Recently, I went to see the street art exhibition at the Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry. One of the things that caused a lot of speculation was whether street art should be brought into the gallery, not only because of the idea of street art losing its original connotations when in a gallery setting, but also because the Mohammaed Ali room, (and also one of the large scale pieces by Ben Slow) continued off the work and onto the wall. the way the space was used i though was really interesting, it was split up into sections, aside from the Mohammaed Ali work being in one completely separate room, the exhibition highlighted the political connotations of street art, and sectioned the work off accordingly. I thought it was a really great way to show the work, because it really demonstrated the underlying tones of each piece which emphasize works with obvious text and strong visuals.
I think it something we need to think about with our exhibition, maybe talking to the artists to find out their intended meaning behind their work, then selection works that fall in the same area, not necessarily political, but also include works that maybe contradict it. I also thought that using the space as an extention of the work was very effective, obviously we wont be able to get people to draw on the walls, but maybe we could have a loot at ways we can display the work.
Just something to think about, Steph
Mohammaed Ali Room
Ben Slow's contribution - although the floor was protected by a glass sheet, this was drawn straight onto the walls of the gallery.
That's a really interesting point about the original meaning of the work potentially changing depending on its surroundings, so I do think it's important we speak to the students.
ReplyDeleteOne way we did discuss displaying the artworks was to make the exhibition space feel like a room or house, but that's just a suggestion :)
Emily