Internship Weekly-Journal 5

Week 5               
                                                                                               
Date: Tuesday 21st & Wednesday 22nd February                                Total Hours: 8

Curator (left) and Jeremy Deller (artist-right)

This week contained more new tasks and adventures. Yesterday Lucy and I went to a press viewing of and exhibition called "The Joy in People" at Hayward Gallery by artist, Jeremy Deller. We've been going to Southbank for plays on our theatre class so I knew the area, but it was my first time in the Hayward Gallery. We signed in, got our press packets, and began exploring the exhibition. For a title with the word "joy" in it, it wasn't the happiest thing I've ever seen. I didn't really understand it at first, but after the curator and artist (who was there!) explained it, I was able to appreciate it more. My favorite piece in the exhibition was the last one, called Exodus, where you put on 3-D glasses and watched film of millions of bats leaving their caves...the whole exhibition was a bit random, but that's what he said during interviews, that he is fascinated with absurdity. We were supposed to write an article about it for the magazine. As a tourist attempting to appeal to other tourists who read the magazine I said that I wouldn't recommend a tourist seeing it without a tour, because of all the British pop culture used. Once we returned and wrote that article we went through a PDF of the latest issue, proofreading it for corrections. 

various pieces in the exhibition

Today was something new, that called for a lot of research. They asked us to find every concert that will be going on in London from March 7-16...that's a lot! But in the words of Beth, "Last time I did this we got most of them in as ads – pages pay wages!" So that's what we did all day, research and more research on hundreds of venues and concert calendars, determining which ones will be held that week. One of the big ones I did was Southbank Centre, which will be having dozens of them that week alone. It got a little tedious after a while, but by this afternoon we'd each compiled an extensive list that will hopefully be helpful. 

I finally had a few cultural experiences this week! Yesterday while at the press viewing as members of the press we were allowed a free cup of tea. I'd never in my life tried hot tea before, I tried my mom's sun tea before and thought it was disgusting. But, I figured I would put myself out there and try something culturally significant. They put milk and sugar in it, and I loved it!! I was pleasantly surprised, I tried to make some for myself today and it turned out terrible, so I guess I will have to keep practicing. In addition to the tea, the exhibition itself was a huge cultural experience, pop culture that is. Deller used posters from bands like Depeche Mode in his art. A few of his pieces also generated from fans of this band. For example, he has a shelf with books that a fan read because they were mentioned in Depeche Mode songs. Even though I didn't totally understand it, it gave me insight into British pop culture. Overall, it was a productive week and I can finally say that I've drank tea in London :)