British Art Show 7 teachers pack

Teachers pack /Plymouth
British Art Show 7
TEACHERS PACK
Page 2
Contents
About British Art Show 7 PAge 3 What is PVAC? PAge 4
Introduction to the exhibition PAge 5
List of artists PAge 6
Examples of artists work PAge 7
Further resources PAge 13
Ideas for activities back at school PAge 21
What can we do for you? PAge 27
How to book a visitPAge 27
British Art Show 7
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About British Art Show 7
British Art Show 7 is widely recognised
as the most ambitious and influential
exhibition of contemporary British art.
Organised by Hayward Touring, it takes place every five years and tours to
four different cities across the UK. Now in its seventh incarnation, British
Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet opened in Nottingham and toured for
the first time in 20 years to the Hayward Gallery, followed by Glasgow and
now Plymouth. It is curated by Lisa Le Feuvre and Tom Morton.
The 39 selected artists have been chosen on the grounds of their
significant contribution to contemporary art in the last five years. All
artworks included have been produced since 2005 and encompass
sculpture, painting, installation, drawing, photography, film, video and
performance. British Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet marks a change
in direction from previous years, moving away from the model of a survey
show to an exhibition with a marked curatorial focus.
“The British Art Show has always
been at the forefront of
innovation, and this incarnation
is no exception”
Ralph Rugoff
Director of the Hayward Gallery
British Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet employs the motif of the
comet to explore and draw together a set of concerns that thread their
way through the practices of the selected artists. Here the comet alludes
to the measuring of time, to historical recurrence, and to parallel worlds.
Comets are also commonly understood as harbingers of change, and
fittingly the exhibition will evolve as it moves from city to city, revealing
new works at different venues and creating a unique exhibition in each
host city.
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What is PVAC?
Plymouth Visual Arts Consortium (PVAC)
is an association of individuals and
organisations brought together by
a shared vision for the visual arts
in Plymouth.
It was formed with the objective of supporting development across the
city, generating increased resources and improved infrastructure, and to
promote visual arts activities. PVAC provides a platform for information
exchange, acts as a public interface, and works in collaboration with
other cultural, business and governmental organisations.
PVAC aims to:
— consolidate and encourage the development of visual arts across
the city
— support and raise aspirations for artists and audiences
— lobby and promote visual arts in the city, locally, nationally and
internationally
— provide a public interface and information portal on visual arts
activities
— foster collaborations on major initiatives across the city
— contribute to other networks, research, and development of visual
arts practice
— PVAC works in collaboration with other cultural, business and
governmental organisations currently including Arts Council England
South West and Plymouth City Council.
— PVAC Partners:
Platform P
i-DAT Centre of Expertise, Plymouth University
KURATOR, Plymouth University
Plymouth Arts Centre
Plymouth College of Art & Design
Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery
Peninsula Arts Gallery, Plymouth University
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Introduction to the exhibition
This resource has been written
to complement the exhibition
British Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet
(17 September to 4 December 2011).
The main exhibition is spread across five different venues in the city –
Peninsula Arts, Plymouth University, Plymouth Arts Centre; Plymouth
City Museum and Art Gallery; Plymouth College of Art and the
Slaughterhouse, Royal William Yard.
The aim of this resource is to provide a way to look at, learn from,
and engage with, the various works on display across the city, and we
encourage every school to visit. Elements of this document can support
your visit to the exhibition, and can also be adapted for use in the
classroom following a visit.
Each venue is available for your school to visit, including opportunities
at some venues to have visits supported by a member of staff. Please
refer to the ‘How to book a visit’ section on page 27 of this document for
more information.
There are five key themes which the
curators have considered will support
the understanding of the works in the
exhibition:
PAST AND PRESENT
How can the past help us understand the present? Can we imagine time
as anything other than a line? What role might memory play in this? PARALLEL REALITIES
Can we imagine worlds different from our own? How might this help us
to understand our own world?
THE ORDER OF THINGS
How are the elements that make up our world categorised? How
is knowledge structured? Who decides these things? What are the
alternatives?
