subscribeVolume at Victoria Albert Museum
The V&A and PlayStation present Volume
The piece is a collaboration between design collective United Visual Artists and Robert Del Naja (aka 3D) of Massive Attack and his co-writer Neil Davidge. Behind is Sony’s new strategy to sponsor and be affiliated with main stream art, experimental design.
How I came there, David Muth called me on my mobile to join him in the V&A cafe to balance the female and male site of the afternoon. He promised me that every cafe in Vienna can hide off, from this interior of the V&A cafe . Later I agreed but the tables and the chairs are not fitting in this scenario, sorry. But in case my dear reader your older mum visits you in London you can impress here, because she will not go down in detail as I do and its free entry.
So I rushed in by car, got a parking place, paid my pounds to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, run up the stairs, accelerated the rotating doors almost catapulting people out of the V&A onto the main street, crossed with moderate speed the museum shop and then some magical force navigated me to the Madejski Garden and I ended up in front of the "Volume".
Seriously, I could not belief my eyes what I have seen there, hypnotised humans cross all generations, walking between Bang & Oluffson style black sticks (not Sony), oriented into the sky and just stopped from speakers on top to have the connection to something higher, a higher authority. These humans in the wait for desire mode, to get potentially carried away from aliens, the sacral way. Its the digital form of Stonehenge, but it does not link to a potential position of the sun or moon, or even reflects the solar-system, or links to an druids invisible meta grid, no, its powered by electricity and linked to your inner Stonehenge like desire, of the lost paradise, waiting either get beamed up by aliens or descent in front of each black column into ashes, hit before by Archangel Gabriel.
The same ritual I came a cross, was in the secret city in Beijing, where Chinese people cycling in an endless loupe in search for the emperor, but he will newer show up. Maybe in Hollywood movies and it is said that similar behaviourism, appear in Stonehenge between the stones, inside.
Yes its Play-station time, emotio immersive pathetic embedded human desire to get disconnected from all threat around, in the real world, but what is the real world? Especially in London, potentially get bombed in a tube or buss, run out of time get a parking ticket, can not pay the next rent for your fancy crappie place, the mortgage for the house and your family is due, hearing all that bombing in Bhagdad (the Shia and Sunni should get the Nobel-price for reaching pool-position in competition with ETA and IRA). Yes we want escape from all that, the climate change, Hurricanes and Tsunamis, the politicians who just lie and the industry who just steals. Both together there destroy in sync all our hope for a better world, the one is in charge of the inside and the other with the outside of our bodies. Is this the reason why X-boxes and Play-stations sell in millions.
After anticipating all this I close my eyes and I imagine, if this is the work of an successful interaction designer, I am forced to recruit in front of the home office, claiming that my course is the first one ever in all UK history, who markets with " enrol on the course, buy on get one visa free". I know that I would be proud if this would be a students work and this in the V&A, I would get promoted to the final stage where no one has been before. This is how schizophrenic the world is, isn't it, my star-sign is Gemini, where if worse come to worse, I have always one excuse it was not me it was my other half.
I bite myself in to the tong and it hurts since 2 days. Why? After the head of quality visited us, I had a burning desire for a curry, I went to Banglatown, ordered a chicken curry, eaten it so fast that all came out of sync between, lips, tong, teeth, rice, chicken curry, fork and my burning desire.
Here a comparison for locals:
What is the difference between Andre Heller and Peter Brook both making a sort of a theatre play inspired from Afrika, one in Vienna showing Afrika! Afrika! the other in Paris - Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, showing Sizwe Banzi est mort. Well, Heller plays nice mainstream and Brook questions our desires for nice and mainstream.
I have to admit I get really irritated and my doubts kick off, when I see happy children embracing maniacally such installations, couples kissing each other, people take pictures from themselves with mobile phones and there is a stage and a space for audience. All of this like if we never head Living Theatre or Performance art dealing with such settings and destroying them, because they are from old hierarchical times, when there was a must, to listen to a higher authority.
But, but, but my other halve urges me to say, how beautiful, adults are happy, children are happy, the V&A is happy, Sony is happy, the designers are happy, the tourist also, its family friendly. A warm, cosy and positive installation, by the way cutting edge, impressive at night, creates good photos, all Apple users will love it, it fits in every open air corridor and it cry's for a double size somewhere in front of a stock exchange building. You can touch it and it reacts, but nice and friendly. I can embrace it and then I get charged with all the positive energy, the intelligent column senses my emotional momentum and downloads the necessary atoms which are missing to make me fully and for ever happy .
A very successful product and what a clever co-operation between all of these creatives. For shore they have been good paid, so what you can possibly want more. All is fine, calm down.
