Saturday 6th September: Disobedient Objects + Pavilion

This Saturday was split into two parts; the morning was spent at the Victoria and Albert museum, the afternoon at the Pavilion in Hyde Park. At the V&A we observed the Disobedient Objects exhibition, which was a collection of art used in protest from different time periods and locations. I initially didn't connect a great deal with much of the work on display, as I tend not to be very political or engaged in activism of any kind. However, as I began to look at the pieces differently - as art, not as statements - I found a lot more to enjoy. In particular, the Tiki Love Truck (designed by Carrie Reichardt) stood out as really visually engaging and enjoyable, being covered in brightly-coloured mosaic pieces and decorated with both morbid imagery and motivational slogans. We were tasked to draw one of the exhibits, so I chose the Truck.

The Tiki Love Truck, a vibrant, mosaic-laden vehicle for positivity and happiness. The bright colours and intricate patterns caught my eye at once, and kept me there with small details like poetry inscriptions.

The Pavilion is an installation in Hyde Park that changes every year, each time featuring the work of a prominent designer. The 2014 Pavilion was designed by Smiljan Radic, and is a café situated inside a structure reminiscent of a broken egg, or a papier maché. I made my way around it inside, taking pictures and video to capture the experience of being there. I wasn't particularly enamoured with anything about this Pavilion, personally - the abstract design was visually unusual but not really attractive enough or extreme enough to hold my attention for any great length of time. After looking at the structure for a while we had to design our own fantasy Pavilions, which I found really enjoyable. I went as far as to amend the design of one of them later on, as you can see below. (Pictures coming soon)

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Overall I found this Saturday a very positive experience - I got to know the class a bit better during the post-exhibit sharing of work, which I found both useful for my own critical analysis skills and for evaluating my own pieces. I learnt a lot about different ways of looking at artwork, and about my own taste in areas of art that I hadn't previously explored in much detail, like architecture and protest art, and enjoyed being exposed to these new things.