As I am no longer using the condom army for my final, I was thinking of other ways to use them. I am going to paint a few in different styles and see what interest thay create. If I could sell them as individual collectors items and give a cut to HIV Scotland. I would need to find out more about packaging and taxes.
Though I believe that the condom army is better than the slabs with the ice I am going to have to go with the latter. This is because I cannot expect the cleaners at the hospital to pick up each individual one to clean underneath and place them back to the exact position there are intended. I thought if I prehaps place them on plinths that were on wheels but the work would still have be lifted and cleaned.
The slabs would be displayed as a relief and easily dusted down.
An exhibition of warhol called pop, power and politics was held at the Scottish parliament which I was able to visit. The work covered a wide field of his techniques and though I preferred the worked were the human hand was more obvious, though was really interested in the types of inks used in the more mechanically produced works. He seemed to use an ink what I can only described as a silk or high sheen finish. It is something that I would like to look more in to and discover other processes involved in silkscreen.
This exhibition of me really did make the trip worth while. It was an experience that could only have been had by visiting the exhibition as no photo from a book or Internet could really described his work. A lot of work he did with mirror and highly polished stainless steel created illusions and messed with the spectator depth perception. This gave me a headache but I would definitely do it again if I could.
This work is to commemorate all those who lived and died in the Holocaust. The work at first appears to be a massive field of concrete blocks varying in hight by 30-50 cm from one another, and the title allows the spectator to concluded that these blocks represent the huts that contained sleeping quarters and gas showers. When entering in between the blocks they appear all to be in rows and organised in such a fashion that they appear mechanically produced, but of course the concrete is a sharp reminder that the Holocaust was man made. Factory's of death.
The slight down wards slope becomes more severe the deeper into the work you go and as the blocks rise up above your head, the ground below you feet rises and falls causing the viewer to feel some anxiety and confusion, as the mechanical layout of the blocks turns into a maze. The spectator realises that what you viewed from outside the work was not even half of what was there.
To find your way out you are forced to use all your senses to not lose your group, be wary of other visitors (of which there were many but were hard to find within the maze) and of course sight leading you to the other side of the work, by effective creating light at the end of the tunnel.
This of course is a highly sensitive subject, which I feel waa handed well the artists. I didn't take to many photos as there were some visitors who were deeply moved by either the work or personal experiences.
Berlin has a very different attitude towards modern art and architecture. It is everywhere on every street and it is almost as if to see old works by old master you have to pay, but modern art is free for the every day people. Art contended with in galleries seems to be an old way of thinking.
I actually think the layout before the ice melts works well, even though the effect I was looking for was the stains left behind. This I feel also workedxxx
I feel mixed works best, instead of all open condoms at one side and closed at the other.
The space that seems most viable for the condom army is the secondary lobby area after the shops. The space is wide enough that people would see it coming so as not to trip over it.
Managed to get 100 more condoms from the college, but its still not enough to get the effect that am wanting.
I had a vision of 1000s of the condom army on the grass outside the nation galleries in Edinburgh or outside the Forth Valley royal hospital, or even in George Square Glasgow creating a flash mob. This would bring a reality to the viewing public that HIV has not went a way and is not just something that happens in Africa.
Tweeting to try and get more condoms, hoping durex reply. Have also contacted local NHS to see if thay have any old or out of date condoms that thay no longer have use of.
