Art about the Unseen, 1957-2012
Tuesday 12 June 2012 – Sunday 5 August 2012
https://ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/hayward-gallery-and-visual-arts/tickets/invisible-67209
Firstly the whole idea of paying £8 to see an invisible art exhibition may strike you as a little eccentric. I was somewhat sceptical about the exhibition, but it was great fun! From the beautiful, imagination paintings of Yoko Ono, “Hand Piece” 1961 was especially moving, through to the buzzing maze, the exhibition is very imaginative. It’s clear that in an invisible art exhibition there are going to be a lot of white walls, and even more empty plinths, with the classic framed white paper thrown in. At the same time, the curration is excellent.
The 1960s air-conditioning room is like a flash back to low-tech art days. Robert Barry’s energy fields and artwork with inert gas certainly raises questions about what art is. Maurizio Cattelan “Untitled (Denuzia)” stolen invisible artwork of 1990 is brilliant and very funny, possibly my favourite piece from this exhibition.
Song Dong has worked from 1995 on “Writing Diary with Water”, a beautifully documented record of recording his innermost thoughts in water on a rock, rather than using a journal. This is a thought-provoking and touching work, reflecting how often our emotions are washed out or made invisible.
Go along and ‘see’ this one!
From 1978 onwards when I lived in Essex the Hayward was always one of the most interesting galleries to visit – and always had a buzz, with photo shoots and impromptu events taking place around and about the complex. Your review has reminded me of it and makes me want to go and renew my acquaintance. Just enough info to want to see the show not too much to make you think you don’t need to.
Thanks- you should check it out it’s well worth going to this exhibition!