It’s a good time to visit Tate Modern. The black legs of Louise Bourgeois’s giant spider sculpture Maman frame the silvery dome of St Paul’s in the distance. In the Turbine Hall, Doris Salcedo’s Shibboleth – part of the annual Unilever series – has spliced open the concrete floor leaving an occupational health and safety nightmare, while upstairs the surrealism exhibition continues. And, of course, there is, as always, a UBS sponsored show – this time on drawing – which is definitely worth a look.
But, even amongst this impressive ensemble the latest show to hit Tate Modern, The World As A Stage, stands out. Described as “a ground-breaking exhibition exploring the rich historical relationship between visual art and the notion of ‘theatre’”, 16 international artists have been chosen to show their works, which range from more traditional forms such as installations and sculptures through to performances and participatory pieces.
You may think there is nothing unusual about the line-up. But it is, in fact, the first exhibition at Tate Modern to bring gallery-based and live work together. And Tate Modern has certainly thrown itself into the whole idea.
The live work starts at the door. The door staff hand out guides mocked up in the style of theatre programmes. They have also been asked by artist Tino Sehgal to choose a headline from the day’s paper to announce, at random, to visitors entering the exhibition. The effect is confusing, to say the least. Encounters go something like this:
“How to beat cancer: be slim and avoid red meat, page 1, The Times.”
“Pardon?”
“How to beat cancer: be slim and avoid red meat, page 1, The Times.”
“OK, thank you.”
Bemused, the entrant walks uncertainly into room one, to be confronted by the work of Slovakian artist, Roman Ondak whose piece, I’m Just Acting In It, was created by a rather theatrical interplay.
Ondak asked the curators to describe his appearance to some members of the public. He then wandered through the gallery as they tried to spot him and draw what they saw. His contribution is the resulting artworks.
The exhibition has been supported by the Polish Cultural Institute, among others, and Polish artist Pawel Althamer’s famous pile of clothes artwork is included in a corner. The story of his original Berlin performance is told in the accompanying programme: Althamer arrived in Potsdamer Platz dressed as a business man the day before the exhibition he had been invited to contribute to. He stripped off his clothes, and walked away naked, leaving his belongings as the exhibition piece. Quite how the exact pile has been recreated here, or if Althamer had to strip a second time for Tate Modern, is unclear.
Then there are more concrete, sculptural examples of the link between theatre and art. Jeppe Hein from Denmark contributes Rotating Labyrinth, a rotating mirrored theatre in the round, with classic Danish attention to design. American artist Rita McBride’s Arena, is literally what it says it is: a seating arena, set up for this exhibition in front of fellow American Catherine Sullivan’s rather eccentric video installation, The Chittendens: The Resuscitation of Uplifting.
Canadian Geoffrey Farmer has contributed the Hunchback Kit, a collection of objects and props that form a kit for staging The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.
Perhaps in an attempt to get the diehard art fans coming back, American artist Trisha Donnelly’s The Redwood and the Raven is a sequence of 31 photos, but only one is shown each day, so the ‘performance’ unfolds over the course of the exhibition itself.
Works are not just confined to the gallery space. Various performances are taking place throughout the exhibition, including an unusual piece of artistic theatre from German artist Ulla von Brandenburg, who also has a film and a recreated stage curtain in the exhibition. Her theatrical piece is called Singplay, and is a ‘tableau vivant’ depicting a family, who, rather than speaking, take turns to mime to a taped song sung in German in a girl’s voice. The programme tells us that the 9 minute piece is intentionally ambiguous, which made me feel I was potentially wasting 9 minutes, but the strangeness of it compelled me to watch.
While many of the pieces are clever, witty, and fascinating examples of theatrical art, or the link between art and theatre, in combination the build up of this effect felt somewhat trite.
Another small criticism Arts Hub had was the relatively narrow geographical base drawn upon for what is supposed to be an international event. One Brazilian artist is the sole representative outside of Europe and North America. Given the explosion of art in China and South East Asia it seems odd that the exhibition has neglected this region.
But what the exhibition does have in spades is a hands-on, up-close with the art, interactive, art for the people appeal. A prime example is Mario Ybarra Jr’s recreation of a barber’s shop Sweeney Tate, and Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster’s Seance de Shadow II where lights project the shadows of viewers on the opposite wall. A lover of contemporary art who was familiar with the artists and concepts could easily take someone along to this exhibition who had never set foot inside a gallery before, and they’d both gain something from the experience.
The World As A Stage runs until 1 January 2008 at Tate Modern.