SIGNS OF CHANGE
What makes the present the present? Can we point to things that make
now now? How was the future imagined in the past?
ORBITS
What does it mean for artists to reference the art of the past? What
does it mean when an ‘old’ idea resurfaces?
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Introduction
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List of artists
Peninsula Arts Gallery,
Plymouth University
Varda Caivano
Luke Fowler
Michael Fullerton
David Noonan
Gail Pickering
Edgar Schmitz
Wolfgang Tillmans
Plymouth Arts Centre
Alasdair Gray
Anja Kirschner & David Panos
Mick Peter
Edgar Schmitz
Sue Tompkins
Plymouth City Museum
and Art Gallery
Charles Avery
Becky Beasley
Karla Black
Spartacus Chetwynd
Milena Dragicevic
Ian Kiaer
Sarah Lucas
Simon Martin
Olivia Plender
Elizabeth Price
Edgar Schmitz
Maaike Schoorel
George Shaw
Phoebe Unwin
Emily Wardill
Plymouth College of Art
Juliette Blightman
Brian Griffiths
Edgar Schmitz
The Slaughterhouse, Royal
William Yard
Karla Black
Duncan Campbell
Steven Claydon
Cullinan Richards
Matthew Darbyshire
Roger Hiorns
Christian Marclay
Nathaniel Mellors
Haroon Mirza
The Otolith Group
Mick Peter
Karin Ruggaber
Edgar Schmitz
Tris Vonna-Michell
Keith Wilson
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Examples of artists work
The works from the 39 selected artists for
British Art Show 7 have been split between
five venues across Plymouth. Many of the
artists work could comfortably straddle
the five underlying themes, and here we
have selected a few to discuss.
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examples
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PAST AND PRESENT
How can the past help us understand the
present? Can we imagine time as anything
other than a line? What role might memory
play in this?
Christian Marclay’s film The Clock combines
thousands of found film clips, each of them featuring
clocks, watches or characters reacting to a particular
time of the day. The clips are arranged to echo what
typically happens during the 24hrs of a day, for
instance a clip of an alarm sounding at 7.30am will be
followed by a one of another clock showing 7.31am,
which is synchronised with the watch on your wrist.
This is where the connection with our understanding
of linear time (second follows second, minute follows
minute etc) ends. Fragments of story from different
films are quickly replaced with other fragments,
meaning a narrative can never be created by the
viewer.
Activity
“Time isn’t holding us, time
doesn’t hold you back”
Once in a Lifetime, Talking Heads
Why not get involved with the British Art Show 7
schools video project?
We’re hoping each school will take on one hour of the
clock and be tasked to produce a Christian Marclay
style video collage. This could be completed as a
class project, in which the pupils create individual
films, with the whole class editing them together. Why
not create your own footage or animations as part of
the film?
For more information on this project, please contact
PVAC http://www.pvac.org.uk/
Christian Marclay
The Clock 2010
Single Channel Video, 24 Hours
Courtesy White Cube
On Display: The Slaughterhouse, Royal
William Yard
Please note
At certain parts of the day there are scenes
that may not be suitable for young children.
Please contact us for advice on when to
view this work.
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examples
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PARALLEL REALITIES
Can we imagine worlds different from our
own? How might this help us to understand
our own world?
Charles Avery has been exploring the idea of an
‘imaginary island’ in his work since 2004. Avery’s
own island-world unfolds through a series of
drawings, texts and objects that offer an insight into
this parallel reality. An explorer arrives on what he
believes to be an undiscovered island, only to find his
illusion shattered when he arrives at the port town
of Onomatopoeia. This place is densely populated
and governed by a similar system to our own world,
including a thriving underworld. The flora and fauna of
the island is different to the world we know – beasts
such as Alephs, Avatars and One-Armed Snakes all
inhabit this place.
