TAKE ME .......I'M YOURS......
I was telling Anne this evening a little about my experience with this exhibition « Take Me ».
« It’s certainly not an exhibition, it’s a game »
was my description and since seeing it yesterday, I’m more convinced than ever that this is right. However, it maybe a very serious physiological game!
Let’s go back a bit. I thought the concept was a first. Certainly for Paris but in actual fact its success comes from London’s Serpentine Gallery 20 years ago. I would think that the idea is unique in itself as it offers the opportunity to come back home with artworks and objects presented in the show. Everything is there: monetary exchange: swapping objects - just take it. Only one of course….
How often have you been told «don’t touch » - « step back » or a bell goes off because you are too close (happens to me, not once, but quite often). This « play ground » as I will call it, tears up the rule book and places us at the core of the event. « Touch it, « Take it » - I’m yours…..
It opens up with a work of Boltanski. I went into the gallery and gasped. A young women next to me, smiled. I remembered only too well the Boltanski exhibition at the Grand Palais
These moments came back and I hesitated before going into the gallery. The young woman must have sensed my ill ease. I turned to her and said « it’s Boltanski, isn’t it? » Of course the answer was yes. He is also one of the curators of the exhibition. However, then she came up with his description for this pile of clothing…. « if you take one (and you could of course), would you consider it to be a piece of art or something else. Would you wear it? ». You could scrummage, find your size and bingo come up with a new shirt or whatever. I did nothing of that.
I was drawn to one of the many small piles of posters. This, I found quite beautiful.
At first I didn’t take a bag but came back for one. « Take this, take a sweet » « take a piece of leather » « take…..take….take…. »
Artist’s names were not next to the work so you came into the gallerie not knowing quite what to expect. I began to see that the operative word was « take »….I too went back and got a large paper bag but I virtually took nothing.
The exhibition gathers the artists who participated in the 1995 exhibition and new artists spanning the generations who surely bring a new perspective to this concept.
Each artist gave his own idea of the concept. Somewhat philosophical at times and even too much so. The more you look, the more you see of our everyday environment.
Instant photos (which you could take of yourself with a special coin for the occasion. That you paid for and queued up for….you’ve guessed, I didn’t….)
Tourism,
Journalism and the questions we ask as women….
Looking at a skeleton and perhaps tasting a little later…..see the bones below?
A shop where there is nothing of interest....
Gilbert and George with their protests and badges:-
Perfumes to try
Pills to take
Take - Take - Take - and finally that is what I was looking at. The paper bags filled with objects….would art go into the homes of these spectators? It would certainly be dispersed and even perhaps remembered...or thrown away!
The full to overflowing bags? Who were these people? Because it was free, - take - take -take…the bags where there were only a few samples….those who had no bags at all….we were all there exposing our characters more clearly perhaps than we would have liked to…. The trees where we write our message
I went down the royal stair case and took two more photos of the trees….
....the supervisor stopped me when he saw I was taking a photo of the name of the artist. « Nobody does that… » « I do,» I replied « otherwise how will I know who’s work I have seen? »
He then said « Let me take a photo of you, in front of the royal staircase » - Tell me, does that mean I am now a work of art in this exhibition?
Forgive me please if not all the artists have been mentionned.....
« It’s certainly not an exhibition, it’s a game »
was my description and since seeing it yesterday, I’m more convinced than ever that this is right. However, it maybe a very serious physiological game!
Let’s go back a bit. I thought the concept was a first. Certainly for Paris but in actual fact its success comes from London’s Serpentine Gallery 20 years ago. I would think that the idea is unique in itself as it offers the opportunity to come back home with artworks and objects presented in the show. Everything is there: monetary exchange: swapping objects - just take it. Only one of course….
How often have you been told «don’t touch » - « step back » or a bell goes off because you are too close (happens to me, not once, but quite often). This « play ground » as I will call it, tears up the rule book and places us at the core of the event. « Touch it, « Take it » - I’m yours…..
