365 museums

one year means 365 chances to discover art, history & culture.

[365museums]

2013.20-21: Tate Modern

Some weekends in London (okay, nearly every weekend) seem like a perfect storm of things you can't miss; in early February, everything seemed to be happening at Tate Modern. I attended the Gender Talents symposium and then took part in Suzanne Lacy's Silver Action (read the storify - my tweets are @runlolarun).

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2013.19: Charles Dickens Museum

I finally took a detour on my way to the British Library for the day and stopped by the Charles Dickens Museum first. Would have loved to see it before renovations so I could appreciate them better, but it's a really lovely historic house. Hope to have time one Wednesday to join in a walking tour.

(image via museum website)

[365museums]

2013.18: Tate Britain

I came to use the library, then enjoyed the sparsely open but nearly empty galleries. There's something very magical about having a work of art all to yourself.

[365museums]

2013.17: British Museum

I had time to kill and, although there was less than an hour before closing, it was enough to browse through a few of the galleries.

While browsing the website looking for some of the objects I peeked at, I came across this great audio description online tour -- designed to enable access for both the visually impaired and those who aren't able to visit in person.

[365museums]

2013.16: V&A For: Permanent collection; "Light from the Middle East" This photography exhibit was fantastic, and it was amazing to see so many female artists represented. Small but powerful. Recommended if you're in London-- plus, it's free!

Top: Jowhara AlSaud, 'Airmail', from the series 'Out of Line' Bottom: Yto Barrada, 'Bricks (Briques)' Images via the V&A.

[365museums]

2013.15: Tate Modern For: Permanent collection I hadn't been back to the permanent collection for a while, so I went with a friend and enjoyed a lovely Saturday afternoon having tea and looking at art. Here's one of my favorite things that's on view now-- Ewa Partum's active poetry.

[365museums]

2013.14: The Photographer's Gallery For: Laura Letinsky artist's talk

Very interesting to hear her talk so soon after hearing Ori Gersht; they engage similar themes but with different results-- and talk about their work quite differently, as well. She made me want to drop everything and finally start shooting with a medium format camera.

Images via The Photographer's Gallery.

[365museums]

On the to-do list: Jane Austen's House Museum Happy 200th birthday, Pride and Prejudice! The Art Fund suggests one celebrate with a visit to Jane's house, where she lived from 1809-1817, and that sounds like a fantastic idea to me. I can't time my visit accordingly, but I hope to make it here before I leave England this summer.

(image via Art Fund, linked above.)

[365museums]

2013.13: The British Library for: Murder in the Library

I'll admit, my excitement to see this little but great exhibit at the British Library was what got me motivated to do a few hours of research. And what a great reward! The exhibit is organized from A-Z, with each letter standing for something related to mystery novels. Lots of fun objects and trivia, like this puzzle-solution that accompanied a novel.  I was glad that 'X' was for 'xenophobia,' but I wish the exhibit had been a bit more of a critical look at the mystery genre's historical penchant for racist stereotypes, and the connection between this and the political and social climate of the time. 

[365museums]

where I won't go: Auschwitz-Birkenau

It's International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and I can't help but reflect on this day one year ago, when I went to the remembrance ceremony at Birkenau. Here's my post from last year.

I'll be back in Poland for a few weeks this spring, but I likely won't make it back to this important memorial site in 2013.

[365museums]

Have a bit of catching up to do, as I've been without internet for a while. Please bear with me!

2013.12: Courtauld Gallery The perfect place to spend some time on a beautiful, snowy London day. I'll always regret not seeing Cezanne's Card Players in 2010 (I had the chance to see it in New York), but feel extraordinarily lucky to be able to see this version whenever I'd like.

[365museums]

2013.11: Institute of International Visual Arts For: Hans Ulrich Obrist in conversation with Peter Clarke

I go to artist talks with the expectation of becoming inspired in a professional sense, but Clarke was inspiring on a personal level, as well. My biggest takeaway was that obstacles in the way of one's aspirations should be overcome and embraced in equal measure. Clarke spoke about becoming an artist despite lack of time, money, and space in which to work; he quit his job as a dockworker in order to focus on his art, but utilized low materials and worked on a small scale, allowing these limitations to shape his body of work. 

I think I was one of the few people in the audience who did not have a personal connection to Clarke or South Africa. The lady sitting behind me was wearing a pendant Clarke had made, and during the Q&A she asked him to tell its story. He asked to see it, and for a moment this sort of atypical, ephemeral work of his was returned to the artist. The pendant was made from a shard of pottery that a shopkeeper had given him on his birthday. Earlier in the talk, he had encouraged artists to make art that could be held, carried, and shared-- and here was an example.

Bottom image: Peter Clarke, Any Which Way But Where (1986) Diptych Mixed Media on Paper Copyright the artist, courtesy of Stellenbosch Modern and Contemporary (SMAC) Art Gallery; image via iniva website.

[365museums]

2013.10: John Wesley's House

I actually dropped by to visit the Museum of Methodism, which it turns out is closed for renovations, but isn't (as I thought) one in the same as John Wesley's house. Usually you have to be part of a tour to visit the house, but the lady on visitor services duty told me to "feel free to poke around." So I did.

The Museum of Methodism, it turns out, is located in the chapel's crypt. This may prove my macabre tastes, but I'm looking forward to visiting when it reopens.

(Top to bottom/left to right: blue circle plaque marking the home; a bedroom used by pastors; a view from the third floor of Bunhill Fields cemetery.)

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where I won't go

I can only be in one place at a time, and there are thousands of museums around the globe I've never visited and won't within the next year.

Alongside the museums I'm visiting, I'm planning to start posting daily about places I won't visit. These might be museums that are simply too far away; museums that are imaginary; museums that are now defunct or still planned for the future. Look out for the first of these later today.

If you've got a suggestion, I would love to hear it.

[365museums]

2013.9: Tate Modern For: William Kentridge's I am not me, the horse is not mine

I was assigned an exhibition review for my MA course, and decided to write on Kentridge. I heard him speak about this work at the end of last year and have been thinking about it ever since. My review, summed up in a few words: it's a much different work watching it for a moment than it is watching it a good dozen times in a row.

(exhibition image via Tate Modern.)

[365museums]

2013.8: The National Gallery, London For: Ori Gersht artist talk; Seduced by Art; Richard Hamilton: The Late Works

While I was in Boston over the holidays, I had the chance to see Ori Gersht's 'History Repeating' show at the MFA Boston. It was great to not only hear him speak, but also see his work on view in such a different venue-- and to compare the two exhibitions, both which incorporate permanent collection works.

For those who, like me, loved Seduced by Art, the paperback catalog is now on sale for £10! 

(Images via Mummery + Schnelle)

[365museums]

2013.7: The Wellcome Collection Saw: Death: A Self Portrait 

(From the series The Day, the Night and the Dead, Dana Salvo (b. 1952, USA), chromogenic print, 1990–2004. Image via wellcomecollection.org.)