poppy

Seed, Bournemouth Lower Gardens

Opening night 25/04/08

Entered the gardens from the top by the aviary, at least the weather held, didn't follow the map I'd picked up in college.

Tim Russell - SLEEPING IN MUD, I HAVE ONLY MY DREAMS FOR WINGS
You have to come off the path to get to the hide, looked through the binoculars but they were too focused in, so couldn't really see much. People had attempted to leave hilarious comments about what they could see, none were more hilarious than what I wrote though. Thought that was the whole piece until later in the day when we came across him wandering about in a wooded area wearing pajamas with a tatty briefcase. He seemed to be scratching his arse. Assumed it was a performance, no one else was watching at that time.We went further down then came back from the other side by which point a large crowd had gathered, he was also being filmed, now he was doing bird imitations and...things. Reminded me of that really annoying moose-film-thing at the Hayward that was part of the 'laughing in a foreign language' exhibition. I wasn't hugely interested by the performance, but peoples reactions were fantastic:

Old lady to husband: "love....love...he's wearing his jimjams!"

Little boy to other little boy with disdain: "Little performing druggies"

Fantastic. And there were some teenage girls watching one of whom laughed or said something too loud and a fair amount of snobby audience members turned and glared at her. When the performance was over he walked behind a bush and tied his hair up. then came round to where the audience was and got changed. The end of performances are always a bit odd.

Mary Clarke - One man's junk is another man's treasure
Large photos of individuals in the gardens, with two smaller photos underneath of stuff. Didn't really understand, still didn't really understand after reading the thing. The photos were covered in shiny plastic so were quite difficult to see, also some of them were very dark.

Laura Jefcoate
Saw the plaque talking about squirrel families etc, but couldn't see anything. When we got down to where the wine etc was we picked up the little squirrel walking guide leaflet. Don't know where they will be for the rest of the exhibition(?) I actually really like the little leaflet, though it encourages you to feed them which I don't agree with. They (and the pigeons) are fat enough. Also it says free bag of nuts with every tour but I don't think she could do that in the end. It is comical and sweet. Good use of handwritten and printed text. Very human. Nice little memento.

Sophie Duckworth - Their Own Webs From Their Own Entrails Spin
Perhaps because these webs have been in the studio for so long, getting in the way, I have grown to slightly dis-like them. I am not the only one who has walked into one of them when it was still wet and got paint and glue in my hair. Then to see that they're not placed like that in the gardens, rather draped over bushes etc is a bit disappointing. As an unknowing audience you wouldn't know any of this though. They do sort of look like cobwebs but they've been pissing me off for so long I don't really care.

Emma Hanson
Read her plaque and didn't know what I was looking for, though maybe it had something to do with the light on the sea, but as the plaque was behind a pillar though probably not. Found out from someone else that the work is reflective things on the pillars and in the right light it looks really nice, went down a different day and saw them, though they completely blend in with the pillars. Just little rectangles of grey reflective stuff.

Tristan Rogers - Dusk till Dawn
Caught it at the wrong time and it was locked, will look another day. Just makes me think of the shitty club of the same name though...

Alison Baugh
Saw what looked a red safe box under one of the benches but didn't get very close. Then later on when I put something in the bin I could hear this mumbling and realised it was coming from another of the boxes. Sat down over it and could hear snippets of conversation. Very nice idea, though it would be cool if the boxes were completely hidden. Also a lot of it was difficult to make out, but if it was louder it probably wouldn't be as good. Really like it. Can possibly imagine people getting freaked out by unseen voices...but hopefully not. Takes on a slightly sinister edge.

Judith Allen - Double Sized Deckchair
Rather embarrassingly didn't actually notice this. Just was vaguely aware of some deckchairs pointed towards the bandstand. I don't like whats written about it as it sounds like pretentious shit, but I do like the piece. One of the few that I felt was really relevant. Later on in the day a stag party came across it and the main man wearing a hula skirt/bra/wig combo sat in the double sized one and all his mates sat in the surrounding ones. At this point loads of kids ran over and started taking their picture. When the blokes had gone the children climbed in and their parents took pictures of them. Don't know how long they will last in that formation.

Johanna McDouall
Boring boring boring boring. Stupid armchair with stupid crocheted flowers around it. Bleh.

Tom Mitchell
Cast his body. Is in a sort of sitting down position on a bank, with its arm around a tree. Bolted down. Looks skeletal and creepy. Not particularly well done. His blurb is about childhood exploration. What bollocks.

Denise Poote - Untitled (2008)
Painted some of the rocks in the rockery gold.

Robyn Stevenson
Really beautiful. Fluttering from a beautiful tree. Don't know about the blanket on the bench in front, but it does somehow go. Perhaps because I know how much work has gone into it changes my opinion, but loads of people were looking at it. Dried teabags, printed onto using solar printing methods, sewn onto hessian. To me it is about englishness (tea drinking etc) but then the colour of tea stains reminds me of old people which is really who the gardens are aimed at. Apparently it is about smuggling though, which I didn't think was a hugely important part of the areas history. A lot of the teabags fell down or were pulled off in the first night, so she will have a job keeping them all up there.

Linda Lister - Otherworld
Quite nice, little animals made of layers of cardboard. Quite sweet but not enthralling. Very well made. Would perhaps be more appropriate if there were cows etc roaming around.

Joel Muggleton - Tunnels
On the blurb it says how a "network of tunnels has been installed beneath the lower section of the gardens". I like falsities, but it doesn't work when you can see the base and back of the supposed entrance/exit points. I feel they should be more hidden. Just look a bit half arsed. Might be fun for kids trying to find them all.

Ilse Black - The Pavilion Drawing
Giant white 'drawing' on the grass, I suppose it is really supposed to be viewed from the balloon, but its incredibly expensive. At least all the lines are straight.

Anna Mcleod
Little plastic boxes with things inside laid out in rows on the ground. I personally really hate museum-exhibit type art. It doesn't matter that the boxes contain things she found in the garden, who cares? unless the ides is for visitors to take them (which will clearly happen). Dull dull.

Krystle Shard - Grass
A box of grass, each blade wrapped in selotape. Knowing the type of work she produces (taking hours colouring in the floor with chalk etc) probably changes how I see this. Don't really understand work that the whole point is that is has taken ages to create. Is there thought involved during the whole making time? Dunno. The plaque and postcard consist of a really shitty Van Gogh quote, which quite successfully sums up everything I hate about the modern stereotype of 'The Artist'.

posted by poppy @ 7:30 pm