Artes Mundi's blog

Making art in family workshops

By Catherine Stephens-Ward, Artes Mundi Live Guide

The family workshops are in full swing and are proving to be very popular with children and adults. We have been exploring the trading and manufacturing of goods through several artworks in the Artes Mundi show and making clothes out of paper. Take a look!

 

  

The day of the prize awarding

By Catherine Stephens-Ward, Artes Mundi Live Guide

When I arrived at the Museum the morning of the prize award, it was clear that this was no ordinary day. Equipment was being unloaded from lorries outside the Museum steps and taken inside, and there were lots of people bustling around looking busy. Preparations were underway to transform the main hall, the setting for tonight’s special ceremony. When I got inside to start my day, I had a phone call from Artes Mundi asking whether I could return home to pick up a folder that I had borrowed on Yael Bartana and within minutes a taxi was outside to collect me. I rather enjoyed this dash across town, as it added to the excitement of the day. Once I had retrieved the folder, it was passed to the judging panel that had congregated together not far from the Museum to begin making their decision.

In the galleries a workshop was underway. The class of school children were looking at Fernando Bryce’s work when they became momentarily distracted by the artist himself who just happened to be in the same room. It was a special moment. As news spread that other artist’s were in the building, it wasn’t long before I caught a glimpse of Chen Chieh- jen and Muratbek Djumaliev passing through the galleries. There were lots of other people too, all moving around purposefully.

In another part of the Museum a symposium was taking place, which the artist’s spoke at along with curators and other international artists. I attended the afternoon session where I managed to speak to Fernando for the first time. Although I didn’t have much time with him, I did learn more about his copying technique, and discovered that he uses a light box!

By 5.30pm guests started arriving for the big event. I took a group of very important looking people around the exhibition, dressed up in their fineries. Moments later Carwyn Jones, First Minister for Wales arrived and I took him around along with Councillor Nigel Howells. With the tours completed, it was time to join the rest of the party downstairs. The Museum’s architecture provided a spectacular backdrop to the ceremony, creating a special atmosphere. After the announcement that Yael Bartana had won the Artes Mundi prize, the celebrations began. Guests were treated to a three-course meal, wine and good talk!

Photo- The Live Guides with Williams Wilkins, Chairman of Artes Mundi

The Great Gallery/Cinema Debate

By Ruth McLees, Artes Mundi Live Guide.

The Israeli artist Yael Bartana is one of the artists exhibiting films in this Artes Mundi exhibition. She explores Jewish-Israeli society and history, and in Wall and Tower she presents us with a scenario of the Israeli Jews, having moved back to Poland, constructing a kibbutz (a collective settlement)on the site of the Warsaw Ghetto.

During my lunchtime tour I was asked, "What makes this art? It should be shown in a cinema not a gallery. And if it is art, why wasn't Schindler's List (the film) shown in a gallery?"

Filmed as it is in a propaganda/documentary style, and presented on a single cinema-type screen with seating for the audience, I can see why reading Yael's film as an artwork may be quite challenging.

In comparison, the Bulgarian artist Ergin Cavusoglu presents his films on multiple screens arranged around the gallery. When setting up for this show he deliberately arranged the screens so as to transform the space architecturally and allow the viewers to move between and around, and so become immersed in the action. The sound is designed to change as we walk through the space. He stipulated no chairs or benches for the audience so as to avoid dictating where they must sit to experience the film. In this way he keeps away from the cinematic formula of one seat=one view, and so steers his work firmly in the direction of art as opposed to cinema.

So, is it appropriate that Yael's work is exhibited here in the gallery of National Museum Wales? Many of her films are regularly shown in film festivals in cinemas around the world, so why are they here in this gallery? Do they become art as soon as they are placed in a gallery setting? Since classical times art has served as documentary and reportage with the aim of inciting a response in the viewer; perhaps this is all that is needed for Yael Bartana's films to be successfully read as art.

How long does it take to make a film? A long time!

By Catherine Stephens-Ward, Artes Mundi Live Guide

When you visit Artes Mundi the first work you see is Fernando Bryce’s work ‘Die Welt’. 195 black and white images, in small picture frames which fill three gallery walls. At first you would be mistaken for thinking that they are newspapers, but when you look more closely it is clear that these are ink drawings made by hand. Fernando has painstakingly copied newspaper pages, propaganda posters, adverts and maps and created a reproduction of the original. This process of looking, reading and recording is very labour intensive and to have amassed this collection of drawings must have taken a long time.

I spoke to a lady in the gallery today who could relate to Fernando’s work the most because she could appreciate the amount of time that went into it. By comparison the other 6 artists in the show are exhibiting films. Is film-making quicker? Should we merit an artist’s work by the amount of time spent on it? And how can we measure time? The apparent absence of the artist’s hand should not influence how we judge a piece of art, the role of artist has after all been re-defined over time.

