Telling Tales

Fantasy and Fear in Contemporary Design- it is the work of of a new generation if international designers, it was inspired by the spirit of story- telling through decorative devices, historical illusions and a choice of materials.

The exhibition is in three sections:
The Forest Glade is inspired by fantasy and nature evoking the spirit of fairy tales. The Enchanted Castle exaggerates and parodies historical design styles often associated with displays of status. Heaven and Hell is concerned with themes of mortality and the afterlife. The exhibition has its own own micro site www.vam.ac.uk/microsites/telling-tales/

The micro site allows the audience to interact and click on different section of the exhibition, the integrated flash components allows the user to explore a virtual version of the exhibition . Check out the " tell a tale" section, I think it's a great way of getting peoples imaginative flowing and integrating different ideas.
Unfortunately it doesn't have any real images of the furniture
displayed ( a great way of making the audience go to the
exhibiton and see it first hand), the pieces were so imaginative and elaborately designed, each section has sound as you walk into each area creating and enchanting atmosphere.

I managed to get one extremely blurry shot of the one of the pieces of furniture in the Forest Glade section before I got shouted at for having my camera out.

The artists are inspiring in the way of they childhood fairytales and turned them into furniture, I really enjoyed it.

Rotunda Chandelier- Dale Chihuly

I visited the V& A Exhibition is London, while I was in the foyer I looked up and saw the most amazingly awesome, unusual and coolest Chandelier - I have ever seen in my life( no exaggeration).

I've never seen anything like it, the sheer size first hit me, it fill the two story high ceiling foyer entrance. It is made entirely of blown glass and held together using steel.
Instead of rambling on about the detail I though it would be better coming from the exhibition experts:Unfortunatley the images I took don't really seem to do it much justice, but honestly it is one of the coolest things I had seen through the whole exhibition.
I would definitely suggest just having a little wonder into the reception area to get a glance of this
Dale Chihuly is a very dedicated, talented sculpture and artists to have even though of something like this, then execute something so ridiculously amazing.

It is truly inspiring, I love it!

Quiet Revolution- A Hayward Touring Exhibiton

Quiet revolution is a exhibition that brings together international artists who use everyday objects to create poetic, lo-tech inventions that explore how we can transform and be transformed into our surroundings.

It plays on the principles of public perception of the qualities of regular day to day common place object, that I think results in quite a random exhibition which as first glance looks as if not that much thought or effort has gone into it, but once it is explored is quite and interesting and makes the audience question each piece and I think it can all be interpreted in your own way.

At first I didn't really think much of the exhibition as it just looks like random objects placed together the create 'art' but I think the randomness of the placing of the objects is what intrigued me, making me want to explore how each individual will interpret something in a different way.


Below are some examples of some of the pieces:

Lydall Phelps - The pigeon Archive

This is an exhibition I visited in the Milton Keynes Gallery which is a presentation a new body of work by the Australian - born aritist Lyndall Phelps.
The Pigeon Archive explores the little known yet highly significant role pigeons played in the First and Second World Wars. The Archive documents, through photography, video and sculpture, the re-enactment of pigeon manoeuvres using re-constructed wartime equipment. When I first saw what the exhibition entailed I didn't think it would be very interested but looking at the amount of dedication and research that has gone into each individual piece I was impressed with the discipline that Phelps has demonstrated.
An example of the artist's depth into research is when three replica transport cases are crafted as well and thirty- two brown oil harnesses that the pigeon would have worn to carry secret information. Each individual harness was meticulously handmade by Phelps resulting in a very detailed piece of work.


One of the pieces that I though was particularly interesting was the enigmatic film made by the artist in 2008 in which a light- weight surveillance camera is strapped to a pigeon and then released in flight over Cambridgeshire, which was once littered with military air traffic. The film results in a dizzy, spiraling documentation of the landscape in the very motion of the bird.
I really liked the way this piece interacts with the audience, it is quite hard on the eyes as it is a continuous motion but I found myself watching it, I captured some of the film in the video link below.





Overall I found the exhibition very interested and inspiring, I like the way the artists has taken a not very well known or even interesting subject and interpreted it in their own way resulting in an exhibition of intricacy and devotion which is informative and educational.

Take a look at her website at www.lyndallphelps.com to see the exhibition and some of her other projects.