Authenticated stolen relics
Courtesy of the light fingers of artist Terry Smith, fans of Tate Modern can now acquire their own piece of Britain’s No. 1 Shrine to Modern Art. A popular item at Smith’s current exhibition at the Rocket Gallery goes under the lengthy but descriptive title of “Stolen property: the former Bankside Power Station London, Tate Modern—door furniture taken from second floor offices. This is authenticated stolen property, appropriated March 1996 without permission. This item is not for resale.” Each one of the twenty-five aluminium doorknobs and handles on show is accompanied by the artist’s signature and authentication note, and can be purchased—just the once, mind you, for £80.
It was four years ago, while Smith was taking part in the Tate’s “Inside Bankside” commission, that the aluminium knobs and handles in the offices caught his eye. Little did the Tate realise that, at the same time as Smith was making his official works of words and shapes cut into sections of the power station’s interior walls, he was quietly appropriating this Bankside booty. “I’m like a magpie really. While cutting into the walls, I was squirrelling away the door knobs,” says the unrepentant artist, whose Rocket show otherwise consists of otherwise legitimate artefacts from earlier exhibitions, projects and installations. “I’ve got two more plastic bags full at home,” he adds.
“People love them. At £80 each they’re giveaways really,” says Rocket Gallery’s Jonathan Stephenson. Or takeaways, as far as the Tate is concerned.
Tate puts unravelled art online
Not only are bits of Bankside being distributed across the city, but now its collection is to be sliced and diced in Cyberspace. And it is being done with the gallery’s blessing. The first web art project commissioned by Tate from Harwood@Mongerel takes the format of an alternative version of the Tate website. In format and design, “Uncomfortable proximity”, as the piece is called, looks exactly like the Tate’s own site, but new images have been inserted and texts altered to offer an alternative history of Tate and its collection. This can involve the Tate’s cherished Turners and Hockneys being filleted and interspersed with elements from other works or Harwood’s own images, as well as Harwood’s own strong views on the social and economic circumstances under which the collection was formed. This rogue site lurks in a separate window behind the Tate’s website, and with the Tate’s own site receiving some thirty million hits this year, confusion is an inevitable part of the whole scheme. More distinct from the Tate’s official communications is the other element in their online art programme, Simon Patterson’s image and sound work “Le match des couleurs 2000”, which is based on the colours of the French Football League, and which goes online on 12 July. Both can be visited at www.tate.org.uk
o Terry Smith, group show at the Rocket Gallery, 13 Old Burlington Street, London W1X 1LA, % + 44 (0)20 7434 3043, fax +44 (0)20 7434 3384, (until 29 July)
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'Doorknobs and websites'