Our day off today, something that was a bit tight time wise as we didn’t manage to wrap up various appointments in Ramsgate until nearly eleven and we had to be back to pick up the children from school.I wanted to go over to Margate to see the exhibition at the Turner Contemporary, I thought as I had posted about it, http://thanetonline.blogspot.com/2010/03/brand-new-arts-video-on-turner.html some pictures of it it would encourage other people to go and see it too, things started fairly well as you can see from the first batch of photographs http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/310/id6.htm
I though that as last time I visited Margate in the Middle of the day I had had my car vandalised in the car park by the High Street, I would park at the top of the High Street as near as I could to the car accessory shop as this seemed to be an unlikely place to have my car vandalised.
I then walked down the high street taking a few photos towards The Turner Contemporary’s exhibition in the Droit House, I had forgotten how much colder the northern side of Thanet can be, so when I arrived at the harbour arm I was in need of a hot drink and thought I would try the café on the harbour arm.
BeBeached click on the link for their website http://www.bebeached.co.uk/ excellent coffee, chocolate cake and wifi internet connection and a very welcoming atmosphere.
I reflected that Margate didn’t seem quite as bad as last time I went, the High Street had quite a lot of people in it, well if you looked at the pictures you can make up your own mind.
Rejuvenated I headed off for The Droit House then - I view it as Margate’s equivalent of Ramsgate’s Clock House and somehow I expect it to be similarly interesting – I started taking photographs and was immediately accosted and told photography was forbidden.
Last time I went there it was apparently quite OK to take pictures, so why the change in policy I don’t really know.
When I try to describe the exhibition, words fail me I think is enough to say that it was so popular that I was the only person there and leave it at that.
I then thought I would walk back through the old town and look at the improvements there, that too was pretty much deserted, the photographs speak for themselves, sorry the first few at the top of the page should be at the bottom so it starts with the picture of The Droit House, click on the link for them http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/310/id5.htm
On to Westgate, when I arrived my camera batteries died so I borrowed my wife’s camera, I am afraid I didn’t get on with it too well, anyway click on the link for the pictures http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/310/id7.htm
Finally lunch at Quex Barn as you can see from the pictures they really know how to make a sandwich fit for an earl, wifi too.
Hmm...who stopped you taking photo's of Droit House Michael?I wander down there quite a lot and no one has ever stopped me.Some great pictures of the old town.
ReplyDelete12.15 It was pictures of the inside of the Droit House I was prevented from taking by the person working there, sitting behind a pc with nothing much to do more describes the activity than work I would imagine, I don’t think they could have been a security guard, as there was nothing worth pinching in the exhibition.
ReplyDeleteThe main exhibit is supposed to be of a teenage bedroom, it looks as though it was furnished with the remnants of a jumble sale.
Secondary exhibit decorated shoes, the whole thing looks like the work of primary school children and not something that is likely to attract much needed visitors to Margate.
Not surprisingly there are no images of it on the gallery’s website or anywhere else I could find, so if you manage to take some please send them to me for publication.
That is a shame Michael,I know one of the pensioners involved and she had the time of her life!She also said it was great to work with teenagers as well as people of her age,and they are going to stay in touch.Yes it is quite simle,but they are just people in the community who met up once or twice a week and had some fun!I really liked the "Talking Book".
ReplyDelete11.28 I don’t doubt that it was a worthwhile project or that this type of thing is beneficial for the people involved, the problem for me though is that they are pretending that this is art and art of the quality that will attract visitors.
ReplyDeleteWhat this is local history and the proper context for this is Margate Museum, where the material exists to kindle the older residents memories and to show the younger residents what Thanet was like.
With the internet and the way sites often show visitor statistics it is possible to gauge the interest in things fairly accurately, there is a video about this project on the internet that was published on 7th March and I embedded it in a blog post on the 8th of March, apart from the views that it received on the 7th of march and 6 the day after and 2 the day after that, something I attribute entirely to people reading my blog post viewing it, it has had no viewings whatsoever.
I think a very serious problem with the Turner Contemporary is that it isn’t affiliated to some major gallery with experience – like say the Tate Modern in St Ives – and I think quite simply that they lack the judgment to decide what is important art that will attract people to Margate.
Just as with the recent wrestling on the beach, it seems that everything in Margate has to be labelled "art" nowadays & not "local history" or "entertainment".
ReplyDeleteDear Michael i think your find that Turner Contemporary is indeed affiliated to the Tate, the Tate organization is set to expand with many new regional partners. I suggest you contact Victoria or someone on their education team for more info, also they are doing great work with Adults at St Paul's community center, offering free art classes and workshops.
ReplyDelete