Oct 14, 2007

Modern art strikes again

London's Tate Modern museum has been at the forefront of the assault on art -- and consequently on culture.

Now that assault has turned physical: several visitors to one of Tate Modern's "art" "installations" - a large crack installed in the museum floor - have been injured after falling into the crack:

Art lovers fall victim to crack

This is like a cross between Atlas Shrugged and Monty Python. It would be funny if it weren't so serious. The damage inflicted by this modern "art" work is not just physical; given the crucial role art plays in our lives, bad art can crush not only bones, but also human spirit.

Update: An editorial on the crack

Metaphors are the key but not the ones about colonialism, racism and social division the artist talks about in the gallery blurbs.

No, this is a crack that runs through the world's most popular museum of modern art. Just as Hirst's diamond-studded skull symbolises the pinnacle of vanity of the contemporary art bubble, the crack symbolises its imminent collapse.

In the past 10 years, prices paid for art have rocketed, often by a factor of 10, and an army of mediocre artists have been hyped beyond all reason. Last week, Sotheby's share price dropped 37 per cent after an unsuccessful modern art auction.

But the quake has only just started - it'll measure 12 on the
Gerhard Richter scale - and the earth is set to swallow up some of the most famous names and sacred tenets of contemporary art.

Lets hope so.

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