Tate is known as an institution that contains art galleries. It was founded in 1897 and was known as the National Gallery of British Art. In 1939, it was renamed as Tate Gallery and was added to it both the national collection of modern art and the national collection of British art. It includes four galleries which are: Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, Tate St Ives, and Tate Modern.
Tate Modern, established in 2000, is one of the biggest and most well-known museums of modern and contemporary art in the world, containing various collection displays, but out of all of them, the Materials and Objects collection was the most effective in anyone’s mind.
The Material and Objects display is about introducing the most innovative and creative ways in using various materials by not only the domestic artists but also internationally. Throughout the last hundred years, certain materials such as small ruined dolls were thought it’s impossible to use, however, the challenge between the artists raised and they made it. Some used craft skills, others industrial materials.
Out of all the fascinating objects in the display, three objects will be highlighted. The first one is Untitled (Little shoe) 1968 by Marisa Merz.
Marisa Merz, an Italian artist born in 1931, she was one of the Arte Povera artists in 1967. Arte Povera was a group of Italian artists who used poor materials such as wood and rocks rather than traditional art methods.
The little shoe is made from Nylon and Paraffin and I think it was made using crochet needles and then coated with wax. Using those kinds of materials definitely make a statement which I believe art doesn’t have also be done with fancy materials to convey feelings, messages and be interesting, by highlighting that, it clarified how that movement evoked modernization effects, that pushed into the future stirring away from locality and memory.
The other piece is Untitled. 1987 by Doris Salcedo.
Doris Salcedo was born in 1958 in Colombia. She is often created everyday objects such as furniture, however, she reflected in her other arts displacement and violence caused by discrimination, poverty, colonialism, and war, and that piece was one of them.
The 1987 untitled is made from steel cot, steel shelving, rubber, 10 plastic dolls, and pig intestine. It was made by welding the black steel shelving unit together with the hospital bed frame, then the surface has been treated with acid, and the armatures were covered with wax. Lastly, Ten tiny dolls are attached to the joints with wax and pig intestine.
Using part of hospital furniture in this work is absolutely a statement movement by Doris, with that, she highlighted not only the long-running conflicts and cycles of violence and war but also the tragic cycle of life and death, since at that time Medellin – where she made her sculptures for XXXI National Salon of Colombian artists – was facing constant threat and economic hardship which led to taking up work as drug runners, which we conclude with that, art can convey not only feelings and thoughts but also people voices.
The last piece is From Surface to Surface 1971 by Susumu Koshimizu.
Susumu Koshimizu was born in 1944 in Japan. Koshimizu was known to be a part of the School of Things, which in Japanese called Mono Ha. A school was created to face the rise of technology in mid-1960s Japanese art. Their motto was understanding how to engage deeply with the properties of the material and also understanding industrial and organic processes and objects.
From Surface to Surface work was made in 1971 and then remade in 1986. All the panels are made of wood with dimensions of ( 3000 × 8100 × 100 ) mm. By sawing the wooden pieces into repetitive geometric shapes and cuts, Koshimizu intended to investigate and analyze the substance of wood to show its surface qualities.
Art is all about experience and understanding the origin of materials, what does it includes and also what it reflects, by engaging deeply with that, any form of art can be created besides conveying any thought or message, and that what was Tate Modern Materials and Objects Display is all about.