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From: Ben Zanoe Category: Art Date: 18 February 2009 Time: 05:19 PM Review: The name Nicolas Bourriaud has been thwacked across the forehead of most undergraduate visual media arts student's and Grotowskian Clown's as they stagger from the mire of their third year, much as the victims of the dead goose in old Monty Python footage for the last few years hence, they know the name but find enthusiasm for what he actually represents, challenging. The Tate Britain Triennial is a worthy vehicle and the activity that Bourriaud is spurring is quite positive from the point of view that the dialogue and process of collaborative artforms far outweighs any value bestowed upon an individual, working in a void. I read the response to this exhibition by Clem as well as others before going to this exhibition, ideally I would have liked longer to view, when back in the Millbank I'll go - not because I'm fired up with enthusiasm, I want to get the full measure, something does'nt quite stack up. I missed out on the Black Maria film which notionally interested me more than some of the work I saw. I'm trying to make this exhibition fit into the context that it seems to have had bestowed upon it's reputation, this grand announcement that Post Modernism is dead, and yet for many it never really lived as a recognizable genre with peculiar characteristics. Post Modernism could'nt quite melt down into a pop word like Pop, Funky or PC and was never touched by estate agents either, seized enthusiastically by dead head academics in their own little world of research award euphoria. The Altermodern Manifesto lists a semblance of criteria that superimposes itself without overlap onto the corporate justification for depleting one culture in favour of a more dominant culture, globalisation is part of a new emerging modernity apparently, I suppose it rather depends on how modern, Victorian Britain had an incredibly voracious globalisation policy which continues to fund galleries like the Tate, Increased communication is cited, multiculturalism....I can't remember what else. The guy wearing the mirror shades and badger looks like Marcus Brigstock and just the sort of look that Tate Admin in an attempt to be down wid da ....well, was going to say kidz with a zed. That put me off because I remember seeing an article about him, Marcus Coates "shocking" some poor old bat with a shopping trolley. An artist, I think Subod Gupta has made the most terrific mushroom cloud from what would appear to be authentic stainless steel utensils, now that is worth the entrance fee, very smart. I've forgotten the bad stuff, but I think that the big idea in this show is all about Curating, so I find all the manifesto stuff a bit misleading, it's rather like giving any background specialist a frontline role for a change - they want to pronounce themselves invaluable, or overlooked. I liked Charles Avery inky paintings, theres a couple of good installations, my favourite was a foot vibrating room with acrylic plastic boxes and led's, that was good, I felt redundantly postmodern for a while. My second most favourite spectacle was a load of bamboos suspended from a cieling that the viewer ploughs through, it's very speedy and reminded me of the kind of thing that used to happen when drugs were a lot more expensive and difficult to get hold of, so people sold you yellow speed and got away with it making a walk through the woods into something far better than a contemporary playstation. I wanted to see Mike Nelsons installation but it was full, it looked good from outside. Gustav Metzeler and Tacita Dean, though I preferred Gustav Metzers work more than Deans, its at this point that the illusion bursts and you come down hard, it's as if someone said "you can have a manifesto, and you can have an exhibition with a stipend for a year but you must must must show Tacita Deans photographs with little words and arrows and also Gustav Metzelers work". Is Nicolas Bourriaud the Grotowskian Clown that Nicholas Serrotta could never have....?