Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) Review

During the first week of Art Foundation I attended a day trip with my year to the Victoria and Albert museum (V&A). We visited an exhibition called ‘Memory Palace’. I enjoyed the trip immensely, and whilst there I also explored the wondrous hallways full of artwork to find three suggested exhibitions: ‘Illustration Awards’, ‘The Art of Remembering’ and ‘Making it up: Photographic Fictions’.

    I was especially keen on viewing ‘Making it up: Photographic Fictions’ as I am passionate about photography and in particular composition; how the scene is setup. I am especially intrigued by the different natural effects that can be used to trick the audience. I was very impressed by the artwork because of the created particular scenes using natural effects. From this exhibition I learnt that what you see isn't always what's actually there. Photography can employ many simple tricks in the composition to create the image intended. 

I also saw ‘The Art of Remembering’ which I found extremely intriguing because the artists show a history of trying to create a unique and personal memory out of a shared object. For example, the idea of a universal ‘maquette’ of furniture which you would have in your household brings unique memories of what your household furniture looks like. The artists from this exhibition are experimenting with the spectator and provoking their memory.

My highlight of the ‘Illustration Awards’ was the work which combined historic and modern architecture in the illustrations.


Memory Palace

Here is how to remember :
   

    First you must choose a place.

You get to know this place as well as you can.

You walk around it,

impressing every detail on your memory,

until you can tour it in your mind

when you are not there.

Then you place the things you need

to remember around the building,

in the form of pictures.

These pictures must be startling

enough to trigger your imagination.

In this way, when you need to recall something,

you merely go in your imagination to the spot

where you have stored it. 

Memory Palace was an exhibition with a variety of different art forms, including illustration, sculpture and film.
The exhibition evoked the origin of memory and also the past, present and future. There were illustrations of London in sepia canvases with a destroyed and wild city The Limpicks by Nemio Tral
'' I could be anywhere, at any time in history; there have always been places like this.'' Luke Pearson

The exhibition permits us to dig into the unconscious through philosophical concepts which determine ones memory. One of my favourite pieces of this exhibition was an illustration by Luke Pearson  because of the way it was presented in a cubic manner. This particular piece was about domination through power and the importance of ideas.

Fig 2 : Memory Palace, (   ) Luke Pearson
--> ''Ideas are not things. They are what you have instead of things. Instead of the good solid wood of this table, instead of water I know you so desperately crave.'' Luke Pearson