Charles Avery
Untitled (Miss Miss finally gives in by a
tree where Aeaen sought to bamboozle the
One-Armed Snake by Attaching himself
to the tree to make himself a larger thing)
2010, mixed media sculpture,
Installation shot at the Hayward Gallery,
London, 2011
Courtesy of Pilar Corrias Gallery
On Display: Plymouth City Museum and
Art Gallery
Activity
“To man is an island, no man
stands alone”
No Man is an Island, Joan Baez
Why not create a sculpture in your classroom? Using
the idea of a parallel universe on Avery’s island as
inspiration, your pupils can create an imaginary world
of their own. A really useful starting point would be to
look at the example of species adaptation by Charles
Darwin. Another example is that of ‘parallel evolution’,
where distinct animals have evolved similar traits,
despite being isolated from one another – an example
being spiny creatures such as porcupines being
distinct from hedgehogs, and from echidnas.
Would a snake benefit from having one arm?
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examples
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THE ORDER OF THINGS
How are the elements that make up our world
categorised? How is knowledge structured?
Who decides these things? What are the
alternatives?
Becky Beasley’s seven reproductions of a piece
of iron pyrite – otherwise known as Fool’s Gold hang side by side, showing the pyrite from different
angles. These prints are framed behind yellow plastic.
Each is titled with a different quote from Korrektur
(Correction), a 1975 book by Thomas Bernard. The
book refers to a fictional character called Roithamer,
a scientist who dedicated his life to the creation of
‘the Cone’, a ‘mathematically precise structure’.
Beasley ”began to think of buildings as a kind of
potential still life object” after seeing temporary
structures being built and dismantled in Athens for
the 2004 Olympic Games. This combined with the
references to a ‘mathematically precise structure’;
offer a monumentality to the small scale of the
iron pyrite.
Becky Beasley
KORREKTUR (North Northwesterly) (And
where, I asked myself, did Holler get the
idea for this house of his, because I am
fully aware that I got my idea, to build
the Cone for my sister, from Holler and
his house at the Aurach gorge. – Thomas
Bernhard) 2010
7 black and white inkjet prints on Hahnemühle photo rag 310 gsm paper using
archival inks, pale yellow acrylic glass,
Installation shot at Nottingham Castle
Museum and Art Gallery, 2010
Courtesy Laura Bartlett Gallery, London
On Display: Plymouth City
Museum and Art Gallery
Activity
“Then the site was found, we
laid the foundations down”
Monument, Depeche Mode
Ask your pupils to choose a small object from their
own belongings. Photograph these objects from a
number of angles, and print large versions of these
objects. If you don’t have access to a camera, ask your
pupils to draw the object from a number of angles
onto separate sheets of paper – as large as possible.
Can your pupils read other meanings into the object,
once they are reproduced at a larger scale? Does a
pencil sharpener suddenly become an office block
when enlarged?
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examples
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SIGNS OF CHANGE
What makes the present the present? Can we
point to things that make now now? How was
the future imagined in the past?
Wolfgang Tillmans’ nine tables that make up
the Truth Study Centre, display a number of items
collected by the artist during 2010. Predominantly
a photographer, Tillmans has made images using
a camera, but also makes photographs without a
camera, such as Freischswimmer 155 on display
nearby. In Truth Study Centre, Tillmans uses found
photography from sources such as newspapers and
magazines, postage stamps, shopping catalogues,
and also his own photography, to create an
observation on the surrounding world – ‘pausing’
the present, and ultimately questioning structures
of visual understanding. These found materials are
updated when each incarnation of the Truth Study
Centre is shown, meaning the work is in a constant
state of flux.
Wolfgang TilLmans
Truth Study Centre (BAS)
2010
Wood, glass, mixed media,
Installation shot at Nottingham
Contemporary, 2010
Courtesy the artist and Maureen
Paley, London
On Display: Peninsula Arts,
Plymouth University
Activity
“When the information comes, we’ll
know what we’re made from”
The Information, Beck
Choose a theme for your class, and ask them to collate as
much information from different sources as possible –
newspapers, magazines, the internet etc. This information
can be collated onto a board in your school for others
to see – perhaps create a ‘comments’ area for other
students to leave their own personal response to the
pupils work.
