Cathy's Art Diary

Fabulous, fun happening in Trafalgar Square to mark the end of celebrations of the National Gallery’s Bicentenary. Coordinated by contemporary artist Jeremy Deller, the event had grown around the country and this event brought together all the strands into a procession along Whitehall and various performances and events in the square. The procession was led by an inflatable Venus who then took up residence in one of the fountains and included Atlas and his disco world, Adam and Eve, William Morris in a coffin (I’m not sure why) and hordes of dancers and performers. I then watched a wonderful Hogarthian Rave danced by students from the London Contemporary Dance School followed by 21st century Morris dancing complete with dancing rocks. I recovered with a coffee in the new Supporters’ House before having a final look round. It was lovely to see the square so busy and celebrating art and nationality.

Engaging interview at Charleston Farmhouse as part of the Charleston Festival by conceptual artist Jeremy Deller. Deller was interviewed by arts producer, Claire Doughty, who took him through his career and major works. I was pleased at how many of them I had come across. It really helped that there was a screen with illustrations of the projects. The projects ranged from the video project re-enacting the Battle of Ongreave in the miners’ strike, through the wonderful piece putting young men in First World War Uniforms on the streets to mark the centenary of start of the Battle of the Somme, which in wished I’d seen, to the inflatable Stonehenge. They talked about how the work was commissioned and where he got his ideas from. I’ll certainly be looking out for his projects in the future.

Interesting online discussion from the British Museum looking at how Stonehenge has inspired artists in the past and now. Chaired by David Dawson of Salisbury Museum the event brought together another curator, Harriet Still from Wessex Museums and two contemporary artists, Rose Ferraby and Jeremy Deller to discuss how the monument has provided inspiration. The discussion got philosophical at times. Still mainly talked about Thomas Hardy and Tess of the D’Urbervilles including how he was an amateur archaeologist and had a standing stone in his garden. She also looked at how the stone circle has appeared in other literature and 19th century painting including Turner. Ferraby is interested in how archaeologists see and imagine the world and how this can be represented in museums. She had been commissioned by the British Museum to produce a piece on Seahenge for the current exhibition and she talked us through her creative process for this. I was interested to hear her mention Piper...