5 things I loved about Tate Britain’s Rachel Whiteread exhibition
I’ve been struggling to decide what my ‘debut post’ on Medium should cover. This has meant that I’ve not written my debut post for about 3 months. But after my visit to Tate Britain’s Rachel Whiteread exhibition last weekend, which I enjoyed hugely, I thought why not just keep it simple? So here we go, five things I loved about the show:
1. There are artworks outside of the exhibition gallery
Sometimes temporary exhibitions can feel strangely detached from the museum or gallery that hosts them. On site, there is often little hint of what you could expect to see beyond the ‘paywall’ of the gallery entrance. Less of an issue if the exhibition is called Picasso Portraits I suppose, but for less-universally known artists (i.e. nearly all of them), giving a flavour of what the show is about is always going to be a good way to get visitors that are there for the free galleries (i.e nearly all of them) to buy tickets. For this show though, there’s a new piece called Chicken Shed on the lawn at the front of the building, and Untitled (One Hundred Spaces) is an installation of 100 resin casts of the underside of chairs, being shown in the Duveen galleries. There are also works by other artists from Tate’s collection, chosen by Whiteread, on display outside the exhibition entrance. It feels a bit like a Tate takeover by Whiteread, injecting the whole place with her personality, and in turn making the exhibition feel like more of an event. Is it marketing? Is it art? Who knows, but I liked it.
2. It’s at Tate Britain
Tate Modern seems to get all the buzz these days (and with it four times as many visitors). Tate Britain seems to just get criticism. But while I love the Tate Modern, the original Tate Gallery should be celebrated more. It’s a beautiful building, that’s easy to navigate, and is located in a peaceful and pleasant part of London. It’s programme is just as engaging as other galleries in the capital, and it feels less overwhelming. Plus, it’s staircase is Instagram heaven.
3. The walls in the gallery have been removed
I honestly can’t remember an exhibition that has done this, certainly not to this scale. It’s a huge, wide open space. You walk in, and you see everything. You can see all around artworks and some of them are huge. It’s a novel move, and it works.
4. You can take photos!
Another novelty. I’m not going to get into the photos vs no photos debate here, and I respect the rules of each gallery. But I will say that I enjoyed this rare opportunity to take photographs in a paid-for temporary exhibition.
5. It feels important
She is the first female winner of the Turner Prize (winning in 1993) and this is the first major retrospective of her work. It’s also a mid-career retrospective and no doubt there will be more to come. But what is already here feels important, and feels already ingrained in the public’s consciousness. There’s a very relatable element to her body of work and I think this will be one of the surprise super-hits of the busy autumn exhibition schedule.
Rachel Whiteread at Tate Britain is open until 21 January 2018.