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examples
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ORBITS
What does it mean for artists to reference
the art of the past? What does it mean when
an ‘old’ idea resurfaces?
Sarah Lucas’ NUDS bring to mind art from the past,
despite the unusual materials used to create the
work. Whereas sculptors from the past such as Henry
Moore or Barbara Hepworth may have used marble
or wood, Lucas uses items more commonly found
in a domestic setting – tights, fluff, breeze blocks.
Where Moore and Hepworth may have represented
or abstracted from the human figure, Lucas creates
undulating, ambiguous sculptures that seem to
reference these forms, but also are distanced from
them. Similarly, the reference to ‘cycladic’ seems to
relate to the Cycladic figurines of ancient Cyprus,
though again the link is not immediately obvious,
as Cycladic figures usually depict a figure with
crossed arms.
Sarah Lucas
NUD CYCLADIC 3
2010
Tights, fluff, wire
Courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London
On Display: Plymouth City Museum
and Art Gallery
Activity
“ When If you ever get close to a
human, and human behaviour, be
ready, be ready to get confused”
Human Behaviour, Bjork
Using found materials, create your own ambiguous
human sculptures. Any tights could be used, so put a
call out to parents to save any laddered tights for this
activity. You may also be able to get tights from places
like the Scrapstore, Union Street Plymouth. Similarly,
old pillows and cushion material could be used to
stuff the sculptures, or any foam that you may be able
to get hold of. Again, the Scrapstore may be able to
help with this.
Ask your pupils to ‘not’ make their sculptures look
like an actual body – tie the tights up into tight knots,
let them unfold themselves, start again. If you have
access to a plinth, or something that could be used as
a plinth (Lucas uses breeze blocks, but you may have
some gym equipment in school, or old tables), place
the sculptures on top and photograph them.
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Further resources
This section will look at some objects in
the collection of Plymouth City Museum and
Art Gallery that relate to the key themes
of the exhibition.
Please note
some of these items may not be on
display at the same time as British
Art Show 7.
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Resources
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PAST AND PRESENT
Many of the astronomical terms used in
science today can have their origins traced
back to Ancient Greece. The development
of astronomy by Greek and Hellenistic
astronomers is considered by historians to be
a major phase in the history of astronomy.
A krator is an ancient Greek container used for mixing wine with water
for use at a symposium - a forum for men to debate, and drink wine.
Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of wine, is depicted on the side of this
krator. The constellation Aries is linked to Dionysus. As he was leading
a campaign in Egypt, Dionysus’ troops were travelling through a sandy
desert. They ran out of water and struggled to pass through the dry,
difficult terrain of the desert. A ram appeared before them, rose up
into the air, and landed behind a dune. When scouts sent by Dionysus
reached the point where the ram landed, they found no animal there,
only a spring of water. Dionysus ordered the building of a temple to Zeus
where the spring rose from the sand. They linked this temple with the
Egyptian god Amon Ra, so the temple of Zeus Amon was built to house
a likeness of the ram in the form of a statue, and a likeness was also
placed in the heavens in the form of the constellation Aries.
Krator
300–325 BC, South Italy
Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery,
1918.158
© Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery
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Eros, the ancient Greek god of love and beauty, is typically depicted as
a beardless youth with wings. The constellation Pisces is linked to Eros.
According to one Greek myth, Pisces represents the fish into which Aphrodite
and Eros transformed in order to escape from the fire god Typhon. The two fish
are joined at the tale with a cord so they don’t lose each other.
Typhon was also responsible for killing Dionysus, after the god of wine had
been given the throne by Zeus. Typhon led the Titans, who wanted to kill
Dionysus and take the throne for themselves. Zeus, enraged by these actions,
killed the Titans and eventually defeated Typhon and trapped him beneath
Mount Etna.
You may be able to spot another representation of Eros Riding a Dolphin
above the gates of the Royal Marine Barracks, Durnford Street, Stonehouse,
on your way to the Slaughterhouse.
