# Art Exhibition Shows Bare Gallery



## VirginiaHuguenot (Oct 25, 2006)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/6075450.stm

Art exhibition shows bare gallery 

22 October 2006

So what's going on here at Chapter in Cardiff? Well, nothing really... An artist has been given a grant to put on an exhibition consisting of nothing but an empty gallery. 

Simon Pope, 40, said the aim was to encourage people to walk around the empty rooms and discuss memories of other galleries. 

He said the work in Cardiff's Chapter Arts Centre divided opinion, but some visitors had "got a lot out of it". 

It has been funded by the Arts Council of Wales and the Sciart Wellcome Trust, a charity promoting art and science. 

Pope, who represented Wales at the Venice Biennale art festival in 2003, said: "You can simplify the context and ignore my intentions, but there are also people who know the work and see it in an informed way. 

"Obviously, there's a split reaction. There are those who love it and those who wonder why I've done it. 

"There are three distinct audiences: the people I've worked with in Chapter over the last few weeks, those who come to the event who know the wider context and don't trivialise the work, and people who have no idea what's in here. 

Chapter Arts Centre on Simon Pope's work 

The exhibition, Gallery Space Recall, benefited from a portion of £50,000 funding given to Chapter by the Arts Council of Wales (ACW). 

"If you read the comments in the visitors' book, even people I wouldn't expect to understand the full context have got a lot out of it." 

The ACW said the money was for a 12-month programme of arts activity, of which Simon Pope's solo exhibition formed a "small part". 

"Chapter has proved to be a key venue in terms of delivering new, sometimes controversial, but always thought-provoking work to an exceptionally high standard," said the ACW. 

"The ACW welcomes the gallery's role in stimulating and promoting critical debate around the arts in Wales." 

A Chapter spokeswoman said: "We set agendas, we don't follow them". 

She said participants in the exhibition could perform "a seemingly impossible feat: summoning up remote spaces - through memory, body, speech and movement - reduplicating these spaces, so that they exist at two locations simultaneously."


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## crhoades (Oct 25, 2006)

This gives me an idea...

I'm putting on a concert in a few days in all of you cities. Ticket prices are only $10 each. I take paypal. 

When you show up, remember back to all the concerts you've ever been to or better yet-bring your ipod.

If the guy charges admission we have met a new genius!


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## KenPierce (Oct 25, 2006)

I am in the wrong line of work. I need to get into the art world.

We went to the Chicago Art Institute this summer. One of the more interesting pieces --a string of Christmas lights thrown on the floor. The description said that the artist insists that each gallery arrange the lights their own way, and, when the lights burn out, they are to be left burnt out --something about life's futility. Really.

He probably makes millions by going to Wal-mart after Christmas, and buying lights on clearance!


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## NaphtaliPress (Oct 25, 2006)

A few years ago I went with family visiting from out of town to the Dallas Museum of Art. They had one room devoted to a pile of candy on the floor and visitors could take a piece. Not sure what it meant; didn't care, and didn't think it hygienic to take a piece of candy from the floor. 



KenPierce said:


> I am in the wrong line of work. I need to get into the art world.
> 
> We went to the Chicago Art Institute this summer. One of the more interesting pieces --a string of Christmas lights thrown on the floor. The description said that the artist insists that each gallery arrange the lights their own way, and, when the lights burn out, they are to be left burnt out --something about life's futility. Really.
> 
> He probably makes millions by going to Wal-mart after Christmas, and buying lights on clearance!


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## Contra_Mundum (Oct 25, 2006)

"But, he's naked!"


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Oct 25, 2006)

Contra_Mundum said:


> "But, he's naked!"



said the boy as the Emperor walked by.


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## jaybird0827 (Oct 25, 2006)

*Philosophy 101*

The final exam was given. The professor wrote one question on the board: "Why?"

One student wrote his name and handed in a blank sheet of paper and got an "A".

The professor remembered all the philosophical discussions that had taken place over the semester.


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## py3ak (Oct 25, 2006)

Well, let's be fair here. Simon is getting out of the way so that everyone can appreciate the artistry of the architect.


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