For unknown reason one thing I can be sure of when going to an art exhibition is that it will make me want to smoke and drink. Also, if I spent enough time looking at art I walk out to see the world as a composition of geometrical shapes and colours. Apparently there are people that sit around in Louvre, that specialise in this sort of thing: staring at paintings for hours no end, analysing every little detail and then go into the city on a very particular sort of high, which makes their senses extremely sensitive to all impulses. However, if you attempted that with contemporary art, it would mainly give you headache. 2 out of 3 pieces consist of 17 inch TVs stacked in a corner between white walls.

Halfway through the exhibition I realized I’m mainly photographing TVs. If I had any more patience I’d photograph them all just to verify sheer quantity. Not that I’m opposed to the usage of TVs as such. It’s just high density of them, showing wither people who stand still or colourful shapes moving at a such speed speed, that it would make mtv proud. The first type gets on my nerves because I immediately wonder what is so special about this person waving their hand every 3 minutes that it requires a usage of film? Why not take a still, save some environment and money for electricity bill? second type, well, that’s juts health hazard, it could potentially tip a an epileptic person just as much as the London 2012 Olympics logo could. And this comes from a person on the verge of dedicating coming years, hopefully the rest, of their life to film making. Except for me film is an extension of photography to several frames per minute - introducing movement and sound. It’s supposed to be more.

So I went to the contemporary art exhibition and found myself strangely drawn to painting, old form that I’ve always argued (and still would) is quite dead (not that it is over, it’s just never been alive). I’m guessing it’s because even though my painter-friend Ishai was showing me the finger paintings themselves didn’t attack me, like the rest did. If medium is indeed the message I get the feeling that the contemporary art is telling us to fuck off. I was glad to be taking photos, at least the camera was giving me some sort of a licence to be there - or so it felt. Had I not been documenting the event I’d probably feel ashamed to be there. Shame, shame on us for turning our self-indulgence (more spectators’ that artists’, mind) into a socially acceptable public enterprise!

And before I get screamed at there’s a disclaimer: I’m guessing it was the art over-load that was no good here. This is why Tate Modern has a cafe on almost every floor. I remember going to the Modernism exhibition at the V&A 2 or 3 years ago with a mate. It was huge but interesting and information-packed exhibit, fairly impossible to absorb all in one go. We were in an out of there several times: coffee, lunch, few cigarettes breaks. No escape at the Goldsmiths show, however. I made a mistake of going on a Sunday, when all college facilities are closed. And it was clear that if I popped out for some food or drink I’d never be back.

And so, after I left the Goldsmiths premises, I went to my local pub, had a Guinness, wrote this blog post and watched some football with the rest of Sunday afternoon clientele of men aged 46 to 75.

More photos up on my flickr

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