Eros Riding a Dolphin
300-250 BC, Cyprus
Plymouth City Museum and Art
Gallery, 242.20.44
© Plymouth City Museum and
Art Gallery
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PARALLEL REALITIES
Can we imagine worlds different to our
own? Explorers in the past must have
asked themselves this question many times
throughout history.
By tradition, this magnificent cup was given to Sir Francis Drake by
Queen Elizabeth I in 1579, upon his return from circumnavigating the
globe in the Golden Hind. The Drake Cup was presented by the Chairman
of the Art Fund to the Mayor of Plymouth in 1942, in recognition of the
courage and fortitude shown by the citizens of the city during the airraids of WW2.
It depicts the terrestrial globe, engraved with a map of the world; the
land is in gilt, the seas in silver, and the place names engraved in Latin.
The cover is topped by a vase on which there is an armillary sphere –
a model of objects in the sky.
Drake became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe.
Cartography, or map making, was obviously very important to early
explorers, as the accurate documentation of newly discovered places
was often the most important reason why explorers were able to secure
funding for their travels. Equally important was the ability to navigate
using stars, hence the inclusion of both a terrestrial globe and armillary
sphere on the cup.
The Drake Cup
c. 1571
Abraham Gessner (1552 – 1613)
© Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery:
Buckland Abbey Collection
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Captain Cook and his crew on HMS Resolution certainly had to imagine
worlds different from their own when setting off from Plymouth in 1772.
The purpose of the expedition was to answer a very important question
– was a there an unknown continent known as Terra Australis in the
Southern Hemisphere? On an earlier voyage aboard HMS Endeavour,
Cook had mapped most of the Eastern coast of Australia, which showed
it as being continental in scale. Despite this, Cook and his crew were sent
to search for Terra Australis once more.
Cook was the first to record direct observation of indigenous Australians,
at a place he was to name Botany Bay. He also discovered and named
many places, including the small island of South Georgia, and the South
Sandwich Islands.
A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean
From the book ‘A Voyage to the Pacific
Ocean … ‘ by Captain James Cook
(1728 – 1779)
London: 1784.
3 vols., 69 plates, 16 maps, 1 tab. (vol. 3).
29cm.
CB528
© Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery:
Cottonian Collection
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The order of things
How are the elements that make up our world
categorised? Many scientific classification
systems have been developed over the years,
though the ‘Periodic table of elements’ is
perhaps the most well known.
Iron pyrite, or Fool’s Gold, is an iron sulphite with the formula FeS2. Pyrite
is the most common of the sulfide minerals. The name pyrite is derived
from the Greek ‘purités’, “of fire” or “in fire”, from ‘pur’, “fire”. In ancient
Rome, this name was applied to several types of stone that would create
sparks when struck against steel. Pliny the Elder described one of them
as being brassy, almost certainly a reference to what we now call pyrite.
The layout of the periodic table demonstrates recurring (“periodic”)
chemical properties. Elements are listed in order of increasing atomic
number (i.e., the number of protons in the atomic nucleus). As of 2010,
the table contains 118 chemical elements whose discoveries have
been confirmed. Ninety-four are found naturally on Earth, and the rest
are synthetic elements that have been produced artificially in particle
accelerators. Some elements listed on earlier versions of the table were
still undiscovered when added, though they have since been discovered
and given another name.
Iron Pyrite
© Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery
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SIGNS OF CHANGE
How was the future imagined in the past?
Artists, authors, poets and many others
have all asked this question over the years
within their various forms of expression.
Visions of the future, science fiction, and thinking beyond our present
location are not contemporary ideas. The book by Godwin is notable for
the role it played in what was called the “new astronomy”, the branch
of astronomy influenced especially by Copernicus. It begins with a
prologue, with the main character Gonsales explaining how a voyage to
the moon is no more fantastic an idea than a voyage to the Americas
would have been a few years earlier. Godwin proposes that the earth is
magnetic, and that only an initial push is needed to escape its magnetic
field. The energy needed for this ‘push’ comes from the gansas, a
specially bred swan with one webbed foot and one talon. Each year these
birds migrate to the moon, and so in the illustration we see Gonsales’
flying machine powered by birds.
