Way back in 1990 I happened to be in London when the Royal Academy was showing Saatchi and Saatchi’s collection in an exhibition aptly called Sensation. In those pre-internet days one has to think how unaware most people were of the outré and yes, shocking, aspects of what was considered to be contemporary art.
The prize exhibit then was Damien Hirst’s cow that had been sliced into about nine pieces and placed in formaldehyde-filled cases across the hallowed halls of the academy; once the most conservative of institutions wherein all “corruptive innovations” like those of the Pre Raphaelites were frowned upon. No more. The pendulum has swung in the opposite direction. I feel that curators today are ready to do literally anything to create a sensation by using ‘shock treatment’ to bring people to exhibitions (or any other artistic manifestation like opera for instance) or so they think.
Does it work?
In marketing terms I would imagine that after a SWOT analysis the conclusion would be that the only way to attract new viewers, patrons and audiences would be to create a unique point of interest that is unprecedented.
Therefore if, for instance, there is a chance of an art lover viewing a collection of Titians all in one place instead of having to traipse across the four corners of the globe to see them, that alone guarantees an audience, as we have seen in the recent Titian in the Scuderie, Manet in the Orsay, Rothko at the Sala degli Esposizioni and Gauguin at the Tate.
Then there are experiments that go awry: coupling Caravaggio with Francis Bacon at the Borghese a couple of years ago was a flop. But now the latest are exhibitions of what may be termed as pop art in hitherto almost sacred places like Versailles. The Takashi Murikami’s factory-produced pop sculpture in 2010 enraged traditionalists and one wonders why his works are sold for astronomical sums; however there will always be those who have more money than sense to keep the art scene vibrant and alive.
Not that they are unattractive but are mass-produced, tastefully assembled lollipops and Smarties art? I sometimes wonder.
Are we that desperate for new sensations? Are our palates that jaded? Is the future of awe-inspiring chateaux like Versailles so bleak so as to resort to this? The things I could have done with my mother’s egg-slicer!
For all the painstaking perfection entailed in their preparation, the Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti exhibitions were alas too short-lived
In Glyndebourne, where for many years operatic productions have had the reputation of being innovative and the quality of performance second to none, David Hockney’s set and costume design for Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress remains as iconic as ever three decades after it was created. A month ago I saw Rameau’s Hypolite et Aricie, voted Opera of the Year in anticipation of the Rameau 250th anniversary next year. The realm of Diana, the cold virgin huntress, is a fridge full of delicatessen. Cupid hatches out of an egg on the rack while the realm of Hades is depicted as the back of the fridge with its heat, cobwebs and yes, a preponderance of bugs and insects that thrive in the primordial heat! Clever? I suppose so; but sustainable it was not and the rest of the opera veered from the most traditional and very beautiful hunting scene straight out of Chantilly to a 1950s post-modern house that Theseus built to a not so grand finale in a mortuary!
Can one look at what we Maltese call a ‘ħallataballata’ (liquorice allsorts perhaps?) like this without wondering what the whole idea was in the first place?
It may work and it may not, however kudos to those with the gumption (and imagination) to give it a go. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Whether a production like this has attracted a new audience to the genre remains to be seen.
With Valletta 18 on the horizon we still do not have an exhibition space in Valletta apart from the President’s Palace where we may be able to show special exhibitions like the lovely Preti Faith and Humanity that has just been dismantled. An exhibition like that deserved to be shown for at least another three months but then how long can one gazumph the Hall of St Michael and St George for? Again, for all the painstaking perfection entailed in their preparation, the Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti exhibitions were alas too short-lived.
Valletta apart, there are no other places in Malta where one can have these types of exhibitions, which is a great pity and which brings me to another ancillary issue. Are these exhibitions economically viable? If so, why not invite the private sector to join? We all know how the American museums are highly dependent on loans, donations and bequests from foundations and great families like the Mellons or the Whitneys to name but a couple...as for the Guggenheims!
It is high time that initiatives are created in the art world where the private sector and not only the corporates are included in the equation and proper tax breaks or concessions are devised for those who actively participate in, let alone support, the art world.
Art patronage has changed radically. Gone are the art-loving and music-loving princes, kings, popes, cardinals and dukes and anyone else with aspirations for that matter. When one thinks of the results of throwing oodles of money at the Politics of Art in the last five centuries the mind boggles. Just think of Versailles alone reflecting the gloire of the Sun King! Today corporates have replaced Esterhazys and banks have supplanted Bornemiszas! There is a way forward to create a vibrant art scene. It just needs a little more understanding and TLC.