Tino Sehgal link at the ICA.
One of the reasons I wanted to resurrect the blog was the think and process all the different and crazy things we've seen and experienced here in London.
Yesterday we cycled into town for petit dejeuner in Le Pain Quotidien (oh my goodness it's good food). P had to visit Regent street to change something she bought and then she brought me to the Institute of Contemporary Arts on the Mall. I didn't get much information on what it was we were visiting and if you have a look at the link you can see it is suitably vague.
We got there, paid our money and were ushered into a large gallery which had about 15 kids running around playing, so I asked the attendant was it through here.... "No, that's it" was the response. After a minute or two of standing awkwardly up against the wall one of the boys in his blue school jumper came over and explained the rules of the game they were playing. There was nothing for it but to join in .
First up it was a chasing game that left you standing on the spot you were caught with your arms out until you 'freed' someone passing under your arms.
This was pretty hectic partly because I was wearing my cycling shoes with a metal cleat on the bottom so I didn't have much traction.
The second game was much more my style 'sleeping lions' and it was who could stay lying on the ground with out moving for the longest.
After that ended and before 'bulldogs' kicked off we had a quick word with one of the attendants, before we left, who explained that the vision for the work was to see allow kids to play without any objects. There were mixed school groups rotating every 45 minutes between playing and art exploration in the upper gallery, which we couldn't visit.
It was an interesting experience but Paula's question when we left said a lot about what I was thinking: 'Was it art?'
