Work No. 890, DON'T WORRY 2008

I've used Catharsis as the title as this weekend has most definitely consisted of purging of emotions, as well as reflection and self-awareness. But it's good to be in Liverpool, it doesn't really feel like a city compared to London. Not in a bad way or anything, it just feels a little more home-y. It's good to have that crisp air beating against your face as you look out towards the Mersey, it's great for clearing your head.

Anyway, I've spent the weekend here. Somehow on a Saturday afternoon, I managed to be standing in the galleries at Tate Liverpool, and it wasn't horrendously packed. I love it when that happens, it's quite a rarity but it feels so good when there's only yourself and perhaps a few other visitors in the building. Martin Creed was showing as part of the Artist Rooms programme at the gallery. As I'd managed to hit such a nice point in terms of there not hundreds of visitors, I started to observe the fellow gallery-goers in the Creed exhibition.

Work no. 610: SICK film.

Now, the room itself is quite basic; there's only a limited amount of work created by Creed on display. There's the famous Don't Worry tube lighting, a wall installation and the classic 'Sick' film, which is actually entitled Work No. 610. It's a fairly enfant terrible style piece, where there are 4 screens, each showing the viewer a different person throwing their guts up inside a white cube. It's a bit disturbing to watch, but what Creed adds to the film which really causes controversy is the sound, and the lots of it. The volume is horrifically loud, so much so that no matter where you stand in the gallery space where Creed's work lies, you physically can't escape the sounds of vomiting.


Evidently it's not pleasant at all, but what I found really interesting is how different people reacted to the film. Within my twenty minutes of observation, I'd already come to the consensus about how different age groups interpret different films. Okay, so there were a few families crowding around the work, with most of the parents looking horrifically awkward and confused. Their children on the other hand, were all complacently watching the film with no issues at all. I suppose there was an occasional squirm amongst them, but they generally appeared more perplexed than anything.

Labels: ART DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE, Artist Rooms, Don't Worry, Fluroscent Signage, Liverpool Art Blog, Martin Creed, Mersey, Open Eye Gallery, Tate Liverpool