For those of you found the installation hypnotic, relaxing - or as one young art critic stated 'a really great gerbil cage' - I have uploaded this video of the work in-situe. It was very interesting watching you all as you adapted to the UV lighting, with most people checking to see if they were wearing anything that was fluorescent and one or two people frantically trying to brush of otherwise invisible dust from clothing. The 'most appropriately dressed' prize goes to the two road sweepers who stopped outside for a look wearing fluorescent yellow work jackets.
I have included a section that is filmed from below, as this seemed popular with a number of younger participants, and may interest the older viewers who were less able to decently prostrate themselves in public. I finished the clip with a view from outside, as this is how many people will have initially encountered the work. I was very pleased to see that a number of people who would probably not have entered an art gallery were drawn into the show, and hopefully feel more confident to enter galleries in the future.
It was good to have an opportunity to present work the to our students, both past and present, and from their feedback not only they were interested to see it, but it gave them a sense of confidence in our roles as Tutors and practicing Artists. For example one undergraduate, now on an Interior Design Degree, said that she now understood why I had put so much emphasis on the preparation and presentation of her 3D work, while several Fine Art undergraduates commented that what they now had a greater understanding of issues that we had discussed previously. With so few Leicester galleries in which to exhibit now, these opportunities for students to evaluate the activities of their tutors will become increasingly rare.
I also had a number of fascinating discussions with people about Simon and Jamie's work, it was very encouraging to hear that so many of you were interested in the show as a whole, and were intrigued to see how colour and space could be used to produce equally deliberate, but distinctly individual outcomes.
