living art - Tino Sehgal in the Turbine Hall

Can something experiential be art, without any longstanding existence? The evidence will only be in people's memories, and to some extent cameras. But they can never capture the whole experience and the uncertainty in the audience about whether what they were seeing was art...British born german artist Tino Sehgal offers the ultimate challenge. When we entered the gigantic space of the turbine hall, there were a few people sitting around on the sloping floor. We walked towards the far end through empty space and as we turned round to return we were faced with an army of 'artists' all walking backwards in unison. We could walk through and round them... but it seemed that the visitors waited along the edges of this space, while the troupe started walking forwards again, at an agonisingly slow pace. We had heard stories about the 'artists' interacting with the public and I observed one artist breaking free from the group and talking to the family beside me. I tried to eavesdrop but he turned his back to me, so I figured his story was for that family only... We walked back slowly disappointed, when we were approached by an older American man, who 'told' us a story about his parents - it was very complete and somewhat scripted - but it was delivered in a soliloquoy and in a way that we were not able to ask the obvious questions or to engage with him in any way! o well Later in the day we saw the 'actors' running around between the visitors, who seemed to be ignoring them. Then they congregated again and began a long and systematic chant which seemed to turn the darkened hall into an old cathedral... It was really a thoughtful experience - how was this art? how do you charge for this? how much creative freedom do the actors have? and finally how will this all be remembered?

the tanks at Tate Modern

It was great to catch the last day of exhibitions in the tanks at the Tate Modern. They were only opened this year. They are giant underground tanks which held oil when the Tate Modern was a power station. These underground galleries have retained the derelict and industrial feel of raw concrete spaces and this is now being channeled into large and complex film and video installations.

It seems they have at least 4 different spaces to use as they choose. I was particularly impressed by 2 creations. Light Music is an innovative work by Lis Rhodes that was created in response to the lack of contemporary female composers. It is formed from two projections facing one another on opposite screens in a hazy room. I found the visual experience so much more profound than the musical! As the two patterns of black and white lines pass through the projector they are ‘read’ as audio, creating an intense soundtrack, forming the aural equivalent to the flickering patterns on the screens. Instead, I was fascinated by the way in which the two beams of light traverse one another and in the space between these two projections, people play with their own ethereal sculptural forms comprised of light, shadow and theatrical smoke. I loved the way we all moved between the screens, engaging with the projection beams, enjoying the images, and taking photos...

The other piece I really loved was titled Crystal Quilt. On 10 May 1987 in Minneapolis, 430 women over the age of 60 gathered to share their views on growing older. The resulting performance, the creation of a duplicate design of tables in a large urban shopping centre, to match a bed size quilt was captured on video. The process was guided by a desire to represent diverse ethnic and social backgrounds alongside life experience and achievements. The author Suzanne Lacy created a complementary video, documentary, quilt, photographs and sound piece, and they are all available to experience. It was great to be able to piece them all together by yourself to recapture an understanding of the whole impressive project.

On the road - a classic book cum movie

This current film adaptation of a cult novel by Jack Kerouac tries to bring together a feeling of life in the 1950's with a sense of literary history. Having neither read the book nor being familiar with 1950's America, I enjoyed some of the universal themes. 2 young men meet, bringing together a deep search for a good story with a life of hedonistic rebellion. Both are searching for something more, and ultimately provide the perfect counterpoint for each other... The film tells the provocative story of Sal Paradise (Sam Riley), a young writer whose life is shaken and ultimately redefined by the arrival of Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund), a free-spirited, fearless, fast talking Westerner and his girl, Marylou (Kristen Stewart). I enjoyed the experience, in quite a cognitive way, and found that like so many American films, the good guy always wins out in the end...

Untouchable - but seriously engaging

The French film Les Intouchables, translated as Untouchable, is way better than the title suggests. Based on a true story, Phillipe has a high level spinal cord injury after a paragliding accident. He is a wealthy aristocrat who can re-engineeer the life he wants. Despite his obvious penchant for risky adventure, he seems cocooned by a terribly conservative team of well meaning staff. Somewhere along the way he lost his wife and he strikes me as being seriously alone and in search of a new challenge. He sets up this challenge by hiring an endearing black ex-con who was only looking for a signature to get the dole. Despite a very limited life growing up in an overcrowded family, Driss is still pretty enthusiastic and open to experiencing the alternatives of aristocratic and disabled lifestyles. The script is well written and both actors very accomplished - so that they systematically and humourously demolish stereotypes about race and social class through enjoying discovering their common humanity. I really could enjoy the way they both uncovered and eventually respected each others' worlds; something very close to my heart and my life experiences. There is a real beauty is appreciating something that is seen as normal and everyday to someone else! The humour was subtle and the message was deep and significant. While there has been some criticism about the cultural contrasts, I cannot bear to think about a proposed American remake - this would need to be avoided!

Bronzes at the Royal Academy

I feel so lucky to be able to view two great exhibitions in London in one day. From the traditional halls of the Tate Britain, it was a short drive to the ultra conservative enclave of the Royal Academy.

Perhaps it is this amazing tradition that can bring together bronzes across the centuries and from across the world, literally. The unique and exciting perspective of this exhibition was that bronzes were arranged thematically, from antiquity to the present, across themes of the Human Figure, Animals, Groups, Objects, Reliefs, Gods, Heads and Busts.

I was so impressed to see side by side works from ancient Greek, Roman and Etruscan periods, together with some rare survivals from the Medieval period. The Renaissance was well represented as were the modern artists from the 19th century to today. I really enjoyed seeing bronzes by Rodin, Picasso, Jasper Johns, Moore and Bourgeois.

Historically, it is impressive to see the role of bronze as an artistic medium for over five millennia. I learned that bronze is actually an alloy consisting mainly of copper, with lesser amounts of tin, zinc and lead. I also enjoyed learning about the universality of the complex processes involved in making bronze. It was great to watch reconstructions of how models are made, cast and finished by a variety of different techniques. I was totally impressed to see so much history and creativity across cultures and history together in one place.

Pre-Raphelites - Victorian Avant-Garde at Tate Britain

I came to this exhibition with a history and an open mind. I admit that in my early 20's I saw these young artists as romantic idealists - representing life and love in the intensity of pure pleasure, indulgence and at times total despair. I oscillated between experiencing life as the Lady of Shallott and Ophelia. So, this time as we drove down to the Tate Britain in autumnal sunshine, I was ready to see these artists in a new light. Thankfully, the curator was in tune with my advancing maturity. They had taken a developmental and educational approach across the 7 main rooms. We began to recreate the origins and history of the group. So many pieces were descriptive of mediaeval life, as described by Shakespeare and other historians. Then we were taken to the painstaking recreation of nature in all of its beauty and detail. Throughout this exhibition, every painting could be examined at a distance for a total effect, and at close quarters for detailed investigation. Later in the exhibition, the themes were salvation, seen from a very Christian perspective in a sensually indulgent world, beauty and paradise, which were interpreted fairly literally. I really enjoyed the final room titled mythologies and populated by large paintings by Rosetti and Burne-Jones. From here, it was a natural progression to the symbolism of turn of the century art nouveau and the Vienna Seccession. It is great to see this art in its historical context and to continue to enjoy the romantic idealism for exactly what it is...