Uncomfortable Proximity >>
Graham Harwood
Juxtaposing images and confrontational language, Harwood "mongrelizes" a
national treasure.
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||| HIAFF 3.0 | university of colorado | department of art and art history | digital arts area | in conjunction with alt-x | atlas | blurr
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[Reviews] Harwood sees Mongrel Tate as a "personal recounting", as he investigates the
Tate museum through the filter of his own personal experiences. Disliking
the "social values that framed the creation of much of the Tate's art", Harwood
is also offended by the hypocrisy of the Tate museum, due to its "contradictory
aspirations". As a museum, the Tate must maintain itself as an elite "temple of
the arts", while simultaneously being "a tool for democracy". This dual nature
perplexes Harwood, and he conveys this sense of confusion by ripping certain
elements from the Tate site, then manipulating and converting them into
statements of his own.
As an artist, Harwood is effectively expressing his disdain for the two-sided
Tate by using "[h]activism". The text on the site is humorous at times while
always remaining a bit mysterious. Is it really true that museums became a new
way to end crimes? Were art museums really created to lessen the populations of
prisons? His humor is subtle but his images are not. The photo collages are a
disturbing and glaring mix of two worlds. Harwood's titles help convey this.
For example, an image named "Turner, Mud/Slime for the Thames and Scabs: 1840-
2000", is an exact representation of this title. Although Harwood effectively
communicates his simple opinions with text, he also employs images to convey
his message.
Each broken link leads to a collage-like mixture of the traditional artwork of
the Tate (like that of J.M.W. Turner) with segments of river mud, the skin of
his father, or even his own nipple. The results are intensely grotesque images
which incorporate a hacked portion of the Tate and the originality of Harwood.
Like the Tate museum, these images have a certain duality. The traditional art
of the elite (Turner and Copely), are joined with symbols of the democratic
masses (wrinkly skin and real body parts). Although Harwood mixes elitism and
normalcy like the Tate, he does so knowingly and blatantly, therefore exposing
the Tate's subtle hypocrisy.
Since the Tate museum sponsored Harwood's project, is it admitting that it is a
hypocritical institution? Or that at one time it only supported the tastes of
the social and economical elite? And does it still support only certain
aesthetics? It is curious why a museum of such good reputation would encourage
such a harsh critique of itself. Harwood comments on museums as being
a "solution to the social chaos of the street", and a "complement to prisons".
This is not the most friendly definition of an art museum. The Tate presumes to
be a place where the values of the dominant culture are exhibited for all to
see and for all to accept. Ideally, the Tate's goal is to expose the "better"
portions of society to the low, the poor, and the working class. Harwood's work
is responding to these elitist views, "found within the aura of the collection"
at the Tate museum.
At first glance the Mongrel Tate site may seem only to be a mockery or mimicry
of the official Tate site. But after reading Harwood's text and experiencing
his images, it becomes obviously apparent that a statement about elitism and
hybridism is being made. The word "mongrel" holds the connotation of a mixed
breed of dog or beast. The Tate itself may be nothing more than that, a museum
with two-sides, one that is acceptable and one that is not. Harwood effectively
conveys this duality, mostly through montage and juxtaposition of images. By
creating a website like Mongrel Tate, Harwood has hacked the Tate's elitist
aesthetics, which in theory are supposed to be available to everyone, and after
critiquing and manipulating them, he has made them more readily available.
Harwood's medium is perfect. What is more democratic while still somewhat out
of reach than the Internet?
By Kendall Pata |
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