Oct 13, 2010: Ai Weiwei's Seeds

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Wombat

WOFTAM. Seriously, just think of the useful stuff that could have been done by 1600 people in 2.5 years. Grrr.

The project employed 1600 people for 2.5 years, in China where the official unemployment rate is a little over 4%, but is rumored to be actually closer to 12%... of over a billion people. Plus the money, from Unilever, was contingent on producing an art installation for the Tate.

That turbine hall full of seeds is how we look at China, a blur of sameness. When actually there's all those seeds... uh, people, that are each unique.

[Sheldonrs]

Oh sure! When an "Artist" spills his seed on the floor, it's called innovative, when I do it, all I get is "Clean that up!!!".

[xoxoxoBruce]

Your probably coming close to 2 million visitors by now, aren't you?

[Wombat]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

The project employed 1600 people for 2.5 years, in China where the official unemployment rate is a little over 4%, but is rumored to be actually closer to 12%... of over a billion people. Plus the money, from Unilever, was contingent on producing an art installation for the Tate.

Yes it is good that all those people were employed; I still think they could have been employed to do something useful instead of wasting all that money and all their time on... aggregate.

[xoxoxoBruce]

What would you be having these folks do? And who's going to pay for it?

In 2001, Unilever created the Unilever International Schools Art Project (UISAP) that encouraged children to create an artwork on a theme related to The Unilever Series. The project was very successful and over 135,000 took part in eight years. However, April 2009 saw the end of UISAP and the introduction of a new and exciting art education project called The Unilever Series: turbinegeneration. Produced by Tate and sponsored by Unilever, it is the first online educational partnership that links schools and major galleries on an international level.

Students will share thoughts and ideas inspired by one of the world's biggest contemporary art commissions – The Unilever Series at Tate Modern in London. Each year the new commission will influence the project's theme.

I suppose the could have spent all that money, plus sponsoring Ai Weiwei's installation, on something more useful like killing Somali pirates, or neutering North American White Tailed Deer, but they didn't.
It's the golden rule... whoever puts up the gold, makes the rules.

[Sheldonrs]

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1


LONDON (AP) - An art exhibition involving 100 million porcelain sunflower seeds has been closed to visitors because it is generating dust that is a potential health hazard, the Tate Modern gallery said Friday.
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei filled a giant hall at the London gallery with a 1,000 sq. meter (10,000 sq. foot) carpet of the imitation seeds, made by thousands of workers in China over a two-year period. Visitors were invited to walk across the surface when the show opened earlier this week.

But the gallery said Friday that the "enthusiastic interaction of visitors" was causing a dust cloud that could be harmful if inhaled over a long period.

It said visitors would no longer be allowed to walk across the seeds, though they can be viewed from a walkway above the hall.

The commissions in the huge Turbine Hall have become one of the most popular attractions at Tate Modern, a former power station that opened as a gallery in 2000 and draws 4 million visitors a year.

It is not the first time an exhibition there has caused mishaps. In 2007 three visitors tumbled into Doris Salcedo's "Shibboleth," a jagged crack running the length of the room.

Last year a man was injured in Polish artist Miroslaw Balka's "How It Is," which invited visitors into a pitch-black room.


Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Bummer, walking across, and running them through your fingers, is more than half the experience. Dashes my hopes one of the Brits would steal me one, too.

It's hard to believe something made in China would be toxic.

[casimendocina]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

It's hard to believe something made in China would be toxic.

Very surprising.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The artist and digital activist Ai Weiwei is currently under house arrest in his native China, according to the Guardian. Weiwei, who has embarrassed Chinese authorities on several occasions with his campaigns on sensitive issues, says he has been placed under house arrest until Sunday night because he planned to hold a party to mark the demolition of his newly built studio.

[Lamplighter]

Somewhat off subject ...

A TV link to China just this morning included a Buddist Monk talking
about modern China having lost it's way from the old wisdoms.
He then did a large calligraphy of an old poem.
When asked what it said:

"Everything we see with our eyes has both good and evil, ugly and beauty"
"It is our heart that tells us the difference"

/Now back to OP...

[xoxoxoBruce]

Typical Buddhist Monk, keeps talking and says nothing, except you're on your own.

[Pete Zicato]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Typical Buddhist Monk, keeps talking and says nothing, except you're on your own.

"And it is also said," answered Frodo: " 'Go not to the elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.' "