Ulla Van Brandenburg: Sweet Feast


Video installation at the Whitechapel Gallery recreating an event at the gallery in 1973.

I was more interested in the original event in this show that the video and installation by Ulla Von Brandenburg. The installation was a strange seating structure like a landscape but I felt it lost it’s impact in the sign that you should only site on the first few layers and take your shoes off.

The event was when five hundred children were invited to the gallery to view a display of confectionery from around Europe but they overwhelmed the guard and ate all the displays! How did I now know about this? I’d have been 11 was it not on Blue Peter or Newsround?

The show was accompanied by a mock newspaper with reviews of the original show and reports of riot. I’ve only just read it and realised the show was the part of the Fanfare for Europe event in which cultural organisations in London marked the UK’s entry into the European Union. The video should have made more of this as it adds a whole new layer of irony as we try to leave the EU.

Closes 31 March 2018

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