This Month In 1989 - Cornelia Parker

Art Monthly Cover 1989 

Cornelia Parker, Thirty Pieces of Silver (exhaled), Ikon (2014)

  It was by chance that I came across a review of Cornelia Parker's installation - 30 Pieces of Silver - a commissioned piece for Ikon Gallery, Birmingham in 1988-1989. It is now been shown (in part) at Ikon once again as part of As Exciting As We Can Make It: Ikon in the 1980's exhibition which is part of it's 50th anniversary celebrations.

Parker famously hired a steam roller to compress 1,000 pieces of silver objects - or plated objects - in a decorous performance that turned objects of commemoration and social status in to objects stripped of their initial function, like in many pieces of work by Parker, the objects are given new meaning.

Here described as 'A simulacrum for a gallery; a product and celebration of surplus' apparently tainted by it's own elegance. Silver is a precious metal, a treasure formed in to objects of material worth. The success in this piece is the loss of potentiality within the object when it is transformed 'If Parker had used real silver made into objects of beauty, the statement would have been more robust and the performance a reality.' Think of KLF burning 1 million pounds, if this had been fake money would it of had the same impact? I think not. 

The resurrection of the flattened objects is in their display, a silver lining. Thirty pools of delicately poised configurations make up the full scale version of this work. Changing perceived cultural values, traces alluding to betrayal and status as the viewer looked down upon the hovering remains.  

Wolverhampton Art Gallery: Tipping Point

       
        Tipping Point is a balancing act in which change needs to occur before the scales are tipped in the wrong direction and the opportunity to re-balance is lost. The latest group exhibition at Wolverhampton Art Gallery revolves around the impact of environmental and humanitarian issues on the world today and how changes could effect us in the future.

        We are aware of global warming, overpopulation, industrialization and the continual use of energy. All the data and information that we have culminated can be hard to digest, and visualize, resulting in denial, the reluctance to act or the feeling that individually we are too small to make a difference, The Age of Stupid springs to mind. But art and artists enable the public to engage with these issues, artists such as Simon Starling, Darren Almond, Katie Paterson and John Kelly to name a few. This is an exhibition with a strong message. Aiming to promote taking individual responsibility, making small changes and motivating a shift in public thinking.    

Katie Paterson,

• Langjökull, Snæfellsjökull, Solheimajökull

Gerry Judah, Bengal #2 (2013)

One of Many books in the Gallery

        Usually silent and thousands of miles away from the West Midlands, is the sound of glacier ice melting. Three videos by science artist Katie Paterson depict Icelandic ice records spinning on turntables, creating grinding sounds that bore into the heads of gallery visitors, along with the issue of melting ice caps.
       Weighing heavy on delicate, Indian style bikes and rickshaws are immensely dense and intricate architectural structures, defying the laws of physics. The commissioned pieces are a result of a research trip artist Gerry Judah took to West India. Extravagant forms are a monument to progress, an attempt to overshadow poverty and deprivation with beauty. The work marks an imbalance between the rich and the poor.

        ‘In the end, Tipping Points are a reaffirmation of the potential for change and the power of intelligent action. Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push - in just the right place – it can be tipped.’

Malcolm Gladwell.

Tipping Point is at the Wolverhampton Art Gallery until the 6th July 2013.