A Dazzling Sun In A Gallery

I would have loved to have witnessed this first hand.  Olafur Eliasson's The Weather Project installed in the 150 long turbine hall of Tate Modern in 2003.  

In his preparatory work, Eliasson encouraged active involvement of gallery staff in the project from the beginning.  He distributed a questionnaire asking staff about their everyday engagement with the weather.  Eliasson also engaged the representatives of various gallery departments, as well as the Tate director and the museum architect, in discussions that examined issues such as representation, experience, interpretation and display.  

 He was involved in press releases prior to the opening claiming research was being carried out in the Turbine Hall, which was described as a place apparently capable of forming meteorological conditions of its own. The Weather Project has been described as bringing out the full potential of Tate Modern and, by extension, of museums in general, as places of encounter and aggregation. Spontaneous meetings took place in the hall, celebrations, people embracing or reveling in the artificial light, or lying on the floor to gaze at their own reflections in the ceiling. The Weather Project has been credited with reaffirming the social role of the museum.   An edited essay by Marcella Beccaria, Chief Curator Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea in Italy. 

Wrapping The Reichstag

Twenty years have elapsed since the artists Jeanne-Claude and Christo wrapped the Reichstag in Berlin in fabric drapery.  Apart from the result being visually stunning, the artwork had a powerful symbolic importance according to a recent article in The Book Of Life.

The history of the Reichstag, built in the 19th century, is tarnished due to it being the seat of Nazi government from 1933.  It's a painful fact for many Germans that this regime was popularly elected but as The Book Of Life points out, a vote cast in 1933 does not sanction every element of party policy up to 1945, including the concentration camps and atrocities committed by it's armies on the eastern front.

"Jeanne-Claude and Christo did not change the Reichstag; but by covering and then unveiling it, they set up a grand public opportunity for renewal of the nation’s relationship to its foremost political building. It allowed Germany to give its parliament back to itself."   The argument is that political art can help by giving expression to a collective experience of confession, grief, atonement and renewed good will.