Every year Tate Britain invites an artist to create a Christmas tree for the gallery. This year one of the leading artists of her generation, Tacita Dean was given the honour:-
Apparently her tree decoration “chimes with the traditional ideas of what a Christmas tree should look like. The candle light evokes a sense of magic and wonder and the act of lighting the tree is at once simple and theatrical, echoing the rituals of Christmas celebrations. Dean says ” I was struck when I arrived in Berlin by the simplicity of Christmas there. I felt the Germans had managed to hold on to something of the purity and magic despite commercial pressures. As many of my films encompass twilight and the transition from day to night it seems appropriate to light the candles at this moment of each day”.
I took all three of my children to see the lighting of the Christmas tree at Tate Britain yesterday because Tacita Dean is the sister of one of my best friends and so not only do I know her but I had arranged to meet a very old friend there. It is one of the most unadorned Christmas trees I have ever seen. It is bare, save for some real “hand made” beeswax candles that are ceremoniously lit by men at 4pm as “the sun sets and the light fades from the gallery”. They are designed to “fade and die” as the gallery closes at 6pm (that is the candles, not the men).
We solemnly watched the men, who are apparently fully trained in the art of fire fighting, light the 20 odd candles. My children stood about waiting for some sort of firework display to occur in manner of spoilt modern day children who are bombarded with spectacular light every day of their life in some way shape or form (mostly via the computer screen). I liked the Quaker simplicity of the tree. It represented a symbol of something basic and unadorned. Much more natural than the decorations we are used to. My children were completely underwhelmed – which says a lot about how far we have come from the true meaning of Christmas.
Jonathan Jones, the Guardian’s art critic raved about Tacita’s “honest, simple and transient” Christmas tree installation. He thinks it is a “profound statement from a brilliant artist”. His article says:-
“Unpretentious, melancholy, exact, Dean’s Christmas tree lightly brushes against themes of transience, reality and truth that are at the heart of her work. She has written that everything she likes is “analogue” – as opposed to digital. She adapts the metaphor of an analogue tape recorder to describe any form of art that exists in real time. Against the spirit of our virtual, ethereal age, she upholds the real. She makes films on real celluloid – and has lyrically filmed an abandoned film processing plant. From the start of her career she also made drawings: her blackboard drawings of an imagined film set on a ship on a stormy sea have become treasures of the Tate collection, their plain drawing style and belief in narrative effortlessly going against any fashion you can think of.
Dean’s works on paper – photographs drowning in gouache or composed in cinematic visions inscribed with Twombly-like arcana – have since evolved into some of the most powerful works being made anywhere this century”.
What the f*ck is he talking about?
Shiny
December 22, 2009I love the picture of your three children… And the simple Christmas tree too! x
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