(Above) Michelangelo Pistoletto, Venus of the Rags (1967, 1974), Venere degli stracci. Marble and textile sculpture, purchased with assistance from Tate International Council (2006). © the artist
Festival: USB Openings – The Long Weekend 2009, Tate Modern, London, May 22 – 25 2009
The Arte Povera-inspired fourth year of The Long Weekend, Tate Modern's Bank Holiday arts festival fusing performance, film and music, features installations by Robert Morris, a sphere of newspapers from the hands of Michelangelo Pistoletto, a reprise of Janis Kounellis’s work by cellist Neil Heydde and a spate of Italian screenings, coinciding with the annual rehang of the gallery in a programme expected to attract more than 100,000 through the doors.
The Robert Morris installation at the Tate Gallery in 1971 will be recreated as Body space motion things in 2009 for the UBS Openings: The Long Weekend. © Robert Morris
Morris takes over the Turbine Hall in a reconstruction of the huge interactive sculptures which were banned from the space due to their "unbridled enthusiasm" and "exceptionally exuberant and energetic participation" in 1971, so presumably he'll be aiming for more of the same given that visitors can climb, see-saw and slide around the beams, tunnels, ramps and rollers on offer.
The interactive work by Morris was initially chastened for being "exceptionally exuberant" when it first appeared in 1971
Pistoletto's Newspaper Spheres echo a similar piece made in Turin more than 40 years ago, joining a "globe of newsprint" to be paraded between the Tate's Mezzanine Bridge and the Thames.
© Robert Morris
Kreuzer Quartet member Heydde plays next to a painted extract from the score of Bach’s St John Passion, while elsewhere a tape from avant-garde composer Luigi Nono broadcasts sounds from fish markets and poems about Malcolm X and the Vietnam War and the lawns in front of the building host games, workshops, puppetry and storytelling for children of all ages and families, culminating in a Maypole made of recycled materials.
© Robert Morris
Taking over the lawns in front of Tate Modern, they will offer games, workshops, puppetry and storytelling to children of all ages and their families. The quirky, art-inspired activities will climax in a Maypole made of recycled materials.
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