Conceptual Art in Britain 1964 – 1979 at Tate Britain - 12 April to 29 August
The exhibition was about Conceptual art which is art about ideas or concepts. Conceptual art is not about traditional art objects, it is more about events and language.
"When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art." SolLeWitt 1967.
Upon entering the exhibition I was greeted with a pyramid of oranges that were the brightest thing in the whole room.Except, it didn't quite look like the promised pyramid, I assume someone had taken some home for their lunch.
There was a glass of water on a glass shelf called 'An Oak Tree' by Michael Craig-Martin (1974).This exhibit was designed to prove that physical things can exist differently in your mind.It was based on religion and that bread and wine represent the body and blood of Christ, whilst keeping the appearance of bread and wine. However I would have never guessed this would be called 'An Oak Tree', as it was just too different.
The man eating his words – Keith Arnatt – in a series of photographs was the poster boy for the event.This was a fun exhibit in the middle of lots of dull, dreary, grey scholarly items.
One item I did enjoy was 60 Seconds of Light – John Hilliard.The 12 photographs of a clock were well displayed and interesting to see the movement of time and light over one minute.
Overall most of the artwork was so dry that I was actually thirsty after the exhibition. There were several others there that passed similar comments.
I would not recommend going to this unless you are a big Conceptual Art fan.
It's always hard to consume conceptual art when you're not used to it. It's one of those things where you try and open your mind as much as you can in order to get what the piece is trying to say but alas, it can often go over your head!