Art Review

Oh boy, have I worked on getting my ass to the exhibition Dali and Film at Tate Modern. Since its opening in early June, I have meant to go. But I managed finally, so was it worth the efforts? Dali, the first great self-promoter within the art circles and one of the master visionary. For me his greatest strenght is his belief that creation is just about getting rid of your limits.

I have been a Dali fan this reason, and his paintings reflect the limitless approach really well. However, even thought being aware of his films, such as Un chien andalou (1929) with Luis Buñuel, I never thought films were such an influence for Mr Dali. Also I was not aware of his efforts to break into Hollywood, using his signature surrealistic designs. In this sense the exhibition did a really good job.

Highlight was his only recently accomplished collaboration with Walt Disney, titled Destino (2003). Storyboarded by Disney studio artist John Hench and Dalí for eight months in late 1945 and 1946; however, financial concerns caused Disney to cease production. The Walt Disney Company, then Walt Disney Studios, was plagued by many financial woes in the World War II era. Hench compiled a short animation test of about 18 seconds in the hopes of rekindling Disney’s interest in the project, but the production was no longer deemed financially viable and put on indefinite hiatus.

The importance of this piece for me was is the fact that I’m a huge Disney fan. His animations have been very forward thinking, and especially Fantasia (1940) was one of the first films to involve visualized music.

One must credit Dali with in passion and drive to use film as a medium for his visions. However, Dali’s directorial efforts are not very high quality. His storytelling so very surreal that, limit in film technology made it impossible to fully realise the visions. I believe oil painting was the best media for surrealism at his time, though one must wonder what if Dali would have had the CG technology to create 3D animated moving worlds.

Art Review

Saturday 9th was a label launch on an interesting scale. Ne1co is maybe one of the first labels concentrating on releasing only visual content, or at least emphasising the visual side of the music. It was a nice little event, though made me realise that VJing is still a very very marginal artform. Mostly participants are working on the field themselves, which makes these events kinda just about showing off yourself.

However, VJ Anyone, VJ Bopa, VJ movement and Vello Virkhaus & Sandra Collins gave away cool sets. Emphasise was mainly on graphical side. In my opinion the VJs should experiment in a more film style storytelling, like Matthew Barney did. This was a good end for a week compeletely visual storytelling, exprienced in Barcelona and London.

Art Review

Obviously the time in Barcelona was not just about soaking the sun, enjoying the beautifully shaking Latina hips of the most beautiful girls, or getting inspired by the awesome architecture of the city. While filminf the city’s street scene, I reserved time to tour as many galleries as possible. There is a amazing and thriving art scene in Barcelona. However, the market is not as developed as in London. Downside is that sometimes the presenting was rather unprofessional.

I might be spoiled by the amount and quality of event and exhibitions in the UK capital. I am also trained art producer & curator, so I do look the production in a very critical eye. However, we have to remember that usually more important is drive to make it happen. The problem though is that often the lack of quality in production will hinder the viewing comfort, consequently not giving the desired immersive experience.

Highlight of the week spent in Barcelona was definetely Loop ‘07 – a videoart festival. The festival spanned over some 30 venues , staginf various installations, performances and screenings. I was able to see “Videos Con Tuco” screening of recent Argentinian videoart in Centre D’art Santa Monica, Various street installations in lifestyle shop windows, “Thin Blue Lines” by American artist Jill Magid, some graduate videos from Scandinavian Art schools and most notable notorious screenings of Matthew Barney’s “The Cremaster Cycle 1-5“. Barney’s screenings took place in the night time under the spanish moon, with a chilling wind cooling us down. We sat on a hard surface of the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona’s courtyard. The 5 films, screened over 3 nights, had not a single line of dialect, while the images of the film told the story in symbolic methods. Must say, not your Hollywood films, but still enjoyable.

Another notable gallery in the the city centre was operated by The Gracia Arts Project. Nice little galleria with excellent information and access to the art. Thanks to Christina for the chat, hope to see you again.

Main dissapointed was MACBA , the contemporary arts museum of Barcelona. Again, I am spoiled by Tate Modern in London, and have recently visited MoMa in New York and Museum fur Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt . These epitomes of exhibiting modern art do shadow the MACBA by far. I was left very cold by the exhibition on mix between visual art and theatre, and even more by the museum itself. They did not offer much info or sense adventure to sink into the world of the exhibition. Though they did have a nice balcony bar bathing in the afternoon sun. So, I went for a Mojito.

So this production aspect, in Loop and in Macba, is something that is extremely important for the development of art scene in Barcelona. Especially to expand their audience, as the average person will not return to poorly staged events. Sure, obviously London productions have more financial power behind them, but I have to mention that I have been involved in projects that had very highquality production with basicly no money behind, subsequently enhancing the sometimes lacking content. So please Barcelona producers, next time make sure the quality of curating goes hand in hand with the awesome art you have.