I was surprised to discover that Chen Chieh-Jen who has two 30 minute films in the show makes on average only one film a year. This says a lot! The extensive credits at the end of Adrian Pacci’s film ‘Per Speculum’ suggest that the film-making process is a complex one. In this film, Adrian plays the role of artist, producer and editor. We should not assume therefore that film-art is ‘easy’ or involves less artistic skill. I overheard someone in the gallery say that they could easily have made one of the films in Artes Mundi. I wanted to say ‘no you couldn’t’ but I didn’t.

"Where is the Welsh Artist?"

By Katherine Bujalska, Artes Mundi Live Guide

By now, working as a live guide for Artes Mundi 4, I have clocked up quite a few hours mingling with members of the public looking around the exhibition.   A response that I have heard again and again is “Where is the Welsh artist?” or “Why is there no Welsh artist?”.  It is a genuine concern for a lot of people.  This is a Welsh Art Prize, so why are we not giving exposure to, and rewarding our own, homegrown artists? 

Digging a little deeper though, I think I’m uncovering the real concern felt by many Welsh people who have come to the exhibition, and which a couple have expressed more explicitly on our comments board.  It is the preservation of Welsh culture and heritage, and the fact that this exhibition refers to neither. 

Yes!  That’s important!  Acknowledging, remembering, researching and actively engaging with these local elements of history and culture are vital for us, for our children, for their children, but surely that’s not all.  The more I have thought about this during the last week, the more I have realized that our own culture counts for little if we are not open to sharing it with others – those from neighbouring countries and those from countries half a world away!  And how can we expect anyone to care about us, or be interested in us or our culture or our art, over here in Wales if we don’t first show an interest and openness to countries and cultures other than our own? 

There are endless projects and organizations running the length and breadth of Wales, which are dedicated to looking creatively at the riches we already have in this country.  Artes Mundi happens only once every two years and gives us an incredible opportunity to be exposed to art from some really distant, different and intriguing countries.  So instead of banging the same old drum and hanging onto this inward-looking perspective, let’s encourage others to share what they have with us.  One day they may return the favour.

Artes Mundi opens to the public

Carl Grainger writes:

The fourth Artes Mundi Exhibition opens to the public today at the National Museum Cardiff. I was at Tuesday evening's preview and there was general agreement that the show was serious and thought provoking - and that it would be well worth spending time to see it thoroughly. 

Previews are always crowded and there's never enough time to see everything properly but two works have immediately lodged themselves in my mind. I was fascinated by A New Silk Road, a video installation and series of photographs by Gulnara Kasmalieva and Muratbek Djumaliev, two artists from Kyrgyzstan who explore the current, post-communism patterns of life and commerce on this most ancient of trading routes.   

Yael Bartana with Wall and Tower - photo: Darren Britton
 

I also had the chance to watch the whole of Yael Bartana's film, Wall and Tower, and was very moved by it.

Take a look at the review in the Guardian to whet your appetite - but do come to see the show for yourself and let us know what you think.

Artes Mundi blog

Welcome to the new Artes Mundi blog, where over the next couple of weeks we’ll be giving you a guided tour through everything you need to know about the prize, the artists and anything in between in the run up to the exhibition; the spotlight this time falls on the prize itself and the history of Artes Mundi.

After the international success of the preceding three years, the fourth annual Artes Mundi exhibition will take place at the National Museum Cardiff from March 11th to June 6th 2010.

The artistic director of Artes Mundi, Tessa Jackson, says that the Artes Mundi Prize is to help break down cultural and geographical barriers: "The purpose of this Prize is not only to recognise deserving talent, but also to introduce a wider range of artists to the British art scene, extending their reach and broadening our horizons."

With Artes Mundi receiving over 480 nominations from more than 80 countries, the process of whittling these down to a shortlist of only 8 was an intense process. This year’s shortlist was announced by Viktor Misiano on October 8^th 2009. One of the two specially appointed selectors, Misiano, now an independent curator and art critic, was formerly Curator at the Pushkin State Museum and was also director of the Contemporary Art Centre in Moscow. He was joined by Levent Çalikoğlu, Cheif Curator of the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art.

The eight who made the shortlist are: Yael Bartana, Fernando Bryce, Ergin Çavuşoğlu, Olga Chernysheva, Chen Chieh-jen, Gulnara Kasmalieva and Muratbek Djumaliev, and Adrian Paci.

Next time around, we’ll introduce you to the works of the shortlisted eight and give you a quick insight into what makes them tick and what gets those creative juices flowing!