Subscribe
Search
ePaper
Newsletters
Subscribe
ePaper
Newsletters
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
Search
Three to see
review

Three arty things to do at home this weekend

From the Getty's challenge to re-create masterpieces using three items to Firstsite’s activity pack with Antony Gormley and Gillian Wearing

Gareth Harris
3 April 2020
Share
A number of social media accounts are encouraging people to recreate famous work of art Courtesy of @tussenkunstenquarantaine,  @stephismyname and @c.r.h.wolters

A number of social media accounts are encouraging people to recreate famous work of art Courtesy of @tussenkunstenquarantaine, @stephismyname and @c.r.h.wolters

Museums worldwide have conjured up lighthearted ways of coping with the coronavirus pandemic which is dominating our daily lives. The Getty in Los Angeles threw down the most imaginative gauntlet with its challenge, issued on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, to re-create masterpieces at home using just three items.

The initiative was inspired by the Instagram account called Tussen Kunst & Quarantaine (Between Art and Quarantine), which was started on 14 March as a funny suggestion between friends over WhatsApp while working from home. The account, which was shared on Instagram by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, has now posted more than 400 images and has 122,000 followers.

Covid Classics, a similar English account but where the images are made by four housemates, was set up on 22 March and now has 62,000 followers. The Getty’s DIY-masterpiece project develops the idea, allowing participants to download images from the institution’s online collection. Cézanne, Vermeer and Munch have all proved popular choices.

The re-creations have flooded in, say Getty officials. “You’ve re-created Jeff Koons using a pile of socks, restaged Jacques-Louis David with a fleece blanket and duct tape, and MacGyvered costumes out of towels, pillows, scarves, shower caps, coffee filters, bubble wrap, and—of course—toilet paper,” according to the website.

Meanwhile, the high-profile curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, the artistic director of London’s Serpentine Galleries, is posting parts of his celebrated Do It series on his Instagram. Artists give instructions for creating works as part of the initiative, which was launched in 1993 with the artists Christian Boltanski and Bertrand Lavier. Obrist has so far posted Yoko Ono’s Wish Piece (1996), Body Pressure (1974) by Bruce Nauman, an untitled piece by Etal Adnan and another untitled work (1997) by Koo Jeong A.

Mark Wallinger, Antony Gormley, Gillian Wearing and Annie Morris are among the artists who have contributed to an art activity pack devised by Firstsite gallery in Colchester, UK. The downloadable tasks can be completed by children and adults, preferably working together. Another requirement is that the activities can be explained or executed on an A4 sheet of paper. Wallinger wants people to draw their hands; Gormley hopes that participants will create a paper chain of drawings.

UPDATE (4 April): And an extra arty bit.... if you'd like to get a glimpse at least of Kettle's Yard house and gallery, fear not—curators at the Cambridge-based institution have installed a webcam providing a live stream, via the gallery website, to a particular location at the historic site which remains closed. The webcam is situated on the first floor of the Kettle’s Yard cottages, taking in several works including Gregorio Vardanega’s perspex Disc (around 1960), George Kennethson’s sculpture Construction (Birds), around 1966, and The Land’s Shadow (1987) by Ian Hamilton Finlay.

Three to seeDigital AgeDigital artHans Ulrich ObristGetty MuseumCoronavirusCoronavirus resources
Share
Subscribe to The Art Newspaper’s digital newsletter for your daily digest of essential news, views and analysis from the international art world delivered directly to your inbox.
Newsletter sign-up
Information
About
Contact
Cookie policy
Data protection
Privacy policy
Frequently Asked Questions
Subscription T&Cs
Terms and conditions
Advertise
Sister Papers
Sponsorship policy
Follow us
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
LinkedIn
© The Art Newspaper