Susan Hiller at the Tate Britain

24/02/2011

I went to see Susan Hiller's new exhibition on thursday. I'd never come across her work before, but I really enjoyed some of her stuff. I had read about her work 'monument' in the tate magazine before I went. The piece caught my eye instantly because I have often visited the wall of self sacrificers on which it is based- the wall of plaques is in Postman's Park, not far from the Museum of London. I liked the way Hiller had included the bench and the audio in the piece, it made it more of an installation and something the viewer could fully involve themselves in.

Monument 1980-81

The other piece which immediately comes to mind is 'Witness', where hundreds of speakers hang in a dark room flooded with an eiree blue light. Each of the speakers is playing out somebody's recount of an extra terrestrial experience. It is impossible to discern an individual voice without holding your ear up to one single speaker, and even then you find yourself being distracted by a voice a few speakers on. I know you cant see the piece very well in this video, but you can definately hear whats going on.

Apart from these two quite obvious and memorable audio installations, I found Hiller's presentation of her other 2D work interesting aswell. I liked the L shaped frames she has used and the way she hung shredded canvases or bound them into small parcels.

One of the pieces I found quite frustrating was 'From the Freud Museum'. I just couldn't properly connect with it. I didn't really understand what Hiller was trying to communicate and I didn't find the small compact boxes she displayed the objects in that interesting- especially when put next to the sprawling threads from her canvases or her bold prjected films.

I found the exhibition really useful in developing my ideas. Especially 'Monument' which directly links with my explorations into plaques and the spaces used to display them. I still want to start working in a more bold and experimental way with materials. When I look more closely at constructing my temporary message space for crouch end, I want to use netting or woven fabrics that can be easily manipulated.

These are plaques that were lined up on the hand rails on Southwold Pier. I visited Southwold last weekend and I loved the way these personal messages added a bit of personal interest to the pier.