Tate Modern

While watching the video in our British Life and Cultures class on the Tate Modern and some of the pieces of artwork and artists featured in the gallery, my first impressions were that some of the pieces of art, were not art at all, but rather idiotic displays from drugged out individuals who say they are art. For example, the Fountain or urinal, the can of crap, the bed and tent. After actually going to the gallery and seeing some of these pieces and others that were not in the video, my thoughts on the matter have changed. I now see all the pieces as a form of artwork, some of which, I do view more as an artistic piece than others. When I think of art, the first things that come to mind are a picture in a frame, a beautiful sculpture, a person playing music and sometimes, someone acting in a play or on screen. Up until this morning, I would not think a tin box, a urinal, four black walls with chalk lines drawn on them, or a bubble pipe as art. Maybe it was the whole gallery setting or that fact that some of the displays were in glass boxes as to not get ruined which changed my perception of what art is and made them seem more artsy than on the video. I found the art in this gallery far more fascinating then any painting in the National Gallery or other more traditional galleries that I used to associate with as the definition of an art gallery.

As far as the Dali and Film exhibit, my favorite piece was the film Destino which Dali worked on with Walt Disney. I felt the Disney connection while watching the film with the works of Dali. What I enjoyed most about this piece was how each scene flowed seamlessly from one to another no matter how similar or different the scenes were, all the transitions worked perfectly as one tying the short film together.