One way of demonstrating what makes the present ‘present’ is to look
at the technology of the day. Technological advances over time - the
creation of tools, pottery, transportation, buildings, electronics etc –
are a kind of diary entry for human development. This book has been
described as one of the first works of science fiction, but it was written
at a time when fiction and non-fiction’s boundaries blurred, so Godwin
was being read alongside Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler as pioneering
works in the field of astronomy.
The Man in the Moon
(L’Homme Dans La Lune)
Illustration from the book The Man in the
Moone: or a discovrse of a Voyage thither by
Domingo Gonsales The speedy Messenger,
by Francis Godwin
London: 1638.
CB650
© Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery:
Cottonian Collection
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ORBITS
What does it mean for artists to reference
the art of the past? Most artists will
consciously or unconsciously make
reference to work that has gone before
them, or at least have taken influence
from other artists during their career.
Carving stone is one of the oldest techniques in art. The technique is
essentially destructive – the artist removes stone from a larger block until
they are happy with the form. The earliest stone carved objects we can
consider works of art are probably around 30,000 years old, such as the ‘Venus
of Galgunberg’. Most ancient cultures can also boast examples of carved stone
sculptures, large or small, marble or other stone.
Marble from Carrara, Italy is considered to be one of the finest materials to
carve. The Pantheon and Trajan’s Column in Rome are made from the material,
as are Marble Arch in London and the famous sculpture David by Michelangelo.
Hepworth wouldn’t have chosen this material without considering her
sculpture in advance. She had already made sculptures from a number of
different stones, woods, and metals, and so would have specifically chosen to
purchase the marble for this work.
The reference to sculpture from the past is also not an accident. Hepworth’s
sculptures often carry Greek and Roman mythological titles, and also biblical
references in common with ancient sculpture and the finest renaissance
sculptors work. Hepworth’s approach to these themes is different – gone
are the representational sculptures of figures and scenes, replaced with
abstracted figure-forms, geometry, and pierced holes.
Dame Barbara Hepworth
Constellation
1973
Carrara Marble
Plymg: 1973.7
© Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery
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Ideas for activities at school
All the activities in this section can
be adapted for use in either Primary
or Secondary settings.
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Activities at school
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What’s that smell?
As well as being the subtitle for this
exhibition, In the Days of the Comet is also
the title of a 1906 science fiction novel
by H.G. Wells.
In the novel there are recurring references to the presence of a large
comet in the sky seen at night, which gives off a green glow that is
brighter than the street lights. As well as a few nasty things happening
within the book that we won’t go into here, the comet eventually enters
Earth’s atmosphere. As it does, it releases a mysterious green fog that
quickly envelopes people around the world, sending everyone to sleep.
When the people awake from this sleep three hours later, their opinions
on a great many things have changed – wars are ended, borders between
countries are relaxed, people are not so concerned about job titles
or social differences. This becomes known in the book as the ‘Great
Change’.
Imagine a ‘Great Change’ happening in your school. Ask your pupils which
areas of their school life might be affected if this was to happen. How
would Year 7 pupils and Year 13 pupils interact? Who would be in charge
of the school? Who would be responsible for educating people in the
future? How would they decide these things?
Plymouth Constellation
This activity is designed for your class
to create their own constellation.
What you will need:
— Map of Plymouth (showing the whole city)
— Tracing paper or sheets of clear acetate
— Felt pens
— Ruler
— Internet connection, or printed examples of constellation diagrams
Firstly, have a good look at the map, and work out some areas of the
city that are really important to you. Think of things like, the location of
your school, which swimming pool you go to, where your house, and your
friends’ houses are, and where you have seen the art work on display for
British Art Show 7.
Now lay the tracing paper or acetate over the top of the map. Mark the
important places on the paper with a felt pen. Draw a small circle for
each important place.
