‘I’ll be with you in the squeezing of a lemon’
‘I’ll be with you in the squeezing of a lemon’ Elizabeth David tells readers of her beginners’ cookbook from the 60’s as they navigate simple dishes. Maybe I have my head in a bit of theVOV tunnel vision, but naturally, I related this to what we are all so proud to have created.
We didn’t want to give our audience a scrolling list of 2D pixelated pictures that would barely resemble the real thing, let alone provoke the emotions, the conversations, and the memories of what it was like to see it in real life. And more than that, we didn’t want to not give you any context, and understanding of the importance, and the meaning of the art we chose. We wanted to be right there with you, like Elizabeth David, showing you all our dreams come true in these exhibitions, what we learnt and how we translated images on a screen to artworks that would indeed evoke emotions, conversations and memories.
In Season One, we gave you Yinka Shonibare’s Wind Sculpture IV rippling in the windy gardens of Yorkshire Sculpture Park, we brought back Chris Burden’s 14 Magnolia Doubles to South London Gallery, and we even poured sand and scattered 36 individual pieces of paper, upon which you will find the artist’s spoken word written on, across Showroom’s floor. We didn’t seek to represent reality, we sought to ameliorate it, and we still do. We wanted to make the artworks come alive with the stories they hold.
It’s why we have artist and curator tours, it’s why we curated a collateral content section which is like a curiosity cabinet-come-looking glass filled with anything from installation shots of Ibrahim Mahama’s parliament of ghosts in Tamale, to posters from The Photographer’s Gallery’s first Jan Svoboda exhibition in 1984. This is why, despite we are turning off the exhibition lights, we have chosen to keep all the live events on demand on our website beyond Season One, for you to enjoy whenever, wherever.
I believe that art is just a great visual representation of a good conversation. Whether that conversation happened in 1453 or 2019, the artwork holds the memory of it, and presents it back to you in a way that perhaps you had never considered. Just think of the stories Botticelli’s Birth of Venus tells us, from fantastical mythological tales to the history of the Medici family in the orange trees.
We hope you felt these stories come to life in the artworks the amazing first 15 institutions rediscovered for us all. We hope you feel like we were with you in the squeezing of a lemon.
Come and VOV with us and experience the exhibitions for one last time this season, before we switch off the lights.
with love, from Lottie @theVOV