TATE MODERN: THE ART-FREE VISIT

 

I'd like to find

an artwork titled ‘tilted’

but the building and the thought

will have to do. 

It’s a matter of perspective

Art is small in the lives of most people.

People are small in the life of the planet.

The planet is small in the vasts of the deep.

I like the idea

of signalling intent

through a screwdriver readied for action.

But how long has it been sheltering there?

I guess that rules out

hunting down refracted reflections,

using the worm’s eye point of view

and shooting backwards between the legs.

This is confusing

Did Agnes Martin plan the white cord

when she designed the ventilation

or is it an unauthorised addition? 

I wonder whether

they fill the boxes with a range of crisp notes

to give the impression that everyone’s giving,

implying that we should, too?

Give us this day our daily art

and forgive those artists

who feel obliged

to churn out what the market wants.

One question for any famous artist 

is how long before the winnowing of time

sifts away their reputation

to leave them as ghosts of the gallery walls?

It’s warm enough in here

to consider adjusting the thermostat:

does the railing really need

to wear a hat?

 

What is the line

between art and its opposite?

Thin enough

to step across with ease.

This non-art

may be better than art:

the scar of the art

that evoked a nation’s scars.

The shadow of love

is all you need

to trigger the fear

that hate is just as strong.

I could piss on Duchamp

and all that he stands for -

but I suspect

that he would enjoy that.

What is art for?

How high can it take you?

Floors 5-10

are currently closed.

If the point

of coming here

is to see the world differently,

here is our mission achieved.

Notes:

All photographs taken at Tate Modern, 31 December 2022 

'I'd like to find': Tate owns some 70,000 works, but not one of them is titled 'Tilted'. One could argue that the most famous tilt in its collection is in the 'O' of Robert Indiana's 'Love' sculpture.

                                    

'This is confusing': we get a glimpse here of Agnes Martin's Untitled #5,  1994

'Give us this day our daily art' - photograph by Theo Ellison

'This non-art': Doris Salcedo's Shibboleth 2007 was a snaking fissure along the whole length of the Turbine Hall. You can still see where it ran. 

'The shadow of love': the shadow is of Robert Indiana’s LOVE Red Violet. It was conceived in 1966, the year before the Beatles released All You Need Is Love, but this version was made in 1998.

 

'I could piss on Duchamp': Tate Modern displays a 1964 replica of Marcel Duchamp's Fountain, 1917.