Take the map away from the paper. Using your ruler, join up the circles to
create an interesting new constellation for Plymouth. Using examples on
the internet, or printed versions of constellation diagrams, you might be
able to spot an abstract image within your picture.
Now give this new constellation a name!
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Activities at school
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12 Labours, 3 Chandeliers and a Tapestry
Thinking again about Greek mythology and
constellations — why not take a visit to
Plymouth’s Guildhall on your way between
exhibition venues?
Please call 01752 307764 to enquire about group visits to the Guildhall.
On the ceiling of Plymouth’s magnificent Guildhall, surrounded by
mahogany panelling, maple flooring, glorious chandeliers, and a huge
tapestry once owned by Napoleon III, you will find carvings depicting the
‘12 Labours of Hercules’. The carvings were made by a Plymouth sculptor
called David Weekes.
The 12 Labours consist of a series of near impossible tasks designed to
test the abilities of the Greek hero:
1 Slay the Nemean lion
2 Slay the 9-headed Lernaean Hydra
3 Capture the Golden Hind of Artemis
4 Capture the Erymanthian Boar
5 Clean the Augean stables in a single day
6 Slay the Stymphalian Birds
7 Capture the Cretan Bull
8 Steal the Mares of Diomedes
9 Obtain the Girdle of the Amazon Queen
10 Obtain the Cattle of the Monster Geryon
11 Steal the Apples of the Hesperides
12 Capture and bring back Cerberus
The prize offered to Hercules for achieving these tasks was the gift of
immortality from Zeus – certainly a better prize than those on offer from
a certain Mr Cowell’s X-Factor today!
The constellation named after this hero is the fifth largest constellation
recognised today. It depicts Hercules as a kneeling warrior with a club or
sword raised above his head.
What ‘12 Labours’ can you think of for a modern day Hercules to
complete in order to gain immortality? Make a list and share it with
the class.
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Activities at school
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Another World, Another Planet
Time for imaginations to run riot in
the classroom!
Imagine a new planet has recently been discovered very near to Earth,
and the inhabitants of this planet have been invited over for a cup of tea
to welcome them to our solar system.
What questions can we ask these beings from another planet, in order
to find things out about the kind of place where they live?
— Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, do they have tea on
their planet?
— What kind of environment do they live in?
— Is it warmer or colder on their planet?
— What do they make of British Art Show 7?
— Are there similar exhibitions on their planet?
Super Sundials
This is an outdoor activity. You will need
to find a place in the school grounds that
gets the sun all day.
All you need for this activity is a wooden or metal post that can be driven
into a grassy area, or left on the playground without falling over.
Sundials are used to tell the time using the sun. A sundial works by
casting a shadow in different positions at different times of the day.
Mark on the ground where the shadow falls at each hour during the
school day, either with pieces of string and pegs or with chalk on the
playground.
Your children will notice that the shadow changes length during the day,
and will also change length at different times during the year. Make a
graph on a board in the classroom to record the lengths during the day.
Why do they think the shadows change in length?
If you’re visiting the venues for British Art Show 7, why not walk past the
large sundial in the city centre on your way to or from the Royal William
Yard? This sundial has large time markers mounted on stone boxes. Why
would a sundial have been placed in the middle of a city?
British Art Show 7
TEACHERS PACK
Activities at school
Page 25
Calendar Conundrum
Compare the Gregorian calendar with
other calendars from around the world,
such as the Chinese, Hindu, Islamic, Iranian,
or Bahá’í calendars.
The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used of all calendar systems,
and is the calendar we use in the U.K. Most calendars are linked in some
way to religion. Depending on where you are and what you believe in, the
years, months and days on each of the calendars from around the world
will differ from the Gregorian calendar in some way. In Plymouth, it is
currently Friday 20th August 2010. If I was using the Iranian calendar, the
year would be 1389. A similar thing would happen if I were using any of
the other calendars.
All calendars are a form of measuring time – organising days for social,
religious, commercial or administrative purposes. What limitations are
there on the use of calendars as a system for measuring time? Think of
British Summer Time and its relation to the Gregorian calendar, and also
our need for leap years.
