Prior reading to visit
Links provided by the OCA in the study visit pre reading
- http://www.bjp-online.com/2016/11/wolfgang-tillmans-an-interview-from-the-bjp-archives/ accessed 3rd May 2017
- https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/feb/13/wolfgang-tillmans-photographer-interview-tate-modern accessed 3rd May 2017
- https://aperture.org/blog/wolfgang-tillmans/ accessed 3rd May 2017
Accessed 3rd May 2017
Accessed 3rd May 2017
Study Visit – Tate Modern 6th May 2017
Upon arrival to the exhibition, the Tate provided a booklet, this provided background to the exhibition a floor plan and each room (14 in total) had a description of the theme and some of the works shown.
Our tutor for the day Jayne Taylor provided background to the exhibition itself and guidance on some of the content and where to meet up for a discussion over lunch afterwards.
My personal brief for the day was to view the exhibition and to also look at how the exhibition was set out, the media used and how the images were hung. This is now an ongoing brief for my final exhibition and presentation of work. I’ll get that out of the way now. Prints were shown on the walls in 4 different ways:
- Printed and mounted using clear scotch tape
- Mounted and framed under glass
- Printed and then hung from nails in the wall using white bulldog clips
- Mounted behind acrylic boxes.
In certain rooms (e.g. room 4) the wooden tables present thoughts, research on images represented. This mood board shows snippets taken from magazine articles, research papers of others, internet searches and images.
There are a number of pieces that resonated with me personally and some which clearly did not. Firstly I made handwritten notes while walking around the exhibition and these were then written up afterwards with any of my own images added to these notes, they are then included at the end of this document.
What I connected with
I find myself very much leaning towards abstract photography, the (on first appearance) simple colour panels, printed but creased and folded prints, smoke trails and close in detail shots very much resonate with imagery that I enjoy. The workstation in room 2 is very much my typical space and I loved the disassembled copier. Part of me wanted to get in there with a screwdriver and disassemble it further.
What I didn’t connect with
Ok, not sure why you would want to display out of focus work. I understand it is done and in a body of other work can tell a story but for me it takes away from the story of the image if I’m then asking questions as to why that particular image of the boy and the car isn’t sharp anywhere. I’m also not aligned with the personal aspects of his work that are of friends. Some very well composed and presented portraits which then sit aside a very large print of a mans hairy backside/scrotum, there is form to the posing but I feel they dont fit well into this presentation and body of work.
Overall
A large exhibition that took around 1.5 hours to navigate and I didn’t really scratch the surface. It was very helpful to carry out the pre-reading actually before the visit but to also read this again afterwards. Definitely, a second visit needs to occur before the exhibition closes on 11th June 2017.
Post study referencing
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/wolfgang-tillmans-2017/studying-truth accessed 7th May 2017
Accessed 7th May 2017
Expressing your Vision 