They also serve...
Categories: uncategorized
Date: 26 August 2012 12:08:52
...who only stand and wait...
I've been thinking about writing this post since reading Mags' post and Angela's post about a modern art installation on the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. Hundreds of flags, red on one side, yellow on the other, have been "planted" on the Giant's Causeway, seemingly in a random fashion. As the wind blows, and the flags move, the different colours are seen. Here is the BBC report on the installation
The artist, Hans Peter Kuhn, say that the flags, which are red on one side and yellow on the other, rotate in the wind to "show the nature of nature. I hope it helps people in developing a sensitivity to nature."
Of course, with anything like this, one person's interpretation is going to be very different to someone else's, but I'm not convinced by the artist's interpretation!! I was also a little shocked by the cost of this - £150,000!! It seems really expensive for a load of flags...even if they are red on one side and yellow on the other.
But, if the installation makes people pause and think about their environment, about what the artwork makes them feel, even only for a couple of minutes, then maybe it's a good thing. I think that in this busy, hectic world of ours, we need things that make us stop and pause, and think, for a moment or two, about something both outside and inside of ourselves.
That is why I so love the Anthony Gormley installation "Another Place", which is on Crosby Beach in Liverpool.
This is an installation of 100 figures, which, as the tides ebb and flow, are covered and uncovered by the sea. They appear to be emerging from the sand and all gaze out to sea.There is something mournful and emotive about these individual figures, all separate from each other, all yearning to be in another place.
It seems that the local community have taken the figures to their heart - often, when you go down to the beach, there will be families having their photos taken next to the figures, cuddling them, embracing them, even kissing them! Sometimes the figures will be dressed up - I've seen a Santa hat, a Liverpool FC kit, sunglasses... Yet still there is a quiet dignity about them, still gazing, still yearning...
They've not been without controversy, as the RSPB claim that the permanent positioning of these figures have deterred a rare bird from feeding on the shoreline. Yet still the figures stand.
And as families cavort and play about around the figures, I hope that they also pause and think about what these figures make them feel. For me, especially when the beach is deserted, they make me think about the isolation of modern man, how often we stand, isolated, alone with our fears and our yearnings, and yet there are others who feel the same way. And how we all need to reach out, to try to make connections with others, and to admit that we all need companionship on our journey to another place.
(source)
Those figures are just standing...and waiting...