History is Now: 7 artists take on Britain

Interesting exhibition at the Hayward Gallery which asked seven contemporary artists to examine the social and cultural history of Britain since the end of the Second World War. Each artists have created a section looking at different themes and episodes via objects and the art of the time.

The results were a bit mixed. I loved a couple of the galleries but some of the others lefts me a bit cold and one annoyed me! Let’s start with what annoyed me! Sorry but I am going to say video art! There was a whole room of films curated by John Akomfrah. They were mainly shown on small screen with earphones but the main room was dominated by a film which created a flashing effect which I found so distracting I couldn’t stop and look at anything else. There was a large screen dark section but if you’d wanted to watch all the films show there you would have taken 3 hours 20 minutes! Really!

Anyway on a more positive note the last section I looked at was about the end of the war and the Cold War curated by  Richard Wentworth. It was an intersting view of the Cold War and a good overview of the art of the period, Of course I am going to love anythign with Nash’s, Moores and Hepworths all shown alongside a nuclear missile!

The first room was my favourite , looking at contemporary life and featuring work by the YBAs (Young British Artists). Any show with Sam Taylor Wood’s “David” is a good show for me; I can watch that intense film of David Beckham sleeping for hours. So much for hating video art! I also loved the art big bag next to a bronze sculpture of a bin bag and of course the home video of the curator Simon Fujiwara, in Mary Poppins!

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