Major Yoko Ono retrospective at Baltic
A big show like this hardly needs introduction and there’s room to be wary of promoting celebs, but do go and see this, do go. Much of her work brings forth unquantified emotion, some undoubtedly sentimental, but other pieces simply bring an unexpected rawness to the surface.
This gallery was full of people laughing.
‘Painting To Let The Evening Light Show Through’ in two versions, were hung in front of one of the glass gallery walls facing out over the river with Byker in the distance. The bright winter sunlight sparkled across the Tyne and did indeed show through.
Most moving were the films of her two performance pieces in which she invites her audience to cut off her garments piece by piece with a large pair of scissors. In the 2005 performance she is regal in her detachment and her participating audience is respectful and in some awe. In 1965 the film shows the fear in her young eyes as a jeering lad jabs at her bra, slicing decisively through both straps. I remember reading at the time that she was left completely naked.
Painting To Be Slept On:
Hang it after sleeping on it for more than 100 hours.
We might see a piece in tribute at our new Private View opening next week.
Go and see this work. Fluxus is on the ground floor, too. No time for that today, but needs revisiting, and the Campbell film about the life of Bernadette Devlin too. Magnificent to have these here.
ETA:
Without both computers in for repair, and therefore no Lightroom, can anyone please recommend an adequate photo editor online or for Mac that will do the basics like resizing for web, white balance and the like? TIA>
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In with the New
We’re about to launch into our second Private View over here at Number Seven, which goes some way to explaining the deathly hush on this site. The house is looking wonderful, and the new work trickling gently in is interesting, as ever.
In the same spirit of renewal, and to mark the turn of 2009, there are going to be a few changes around here. An active search for a new template, maybe back to two columns, or magazine style, with something far better launched by say mid-Feb, plus at least one or more guest bloggers here at TPP will improve the look and feel of the thing, as well as up the quality and quantity of information here.
We’d like to remain northern, whatever that means, and non-ranty. Book reviews, gadgets, how-to posts and essays, exhibitions, work that incites that powerful punctum in us all.
If you’ve got suggestions for any of this, and/or would like a slot as an occasional or guest blogger, do comment here or drop me a private note. I look forward to hearing from you! :)
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How to kill a website Part 1
Answer? With neglect.
Your really simply syndicated readers don’t look, because they have nothing new to see, so the traffic drops and Google and all the other search spiders and robots stop crawling and soon the search engines leave your results way down at page two or three, or ten. And then the people who drop in from memory or their bookmarks change their browser or their system, and perhaps only your mother has a look from time to time to see if you’re still alive and kicking.
Deliberate, cruel neglect - at some point people will start wondering whether or not the only place to find you is the wayback machine.
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