charged. Do you agree that the poor or less well off in this world are deprived or restricted in their access to audiencing good contemporary and modernist art and have to make do with pictures in a book or suchlike- just a thought...
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There is a long history in Western societies of a divide between the poor. If you think of the context of the first art gallery, it was developed by the Medici family in Florence mainly to showcase their acquisitions and celebrate their power and financial clout.
ReplyDeleteHowever in other societies this isn't necessarily the case and art is much more a part of the everyday.
I agree that the trend to charge quite a hefty entrance fee for touring shows is very off putting for those on a low income. I suppose this reflects the price of putting these kind of shows on, but I do think that galleries could make more effort to allow a much smaller entrance fee for the unwaged as it is often only a couple of pounds cheaper for a concessionary ticket.
ReplyDeleteAs Garry says, historically, rich people used their art collections as a public demonstration of their own wealth and power and this is still true enough today, but there is also a tradition of contemporary artists artists making
work that is directed at audiences who have been traditionally excluded from this process. Perhaps you should research this and use these ideas in your audiences project?
Our very own Leeds artist Andy Abbot is very interested in creating situations where ordinary people can engage in non-hierarchical art events. However, this in itself brings certain problems around the events being co-opted for political means. Also it raises many interesting questions about the role of the artist. It is an interesting subject.
There was an exhibition, I think in Brazil, where a sculptor brought the city's poor into a gallery opening reserved for the rich in a kind of trojan horse, but I can't remember that name of the artist. If anyone knows it, please post it here, because I have been racking my brains all morning.
By the way, I love the new look of your blog, it's great.
Louisa
I think the artist you were thinking of Louisa was Oiticica.
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