Phases of the moon
Oct. 14th, 2021 10:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustOn Tuesday, for the first time in a very long time indeed, I took myself down into town. We've been managing fine without Durham's increasingly limited retail opportunities, but I had a little list of errands, and since durham_rambler was busy addressing the planning committee at County Hall, this seemed like a good opportunity.
So I went to the market, and replaced my watch strap and battery (the battery had expired, with perfect timing, a couple of days earlier); while these were being fitted, I checked the bookstall, and although they didn't have any of the books I was particularly looking for, this did mean I could order them elsewhere with a clear conscience (and have done so). I went to the bank, who have locked my bank card, and established that I have definitely and incontrovertibly forgotten my pin, and they will put a new one in the post. I shopped half-heartedly for a condolence card, and didn't find one. And then I went to the cathedral, which seems to have captured a satellite:
This is Luke Jerram's itinerant artwork Museum of the Moon, which I had been looking forward to even beforesteepholm posted about seeing it in Bristol. Her verdict was "It won't keep you enthralled all day, but it makes quite a visual impact!", and I couldn't have put it better myself.
The cathedral wasn't crowded - it's a big space - but there were enough people there that I was feeling quite smug about framing that first picture to exclude all the little figures in the foreground (so untidy!). Now I'm wondering, does it lose something by being removed from that context?
I was surprised, too, how bright the moon looks in the photos. The thing itself is quite drab and grey, and the votive candles were much brighter...
On the other hand, I like how it just seems to hang in the air in this picture:
Finally, the gentleman reading by moonlight in this picture:
is James Britton, headmaster of Durham School, whose former pupils clubbed together to pay for a memorial to him, despite his being buried elsewhere. I'd never noticed that before, and I wonder how it works: who decides whether you are worthy to be commemorated - or indeed buried - in the cathedral?
There is something very appealing about site specific art, art which is made for and in response to a particular place. So Luke Jerram's claim (in the video on the linked page) that his piece was born in Bristol, which has the greatest range of tides in Britain, invited me to think in a different way about the moon I had seen. Which is good. But the deeper the meaning of this piece of art in Bristol, the more ambivalent I become about its mobility: site specific art which is promiscuously specific to any site it can find. how does that work?
Except that it works pretty well, in fact. There is a splendid collection of photos on the Museum of the Moon website and a search of Flickr produces more. No doubt Instagram also has something to offer. The juxtaposition of different locations - a great hall here, a ruined abbey there, a swimming pool (in Rennes, and open to swimmers at the same time, apparently) - is a work of art of its own ...
Once upon a time, when GirlBear was still a civil servant, she visited us bringing with her the office mascot, and the challenge to photograph it in tourist locations, to create selfies we could send back to her office. I'm sure I posted about it at the time, but I can't now track it down. Anyway, it seems to me that Luke Jerram has undertaken a similar project with his moon, only with more artistic credibility. I hope he is enjoying it as mich as we did.
durham_rambler was busy addressing the planning committee at County Hall, this seemed like a good opportunity.So I went to the market, and replaced my watch strap and battery (the battery had expired, with perfect timing, a couple of days earlier); while these were being fitted, I checked the bookstall, and although they didn't have any of the books I was particularly looking for, this did mean I could order them elsewhere with a clear conscience (and have done so). I went to the bank, who have locked my bank card, and established that I have definitely and incontrovertibly forgotten my pin, and they will put a new one in the post. I shopped half-heartedly for a condolence card, and didn't find one. And then I went to the cathedral, which seems to have captured a satellite:
This is Luke Jerram's itinerant artwork Museum of the Moon, which I had been looking forward to even before
steepholm posted about seeing it in Bristol. Her verdict was "It won't keep you enthralled all day, but it makes quite a visual impact!", and I couldn't have put it better myself.The cathedral wasn't crowded - it's a big space - but there were enough people there that I was feeling quite smug about framing that first picture to exclude all the little figures in the foreground (so untidy!). Now I'm wondering, does it lose something by being removed from that context?
I was surprised, too, how bright the moon looks in the photos. The thing itself is quite drab and grey, and the votive candles were much brighter...
On the other hand, I like how it just seems to hang in the air in this picture:
Finally, the gentleman reading by moonlight in this picture:
is James Britton, headmaster of Durham School, whose former pupils clubbed together to pay for a memorial to him, despite his being buried elsewhere. I'd never noticed that before, and I wonder how it works: who decides whether you are worthy to be commemorated - or indeed buried - in the cathedral?
There is something very appealing about site specific art, art which is made for and in response to a particular place. So Luke Jerram's claim (in the video on the linked page) that his piece was born in Bristol, which has the greatest range of tides in Britain, invited me to think in a different way about the moon I had seen. Which is good. But the deeper the meaning of this piece of art in Bristol, the more ambivalent I become about its mobility: site specific art which is promiscuously specific to any site it can find. how does that work?
Except that it works pretty well, in fact. There is a splendid collection of photos on the Museum of the Moon website and a search of Flickr produces more. No doubt Instagram also has something to offer. The juxtaposition of different locations - a great hall here, a ruined abbey there, a swimming pool (in Rennes, and open to swimmers at the same time, apparently) - is a work of art of its own ...
Once upon a time, when GirlBear was still a civil servant, she visited us bringing with her the office mascot, and the challenge to photograph it in tourist locations, to create selfies we could send back to her office. I'm sure I posted about it at the time, but I can't now track it down. Anyway, it seems to me that Luke Jerram has undertaken a similar project with his moon, only with more artistic credibility. I hope he is enjoying it as mich as we did.
