Role-play
Imagine that you find yourself in a museum or at an exhibition of modern art and you belong to the nine-tenths of the public who are unprepared to take in that kind of thing. Now you are with a connoisseur friend who is willing to answer the questions. Paraphrase some of the questions from the exercise above and ask them of your friend.
e. g. (1) Sorry to disturb you, who are all these people that get together at such art shows? (2) I can’t make up my mind whether this what I see is art. Where do you stand on this point? (3) Why don’t other, more traditional art trends generate such controversy? (4) How do you assess these pieces of art? (5) How do I learn about these things? (6) It feels, as if I were missing out on something. Am I?
Use the linking devices table in Unit 3, Part 2 for reference.
The author of the article above encourages the public "to fill up the galleries with the rest of us". Imagine that you are the manager of one of Ukrainian art museums and you are ready to follow suit. Now, you expect a reporter in your office in a while to do an interview about the museum's current affairs. You believe that this is an excellent opportunity to get your museum new publicity. In the expectation of the appointment, you read about the British Tate Modern to familiarise yourself with some advanced practices. The reporter, in turn, is also likely to compare this museum's performance with Tate's. As soon as you familiarise with the information below:
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think of and write down 10 questions for the reporter's role and
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pick up 10 interesting activities in Tate's operation that could be
introduced into local practice for the manager's role.
When these
are in place you may act out this mock interview.
Tate modern
Housed in the former Bankside Power Station, Tate Modern displays the Tate collection of international modern art from 1900 to the present day. There is also a full range of special exhibitions and a broad public programme of events throughout the year.
Tate Modern has a wide-ranging programme of talks, courses, films, conferences and symposia involving artists, critics, writers and academics. There is also a daily programme of free gallery tours and talks as well as specially designed activities for schools, families and community groups and a programme for young people between the ages of 15 and 23.
Talks & Tours
Tate Modern offers a daily programme of free guided tours, a number of audio guides, and a series of drop-in talks in the galleries or in the Film & Seminar Room. In addition groups can book a private guided tour during opening hours or in the early morning.
Daily Guided Tours
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10.30 Highlights of Nude/Body/Action 11.30 Highlights of History/Memory/Society |
14.30 Highlights of Landscape/Matter/Environment 15.30 Highlights of Still Life/Object/Real Life |
Tate Audio Tours
There are a number of the artists you can hear on the new range of Tate Modern digital audio tours. The Collection Tour includes artists' commentaries, historic archive recordings, and responses by leading cultural critics, musicians, writers and academics. There is also a Children's Tour and a tour specially designed for visually impaired people.
All tours are available in English, and some in French, German, Italian and Spanish.
Drop-in Talks
There are varied types of drop-in talks at Tate Modern: Tate Talks in the galleries, In Focus in the Film and Seminar Room, Lunch Box Talks in the Film and Seminar Room, Friday at Five - special lectures or events, from Tuesday to Friday respectively.
Private tours
Private tours of Tate Modern Collection Displays can be arranged, highlighting key works from one of the four classic display themes: the nude, landscape, still life or history painting.
Tate Modern also offers the unusual opportunity of viewing the galleries before the doors are open to the public, providing a special time to enjoy the art works and the architecture. These Early Morning Private Tours could also include a pre-tour breakfast in the Members Room. This tour would be suitable for a special occasion to be shared with friends, family or colleagues, for all art supporters and enthusiasts.
Courses
Based around the gallery's innovative displays, Tate Modern's courses explore issues such as identity, gender, politics and ideology through modern art.
An exciting new collaborative venture between The City Literary Institute and Tate Modern, this online course is designed for adults looking for an introduction to the gallery. The course focuses on the landscape/Environment, and is delivered via CD-ROM, supported by student/tutor discussions online. Individual projects feature virtual tours of the galleries, short video clips and audio commentaries by artists and curators. Ideal as an introduction to Tate Modern, and for anyone interested in the gallery and its collection.
Modern Traditions: The Body
A joint Tate Modern and National Gallery course looking at representations of the body across the National Gallery collection and in the displays of the Nude/Body/Action suite at Tate Modern.
The first four sessions of the course will take place at the National Gallery and explore the way in which artists historically have used the body as a principal source of inspiration. The final four sessions at Tate Modern will concentrate on twentieth-century notions of the body, and the way in which traditional views of it have been revised.
As part of the course structure, one session will be devoted to practical life drawing to show the progression from looking to drawing to painting. No previous experience is required, and no special skills are necessary to participate in this part of the course. Fee £130 includes refreshments, Tate Modern folder, materials for drawing session.
The Remix: New Histories of Twentieth-Century Art (Term Two)
This course explores current preoccupations in art and visual culture. Establishing relationships between past and present, the course identifies themes and debates in art during the period 1920-1960 and considers them from a contemporary perspective.
Possible parallels between the Surrealist interest in Freud's concept of the unconscious and art practice of the 1990s will be discussed, and attitudes to technology and the role of the artist in society will also be considered. In addition, Tate Modern's major spring exhibition Century City will raise the issues of urbanism and utopianism. Fee: £100.
After Aesthetics: Art Practice and Theory since 1960
Many contemporary artworks are at odds with traditional conceptions of aesthetic value. It can seem that questioning ideas of formal quality, originality and medium is at the heart of what it means to be contemporary in art. This course looks at some of the different ways in which traditional aesthetic concepts have been criticised and expanded by artists and theorists since the 1960s, and explores the wider cultural and technological circumstances of these developments. It will appeal to those with an interest in understanding some of the issues central to recent debates in art theory, and the ways in which they might inform art practice. Since this is not an introductory course, some knowledge of these debates will be assumed. Fee: £75.
Families
Tate Modern is a family friendly place offering a wide range of activities for children with adults to discover modern art including back-packing tours around the gallery and a lively programme of workshops incorporating games and other activities. Pick up your map, bag and kit. And off you go! Inside the bag you'll find exciting games and puzzles for children and adults to use together on their voyage of discover around Tate Modern.
Schools and Colleges
Tate Modern offers a new and rich learning resource for teachers, student teachers and pupils. The Schools Programme features a number of activities and resources, providing many opportunities to explore visual culture and ideas.
The gallery can be used as an alternative learning environment for working with students with special needs, including learning difficulties and physical disabilities. Teachers working in mainstream schools are also welcome.
Tate Shops
The shops at Tate Modern stock an impressive range of art books – over 10,000 different titles - as well as postcards, posters, pens, pencils and models of the building.
