Hayward Gallery London- Walking in My Mind
June 24th, 2009 by
London's Hayward Gallery dawned its new exhibit "Walking in My Mind" today. This gallery delights in indoor/outdoor installation, and given the English Summer (occasional patches of sun and Pimm's ulcers, that is) lasts all of five weeks, the Hayward annually orchestrates these massive, interactive exhibits through the long-lit months. Last year's "Phycho Buildings: Artists Take on Architecture" featured conceptual crawl spaces, differing interpretations of 'home', and a paddle-boat friendly vantage over the Thames. It was simple, intriguing, and in one feature–a large, transparent, cushy cube where selected participants could worm atop the enclosure for everyone's grounded viewpoint–I could smell about thirty bare feet. I remember ale. I remember oranges. I remember being happy.
"Walking in My Mind" looks equally cool. Ten artists contribute, mostly from continental Europe and Japan. Japanese artist Yayoi Kasuma offers three pieces, a couple of which spill out onto the exterior terraces and drape several trees along Queen's Walk.
Others pieces of note inclue Thomas Hirschorn's "Cavemanman", which, in addition to its very, very lightly referencing last summer's genre-twisting epic Korean flick, "The Good, the Bad, the Weird", links tunnels to caves to cardboard crustations. Ideal for the elderly and claustrophobic.
"The Creation Myth" from prematurely-deceased installation artist, Jason Rhoades, melds machinery and household objects to reconstruct notions of creation. It's rad to see his work still jockeying with contemporary space-alterers.
Other artists: Bo Christian Larsson, Charles Avery, Mark Manders, Yashitomo Nara, Chiharu Shiota, Keith Turner and Pipilotti Rist.
The exhibit ends September 6th, though by that point, ie winter, the outdoor terraces may have restricted to no access.
images: guardian.co.uk
