In the past, the Tate Modern’s famous Turbine Hall has housed some of the world’s most daring and interesting pieces. Giant spiders, simulated sunrises, helter-skelters and cracks in the floor to name but a few of the impressive creations provided over the past 10 years. This year the chosen artist is Miroslaw Balka. Balka’s over-sized shipping container has been raised off the ground so that people are able to walk underneath and hear the thundering feet on steel above them. With its pitch black interior, and disproportional similarities to Doctor Who’s famous time-travelling TARDIS, Balka’s ‘How It Is’ has been known to strike fear into the most courageous of hearts. It is not often that the piece on show in the Turbine Hall has felt more impressive than the hall itself, but step inside Balka’s steel container and it is easy to feel intimidated.
Photograph: Sam Drake/Tate
Born in Warsaw in ‘58, Miroslaw Balka is most notably known for his grand artwork, which is very often linked to the holocaust. With his bold use of space, and noticeable warped view on reality, this Polish artist is breaking through screaming his name at the top of his Balkan lungs. While most people choose to leave the place of their birth or childhood in order to ‘start afresh’, Balka did the opposite. He chose to base his home and work life around the village he was born and raised in, to create a place where he can truly be himself and express himself in the way he chooses.
Some may say that Miroslaw Balka’s giant steel container is not art. Others may say that it is art in the highest form, free from any boundaries that other artists my live with. Personally, I call it a big steel box, neither one nor the other. If he wants it to be art, then he shall have his art, I refuse to deny him that. While in most galleries and museums today there are wires and bits of glass preventing you from making any physical contact with the artwork whatsoever, at least with Balka’s box you can step under, around and inside it, engulfed in its darkness and solidarity.
Interpret this space in whatever way you like; as a threat, confusion, perhaps safety- it’s 100% entirely up to you and no one would deny you that, for each person is able to become swallowed by the exhibition in different ways. I spoke to a number of different people about Balka’s ‘How It Is’ exhibition, and no two answers were the same. I had one person telling me that they saw no point to it, and it was just an opportunity for mischief at random points inside the pitch black container. Another person practically spewed out an essay right in front of me, telling me how if I only see one exhibition before I die, it should be this one, purely because it will ‘change your life for the better’ (I can only speculate as to what his life must be like if it is immediately improved by simply walking from one end to the other of an oversized metal box).
There is a certain element of truth in what my friend was saying though. It’s true; it’s not as fun as the helter-skelter’s, nor as chilling as Louise Bourgeois’ giant spider, but it certainly does leave an impression. It’s certainly true that Balka knows how to manipulate his audiences emotions, but in truly unknown ways. For fans of modern art and ‘something that’s a little bit different’, Miroslaw Balka’s ‘How It Is’ is a must see.
‘How It Is’ by Miroslaw Balka is running until the 5th of April 2010, in the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern.
WORDS BY LAUREL EMERSON
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