Great Tate

Today I went to the Tate Modern with a few folks from work. It's a really fantastic museum. Most of the galleries are free, which is really nice because you don't feel rushed. If you don't see everything today, just come back next weekend.

The two special exhibits right now are Doris Salcedo's Shibboleth (aka "the crack") and outside, Louise Bourgeois's giant spider.

Here's the thing about Salcedo's Shibboleth - it is an amazing feat of engineering. Apparently she won't reveal how it was constructed. Basically it is a long snaking crack that runs through the floor of Turbine Hall. Granted, I never saw Turbine Hall's floor before the crack, but I'm told it was a similar but uncracked cement floor. The part I take issue with is that it concerns (and I quote from the museum pamphlet): "power's devisive operations as encoded in the brutal narratives of colonialism, their unhapppy aftermaths in postcolonial nations, and in the stand-off between rich and poor, northern and southern hemispheres."


Really? This crack is a symbol of all that? It's an epiphany about colonialism, post-coloniasm and international economic disparity? Oh, and north v. south? Really? Look, I'm very impressed with the scale of the piece and whatever labor and engineering must have been involved to create it. But I can't buy into everything else. I'm sorry Ms. Salcedo.

The picture I took is just a teeny tiny part of the crack which runs for probably about 50 yards.



However, the giant spider was awesome. It was Dali, Miro, Tim Burton and a Japanese monster movie all in one. I'm not sure if you can see it in the picture but there are also little white eggs in its lower abdomen. I couldn't decide whether to hug its leg or be totally creeped out.

The regular galleries were fab as well. Granted, I only really saw one and a half...after that we were all hungry and thirsty and ended up staying in the Museum Restarant/Bar until closing...but I can't wait to go back to see more. The breadth of work and the exhibition spaces are wonderful. More Miro, Picasso, Francis Bacon, Magritte, Jackson Pollock (non-splattery Pollock) than you can shake a stick at. For reasons I can't explain, I adore Magritte so I was thrilled to see a couple sprinkled in with the other greats. There were also plenty of other new (to me) artists that I was really excited about. So, like I said, I'll be back soon.