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| Underneath the cumbersome title is a work of great artistic merit & simply unbelievable human achievement |
..................Pureartsgroup.co.uk....Art Uncovered....... Pure Collection.....Expect the Unexpected
..................Pureartsgroup.co.uk....Art Uncovered....... Pure Collection.....Expect the Unexpected
Last week on a TV programme - actually I think it was the news - they said the ceramic sunflower seeds were giving off a toxic substance!
ReplyDeleteThis is a copy of the article posted by uk press assoc on the 29th jan
ReplyDeleteTate exhibit contains lead traces
A vast carpet of more than 100 million porcelain "seeds" in the Tate Modern contain traces of lead, an investigation into the exhibition has discovered.
The installation was declared out of bounds to art lovers only two days after it opened because it poses a health threat due to dust.
But further analysis of the seeds and dust has shown they contain traces of the poisonous metal.
Visitors to the London gallery were initially allowed to walk on the imitation sunflower seeds - which cover 1,000 square metres of its Turbine Hall - but were banned shortly after the piece opened in October.
A Tate spokeswoman insisted that the exhibition poses "no health risk". She said: "Tate did testing on the seeds to check their robustness before the work was installed in the Turbine Hall. Tate also undertook further testing on the dust generated by the enthusiastic interaction of the public in the first days of opening.
"We were advised following the second test, the dust could be damaging to health following prolonged exposure. The tests show that traces of lead are present in the material of the seeds and the dust that resulted from the interaction with the work by visitors.
"Specialist advice confirmed that due to the limited length of time with the work their exposure to the dust has not led to a health risk. The results showed that exposure to the dust during the period when the work could still be walked on was below the relevant Workplace Exposure Limits. The installation as currently seen in the Turbine Hall poses no health risk."
She added that staff involved with the project were also informed about the contents of the dust.
The installation can still be viewed from a bridge in the gallery.
The seeds, which were individually handcrafted by skilled artisans, are the idea of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. The ceramic seeds were moulded, fired at soaring temperatures, hand-painted and then fired again over the course of two years.
I am going on sunday... i will be careful not to inhale deeply....
ReplyDeleteVotes for Ai Weiwei as China's "Artist of the Year" Spur Censorship Panic
ReplyDeleteCourtesy AFP/Getty Images
By Madeleine O’Dea, ARTINFO China
Published: February 22, 2011
BEIJING— The Chinese authorities may not love Ai Weiwei, but they know only too well that he has a large and engaged following in China. So what happened when sina.com, a leading Chinese infotainment portal, included his name in an online poll to choose the 2010 "Artist of the Year"? It became an object lesson in the creativity of the Chinese people when it comes to maneuvering around both government censorship and the country's atmosphere of self-censorship.
As one of China's most popular Web sites, Sina — which also presides over the wildly successful microblogging site Sina Weibo — has accordingly had more than its fair share of exposure to the country's dogged censors, who routinely ask Sina Weibo to block certain terms in users' Tweets. (Most recently the verbotten words have included "Egypt" and "jasmine," as in Tunisia's Jasmine revolution.)
The "Artist of the Year" poll was planned as Sina's contribution to Art Value magazine's annual "Art Power List," for which it was a media partner. Someone decided that a bit of popular participation would add to the excitement surrounding the list, which was otherwise to be decided by the editorial team at Art Value. The poll was duly posted on Sina with 15 artists to choose from, including Ai. He immediately opened up a commanding lead over fellow luminaries like Gu Wenda, Xu Bing, and Zhang Xiaogang — a development that posed a problem for the site, which recognized that crowning a renowned anti-government dissident as "Artist of the Year" would not be a good strategy for a Chinese media company.
So Sina removed the poll from their Web site, replacing it with one less likely to get them into trouble — or so they thought. This poll involved a popular vote for the "Art Institution of the Year," with nominations including leading galleries and auction houses.
Determined Ai Weiwei supporters immediately saw another opening. Among the nominated institutions was Beijing's Three Shadows Photography Art Center, on whose advisory board sits none other than Ai Weiwei. Votes for Three Shadows climbed into the thousands, but a late (and, some thought, suspicious) surge for China's Guardian Auctions put them across the line for first place.
Asked to comment on the issue, Sina's spokesperson said that the voting was always intended to only be a "reference," with the final results to be decided by the "experts." The "Power List" was duly announced last night, with Zhou Chunya acclaimed as "Artist of the Year."
Meanwhile, Ai Weiwei had a mixed result in another vote this month. In 2009 a group of some of China's most interesting young critics launched two new annual contemporary art awards. One, the Golden Palm, is aimed at honoring the best artworks of the year, while the other, the Golden Raspberry, heaps shame on the worst. Last week Ai achieved a remarkable double in winning both awards for 2010, with the critics dividing down the middle in their judgement on his widely admired "Sunflower Seeds" installation at the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall.