Simply Madonna

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So I went to the ‘Simply Madonna’ exhibition, recently, at the Old Truman Brewery, on Brick Lane… quite a run down old building… and they’ve painted the interior of the space white, but the building obviously suffers from damp - so you get like water marks down the walls… and it’s just not the most pristine of areas, and you’ve got to walk up some random set of staff entrance stairs to get to the exhibition. Basically the venue just doesn’t match the exhibition content at all.

And so you get there, and they’ve got a display of every album cover that Madonna has ever produced, which is quite interesting and it’s a really good way to see how Madonna has reinvented herself. And this part of the exhibition, I think works really well.

But what you kind of expect to see is the fashions of Madonna, and the garments that she wore… and like they do have some, but most of them seem to be fake. For example, they’ve got the Jean Paul Gaultier ‘Conical Bra’ - but it’s not the real one, it’s just a cheap imitation. And it’s like, everyone knows what that looks like, everyone has seen pictures - it’s a celebrated piece. And as a viewer I find it really offensive that they think they can present this shitty knock-off to me and assume that I won’t be able to tell the difference.

So, you walk into the room and you see everything that’s there in three seconds… this is something that you should be lead around, adding to the tension and excitement, allowing the viewer to take in each piece separately…

And the remainder of the exhibition space includes some ridiculously personal items, including a signed pre-nuptial agreement for her marriage with Sean Penn, album deals, an old credit card and even some personal cheques… it’s as if someone has gone into Madonna’s house… stole half her stuff and the like whacked it in this crappy room and charged you 7.50 to see it!

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