Today whilst Wyn was at her writing course, instead of doing the usual trawl round the shops killing time and talking to the guys in Probe, I decided to put our Tate membership to good use and visit Tate Liverpool to see the Nam June Paik exhibition. I missed the private view in December because it was the day the snow came down in a rather spectacular fashion, so today was the time to play catch up. I didn't really know what to expect as he wasn't someone who had really touched my radar before, I knew he was a pioneer of video as an art form and I'd seen pictures of some of his larger installations but never really read up on him.
I have to say I was impressed, for me to spend an hour and a half on one floor and a bit of the Tate means I did a lot of looking, some of the larger pieces demanded that amount of time and what first seemed like some junk and TV's put together to show some deliberately wacky video's actually made some sort of sense and conveyed a meaning. The connection with Zen and Buddhism is obvious from some of his earlier works, as is his theme of humanising technology which is especially obvious in the robot series. The robot series of pieces were among my personal favourites on display as was the TV Garden (quite a few TVs showing the same video whilst surrounded by tropical plants.
As an exhibition it provoked many thoughts and as a newcomer to the artist, I certainly felt enlightened and understand his work as a result of the exhibition. Some of the sound from some pieces leaks into areas it shouldn't (the Tate have tried to cut the sound out in one place - credit to them there) but in others it is a distraction (when watching documentary videos for example). That said, its a minor criticism and I might go back again next week and take the free audio tour this time. Its a great exhibition and for non members it costs £6-60 (concs £5-50 - under 12's free) and runs until the 13th of March. Well worth a visit if you like that kind of thing.
Left we have a photo I took with my iphone and the Hipstamatic App which I'm really getting to like, its the Pier head (now mainly obscured by the black shiny monolithic new office block at Mann Island) taken from the Albert Dock on my walk back to the
car park from the Tate.
Onto footballing matters, the Villa have signed two players since I last blogged, the Cameroonian international central midfielder Jean II Makoun who hopefully will adjust quickly to life in the Premier League and a man who needs no introduction Darren Bent one of the highest scorers in the league in the last few seasons. We've paid a reported £18mil rising to £24mil for Bent a transfer and figure which asks as many questions as it answers (I'm not sure what the answer to many of those questions is). On the back of those two signings (and still the possible signing of Charley Adam from the Donkey Lashers (AKA Blackpool) I'm going to go to the Man Citeh game on Saturday despite the stupid o'clock kick off time (Mr Murdoch I hate you) and the state of the railways in this country. I wasn't going to bother but I've found out I can still get there and back after work and be home in time for sleeping before the next day though I might have to miss the last couple of minutes to catch the train. Lets hope it's worth it.
Sorry for those regular readers of this piffle (thats you Marcus!) if this hasn't been up dated for a while, I've been so busy theres been nothing to say. Hopefully there'll be more time soon.
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