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.