Tate Modern - After Hours
The other night I walked into an empty Turbine Hall and had to fight the urge to run up into Miraslaw Balka’s installation, How It Is (pictured bottom right, elevated behind the staircase). It’s certainly different being in this great hulking building after hours. I’d arrived at the Tate for an evening class on paper engineering, centred around the current exhibition: Van Doesburg and the International Avant-Garde. I wondered when we’d get to see the exhibition - which was almost straight away, as it turned out. After introductions, juice and snacks we spent an hour being guided around artworks never seen in Britain before. We explored room after room of sculpture, painting, drawing, furniture, stained glass, moving image and architectural plans and models.
I confess I’m drawn to a small Brancusi sculpture, but there’s a lot to be excited about in this finely curated show that presents a slice of 20th century European art history. Being on the paper engineering course affords the opportunity for some more visits to the collection, however a decent length of time to view this substantial exhibition is required. For me, the stand-out van Doesburg painting is his Decomposition of The Card Players, after his earlier The Card Players (not in the show).
Van Doesburg’s retrospective runs until May 16, 2010.
As for me, I have homework - to turn my initials into a pop-up, modernist style. Busy times.
