Friday 25 July 2008

Turner Contemporary

Imaging Atelier - Impression of Turner ContemporaryThis is Imaging Atelier's impression of the new Turner Contemporary gallery, designed by David Chipperfield, as it will look on Margate’s windswept seafront. It'll give the pensioners somewhere novel to shelter when rain deluges the promenade, but at what cost: more than £17 million! £8.1m will be provided by Arts Council England (ACE) and the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA). I guess they wouldn't fund a more alluring complex comprising a bingo hall, arcade games, Internet cafés, fish-and-chip shops and whelk stalls. No imagination. So they build a shrine to contemporary rubbish instead. Will it drag the punters back to Margate? I doubt it, but time will tell.

6 Comments:

At 26/7/08, Blogger Unknown said...

i think it's beautiful. and reminiscent of Turner's work, which i find to be rather remarkable.... the world has enouph arcades. here in the states, our lack of culture is astounding. a place like this would be a welcome sight! i would say that the only problem with this gorgeous piece of architecture is the price tag.

: )

 
At 26/7/08, Blogger Unknown said...

Hi, Jacks

I agree the artist's impression of the building looks great, and the building itself should be world-class architecture. Ships sails for the coast? I was kidding about the bingo hall etc, but I suspect the inhabitants of and visitors to Margate would probably prefer that to "contemporary art". If this were intended as a gallery for fine art, I'd be all for it, but I believe it will house tripe - nothing to do with Turner.

 
At 27/7/08, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Come on "contemporary art" means zilch. It is such a broad generalisation its an insult to contemporary artists. Your sounding like my gran more each day and she's been dead 20 years. The artists impression gets the thumbs up fro me.

Regards

Nick

 
At 27/7/08, Blogger Unknown said...

Hi again, Jack

If you dip into my blog for long enough, you'll find I cover all sorts of "contemporary art", but the phrase has come to mean "pretentious rubbish". So, for instance, the Federation of British Artists rarely uses the phrase, despite the fact that its members are alive and, in theory, contemporary. (I cover the Mall Galleries - home to FBA - regularly.) And ice sculptors and body painting artists don't refer to themselves as "contemporary artists". Nor does Banksy.

So, from what I can see, "contemporary art" lives in its own ghetto and has little to do with living artists. In fact you'll find a lot of "contemporary artists" are now dead!

 
At 27/7/08, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello again,

Yes I take your point, well put, still a lot of good work going on although of couse only some of it travels beyond local interest into the wider domain which is a real shame.

All the best.
Nick

 
At 28/7/08, Blogger Unknown said...

Have you come across a Banana Over Texas yet? That daft project made it across the Bloggersphere. Art? Well ... er ....

 

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