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Dialogue - Review
Border Farm at the South London Gallery
Two reviews of the SLG's screening of the Thenjiwe Nkosi's docudrama on a group of Zimbabwean "border jumpers"
Posted: Mar 15 2011 | More...
Dialogue - Review
Martin Creed's latest show at Hauser & Wirth's Savile Row galleries
Posted: Feb 18 2011 | More...
Dialogue - Review
A show of three young artists that display strong narratives in their work, showing until 12 March 2011
Posted: Feb 01 2011 | More...
Dialogue - Review
Unheralded Stories at Purdy Hicks
Tom Hunter's solo show at Purdy Hicks gallery on the Southbank, running until January 15th 2011
Posted: Dec 14 2010 | More...
Dialogue - Preview
Our last preview of the year sees openings at LIMA ZULU, Flowers, John Martin, Hive and last chances this...
Posted: Dec 13 2010 | More...
Dialogue - Preview
Openings at Pilar Corrias, Josh Lilley, Space in Between and talks at Gasworks, Paradise Row, and the RCA
Posted: Dec 06 2010 | More...
Dialogue - Review
Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2010 at ICA
The old lady of 'new artist' awards returns to the ICA this year with outstanding film and video...
Posted: Dec 03 2010 | More...
Dialogue - Review
Zigelbaum + Coelho at Riflemaker
Riflemaker exhibits the Miami Basel Designers of the Future award-winners, running until 31 March
Posted: Dec 01 2010 | More...
Dialogue - Review
Seventeen's latest exhibition, 'a show with Tourette's', which is open until 23rd December 2010
Posted: Nov 27 2010 | More...
Dialogue - Review
Newspeak part II at The Saatchi Gallery
The second part of The Saatchi Gallery's blockbuster new British art show showing in London
Posted: Nov 25 2010 | More...
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art advisory - looking for something specific or help in finding work by early career artists. contact info@murmurart.com
Donald Eastwood
Turner prize-winner Mark Wallinger 50 meter high white horse was announced as the winner of the Ebbsfleet Landmark Project earlier this week. By all accounts it was the overwhelming public favourite for the project whose search for a giant gateway installation at the crossover point of road and rail arrivals to England has been dubbed the 'Angel of the South'.
Inevitable public reaction has been quite light-hearted, including comparisons to barbie's horse Blaze, dubbing the installation as 'the Arkle of the South', and questioning how white it will be after a few years (Gormleys wooden structure will age well). It does refer to the famous chalk of the area, the prehistoric white horse at Uffington, the roll of the horse in British history and it is certainly not too ugly or weird to give people a fright.
But Wallinger is a conceptual artist, and the issue that I find most interesting is the inclusion of the bridle, the clear breeding and rearing involved in its muscular body and the trained poise of the animal in question. Apparently the bridle is to 'signify that it has been domesticated and bred by man', its breeding was 'first developed during the 17th and 18th centuries in England, when native mares were crossbred with imported Arabian stallions'.
Is this a closed reference to colonialism? Or a meditation on how England has converted a wild countryside into a civilised suburban infrastructure? If you view the horse in its intended position (here), it seems to be penned in by motorway, rail and power lines. Were it a real 50 meter high horse, it may make a terrified bolt across 'one of the most exciting opportunities for urban regeneration that the United Kingdom has had in decades' leaving a terrible wake of startled family destruction.
Is this really as positive a welcome as it is intended to be? Uffington's white horse seems to bound free on the hill and is positioned to be only fully visible from the heavens; its existence relies on the continued upkeep. This horse, though fun, seems to reflect a sad appropriation of the creature's identity, with deeper historical implications on colonialism and its roll in this part of the national identity.
Not quite the same effect that Gormley's structure has in the north, though on a positive note, it will be twice as big.