It opens up with a work of Boltanski. I went into the gallery and gasped. A young women next to me, smiled. I remembered only too well the Boltanski exhibition at the Grand Palais
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| Boltanski au Grand Palais |
First there is the noise, a clamour that fills the echoing vault of the Grand Palais like a great and distant crowd. The roaring, sonorous boom of white noise separates into deep, regular thuds, and above it the croak of frogs or the alarm calls of unseen jungle birds. There are disco squelches and native drums.The noise is a heart beat - and a reminder of all those who died in the camps. On a lighter side, you could have your heart beat recorded….and it can be found in a specific museum in Japan - if your family wanted to hear your heart beat, - after you died….mine is recorded and listening to all those heartbeats, you understand at once that every-beat has a different sound…
These moments came back and I hesitated before going into the gallery. The young woman must have sensed my ill ease. I turned to her and said « it’s Boltanski, isn’t it? » Of course the answer was yes. He is also one of the curators of the exhibition. However, then she came up with his description for this pile of clothing…. « if you take one (and you could of course), would you consider it to be a piece of art or something else. Would you wear it? ». You could scrummage, find your size and bingo come up with a new shirt or whatever. I did nothing of that.
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| Boltanski - Take Me |
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"These are second-hand clothes. I always imagined that second hand-clothing, a picture of someone and a corpse are almost the same thing. These are all objects that refer to a missing person"Christian Boltanski
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| Felix Gonzales-Torres (Revenge) 1991 |
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| I liked this - but where would I put it? |
At first I didn’t take a bag but came back for one. « Take this, take a sweet » « take a piece of leather » « take…..take….take…. »
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| Sweets |
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| And ONE red one in the middle |
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| Christine Hill -1995-2015 Slot machines, |
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| My paper bag.... |
The exhibition gathers the artists who participated in the 1995 exhibition and new artists spanning the generations who surely bring a new perspective to this concept.
Each artist gave his own idea of the concept. Somewhat philosophical at times and even too much so. The more you look, the more you see of our everyday environment.
Instant photos (which you could take of yourself with a special coin for the occasion. That you paid for and queued up for….you’ve guessed, I didn’t….)
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| On the walls |
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| Hans-Peter Feldmann: Postcards-2015 |
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| See the door? |
Journalism and the questions we ask as women….
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| Questions which women ask- Jef Geys (1934-) |
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| Mass Medoa : Gustav Metzger - 1971-2015 |
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| or cut out titles which mark us.... |
Looking at a skeleton and perhaps tasting a little later…..see the bones below?
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| L'Os de Bonheur: Angelika Markul - 2015 |
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| If you like eating bone.... |
A shop where there is nothing of interest....
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| Free Store - Jonathan Horowitz - 2009-2015 |
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Gilbert and George with their protests and badges:-
 |
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Perfumes to try
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| Perfume Fountain |
Pills to take
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| Carsten Höller - Pill Box, 2015 |
Take - Take - Take - and finally that is what I was looking at. The paper bags filled with objects….would art go into the homes of these spectators? It would certainly be dispersed and even perhaps remembered...or thrown away!
The full to overflowing bags? Who were these people? Because it was free, - take - take -take…the bags where there were only a few samples….those who had no bags at all….we were all there exposing our characters more clearly perhaps than we would have liked to…. The trees where we write our message
I went down the royal stair case and took two more photos of the trees….
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| a message |
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| and more |
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| A Wish Tree |
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| Yoko Ono, Wish Tree: 1996-2012 |
....the supervisor stopped me when he saw I was taking a photo of the name of the artist. « Nobody does that… » « I do,» I replied « otherwise how will I know who’s work I have seen? »
He then said « Let me take a photo of you, in front of the royal staircase » - Tell me, does that mean I am now a work of art in this exhibition?
Forgive me please if not all the artists have been mentionned.....
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