I Can't It Stand (sic)

2011-07-23 Part of Tate Together artists run workshops and activities which all the family enjoy. Although when looked at within the context of an event sponsored by BP and promoted with flyer's brandishing the Olympic logo, their games take on a slightly sinister and ironic twist. Build your own tennis rackets joined together by tubes may suggest the fettered link between sports, culture and big money. Children try to play with this rigid game but it only seems to fall apart, leaving them faced with the problem of rebuilding a game designed to fail. Alongside this we see a ping pong pipeline where more young children create complicated networks of cardboard tubes feeding white balls into a wellington; an activity which is functional and absurd at the same time.

This twist is most typified when a child suddenly walks past with an elaborate cardboard gun. Made within the museum it menacingly brings to mind the image of a patrolling soldier.

The event's highlight on the steps of Tate Britain was a 6 foot boot with a small placard reading 'I can't it stand', poking from a toddler's wellington. An innocent sign with a small grammatical mistake, enough to dupe any authority as to this Trojan horse, loaded with meaning? It stands monumental in much the same way as Trubetskoy's statue of Alexandre III, stubbornly proud on an overworked horse. The boot is animated, crunching down with a backdrop of Tate Britain and the Millbank Tower; sites for resistance against austerity cuts and the links between Tate itself and big business. It even makes light work of a Tate coffee cup!

Most noticeably the day lacked any acts of rage. I am reminded of Howard Beale's torrid diatribe in the film Network, subverted for ratings. Maybe the lesson from this event is, do in it style?

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Can't
• It
• Stand
• Tate
• Britain
• Together
• bp
• british
• petroleum
• olympics
• cultural
• olympiads
• corporate
• propogranda