To follow on from my last post, here is my interpretation of the last post about the curator, the artist and the block of ice. In case you don't know I am the curator - well the worship co-ordinator - and Martin Poole was the artist. Martin has offered his reflections on it here. Here are my random thoughts on it.
Firstly, for the artist it was a far longer process and conceptually the process and art work always had an end point. The arrival of the piece at GB was the start of the end, and the end of a relationship that had involved experimentation, trials and visits, the destruction of the piece sped up the end of the process. For the curator the process was minimal, it simply involved supporting the artist in their journey, and therefore the experience of the piece of art was more short lived and perhaps there was not the length of time to build a relationship with the piece. There was not enough time to celebrate it before saying goodbye to it...
Secondly, the destruction of the piece reminded me of the book 'Lord of the Flies'. The ice block could have been Piggy. There was something very animal about it, very debased, and strangely very human. Reminding me of our brokenness. Perhaps, I should not have been surprised at the response, but I was.
Thirdly, the relationship that we have with beauty is complex. Can we cope with beauty? Or is there always a desire to destroy? Always pick the last flower, always destroy the last rhino, not being able to stop our actions before the ice-cap is melted...
