Archive for May, 2008

I have long been of the opinion that Modern Art was trash.
It amused me no end that people would pay millions of dollars for a bunch of scribbles and paint splashes, scribbles that are usually found on a pristine white wall with a guilty looking crayon-wielding three year old standing beside them. I mean, do they think we’re all idiots? Is this a constant reenactment of ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’?

Apparently not. About 2 years ago I was dragged on a trip to the Tate Modern gallery in London, by a friend who was far less artistically challenged than me. We entered an exhibit called ‘Open Systems: Rethinking Art’ where many types of exhibits where shown, in all manner of mediums.

I stopped in confusion in front of a pair of red plastic boxes mounted on the wall. On each there was a single word, and when an internal light turned on, the word would light up. When one box was lit, the other was dark. One box had PING on it, and the other, you guessed it, PONG. As the boxes switched on and off alternatively, the viewer’s eyes flicked right and left, PING, PONG, PING, PONG, back and forth. And a slow smile formed on my face as I realized that the artist had cleverly re-created the movements of an audience watching a ping pong match (table tennis to all those who aren’t British), using 2 red boxes and some imagination. Was it art? Maybe. Was it clever? Without a doubt.

It hit me then, maybe that was it, maybe Modern Art was not about painting talent and masterpieces like the Mona Lisa, maybe Modern Art was about IDEAS.
Making you stop. Making you think. Making you remember the artist’s name.

This is what good PR should do as well. Every day you are inundated with information, and drowned by images and data. Only once in a while, you see something that makes you…

…stop. And look again.

This is our business, and we treat it like an art.