Whitechapel Gallery Staff Portraits

I visited the Whitechapel Gallery today to see the new Paul Graham photography exhibition. Upstairs was another small show featuring portraits of gallery staff by young people. Here's what the gallery has to say about it:

In the corridors of the Houses of Parliament and the back rooms of third division football clubs, hang portraits of heads of state and treasured past employees. Artist Lady Lucy follows in this tradition, and uses portraiture as a process for communication and interaction. She encouraged a group of people aged 16-19 to set up a portrait studio, where staff from the Gallery were invited to sit and reveal aspects of themselves and the institution.

What I liked most about the show was the informal way it had been hung. All the portraits were in vivid green frames at various heights. These were linked together by hand painted coloured lines with written descriptions of the staff names and the department where they work. It all looked like a wall sized mind map. I wondered if we could attempt something similar in the gallery we will have in the new school?

The Crate

The pop up gallery arrived this afternoon. It's first job is to star in a film about Dr. Who visiting Tallis and exploring its past, present & future. Then it's home to The Measurement Shop in a couple of weeks and, in the meantime, will become a portal and workshop space linking Tallis with the Beaconsfield Gallery.

You may have noticed that the gallery looks a lot like a packing crate (it even has "Fragile. This Way Up" stenciled on the side). This is deliberate. The space functions as a gallery/workshop when the doors are open but also as a sculptural object, referring to the fact that we will soon be packing up and moving to a brand new school. It was important to us that the gallery could be seen from the road, as you enter the concourse from the car park and from most of the rooms adjacent to the concourse.

What will you take with you to the new school? Will they be physical or emotional items?

Rivington Place

Thanks to everyone who visited Rivington Place today and contributed lots of valuable ideas. I thought the Liminal exhibition provoked plenty of fascinating debate and helped to fuel a brief but exciting brainstorming session. Don't forget that we have arranged to meet every Tuesday at 3:45pm in Room 80C (the sixth form computer room) so that we can continue planing our summer events and gain our Arts Award accreditations.

Here is a summary of what we discussed in the afternoon session:

Tom really liked the theme of change and the use of role play in a radical alteration of the physical space of the current school building. What might it be like to transform the school into a country ruled by a despotic leader? Could we change the function of internal spaces, create our own currency and economic conditions, form a government, arrange political protests etc.?

Amber and Matthew definitely wanted to change the building, especially the corridors and other in-between spaces using sound. How could we explore the idea of absence and leaving a building behind? What does the building sound like? The school appears very geometric, doesn’t look very engaging from the outside but is interesting inside. How important is sound in learning? Could we create a Maze/Labyrinth type game using the whole site? A promenade performance or quest? What for? Moving between locations where performances/activities take place. Changing perceptions of the school building and what happens in it. Demonstrating the importance of new media technologies in learning. The element of surprise; the unexpected. Part of a consultative process with parents that could become an annual event. Need a place to gather at the end of the event – a meal and conversation.

Billy and Tom wanted to create a massive game of Quasar Laser to engage parents and students in learning together. Young people become experts. Could use Twitter to keep a record of a conversation about learning. Guide visitors around the school. Turn the school into an alien landscape using special effects, a series of strange occurrences and making the school unrecognisable through strange lighting. Perhaps we could change the story about school; create a different narrative about learning by challenging conventions and expectations about how learning is structured.

I am really looking forward to reading your reviews of the exhibition. This is your first task for the Arts Award. Perhaps you could add your thoughts as (very long and detailed) comments to this post?