What other theories are there on the nature of time? Investigate
‘eternalism’ and compare it with the Buddhist ‘Dharmadhatu’. If
you’re feeling really brave, have a look into ‘string theory’ and the
theoretical physics of other dimensions. How would our current ways of
systematically measuring time have to change if these theories were to
become widely accepted?
Back to the Future
Not just a great film from 1985 starring
Michael J Fox…
Time travel has long been one of the greatest prizes in the world of
modern science. As far as we know, it has not been achieved on anything
larger than photons in a laboratory.
In the field of theoretical physics however, scientists have been able to
propose their theories on how time travel to the past might be possible,
which has lead to a number of ethical debates. The main theories are;
being able to travel faster than the speed of light, using cosmic strings
and black holes, and using wormholes.
Travel to the future is even more difficult for scientists to theorise,
though many believe travelling faster than the speed of light in a
different manner could lead towards it being theoretically possible.
Ask your class to get into groups of three and solve the mystery of time
travel. Only joking!
Your class can split into two groups and have a debate on the ethics of
time travel. What would you do if you met your own grandfather in the
past? How could this affect the future? What would happen if you met
yourself in the future? Would this even be possible?
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Activities at school
Page 26
Trip to the Moon
Using the illustration from Francis
Godwin’s 1638 book ‘The Man in the Moone’
as inspiration, why not design your own
flying machine?
Your machine must include enough space within it to hold at least two
astronauts, and important scientific equipment for experiments on the
moon’s surface – but the rest is up to you.
Why not try to design eco-friendly machines? How about a rocket
powered by solar power?
You’ll need to draw a plan view, three-quarter view (isometric), and
cross section of your machines for it to be taken seriously by NASA – as
all professional 3D designers would need to as well. You can either do
this with pencils, paper and tracing paper, or if you have access to a
computer program such as Google SketchUp (free for home use), why
not try a Computer Aided Design version? If you’re very good with this
program you should be able to import a photograph of your school, and
‘park’ your machines outside!
If you undertake this activity, we’d love to see your designs.
Please email them to [email protected].
British Art Show 7
TEACHERS PACK
Page 27
What can we do for you?
We are able to offer schools various
options when visiting the exhibition.
Visits can be arranged for anywhere between one class to an entire
school. In many cases, a member of staff can be present from the venues
to facilitate your visit.
You can arrange a visit to one of the five venues, a combination of two or
three venues, or all five venues in one day. Why not consider a British Art
Show 7 week at school – art, science and history combined with visits to
the various venues?
The exhibition provides a perfect opportunity for your pupils to
experience contemporary art first hand – drawing in sketchbooks, fact
finding, and exploring the themes that surround the exhibition.
How to book a visit.
Booking is essential for visits to
all venues.
We want to ensure your group has the best experience possible at each
of our galleries, so please remember to contact us first before organising
your trip. We are very popular with schools, colleges and other user
groups, so our galleries can get very busy from time to time.
For enquiries for school visits, contact [email protected]
Please have a range of possible dates available before contacting us, as
it may not always be possible to offer you your first choice date.
We are able to provide areas for you to eat your lunch in two of our
venues, however we cannot provide lunches for your pupils.
Please remember to bring along sketchbooks and pencils for your visit,
as wet materials, and also dusty materials will not be permitted in the
exhibition galleries. If you have any questions regarding materials, please
contact us using the email above.
Divider page image credits
p2 (tinted detail of) Mick Peter, Moldenke Fiddles On, 2008-9,
courtesy the artist and Galerie Crevecoeu
p7 (tinted detail of) Sarah Lucus, NUD (3), 2009, courtesy the
artist and Sadie Coles.
p13 (tinted detail of) Wolfgang Tillmans, Truth Study Centre
(BAS), 2010, wood, glass, mixed media, Installation shot at
Nottingham Contemporary, 2010
Written by
Adam Milford, Learning Officer (Site
Interpretation), Plymouth City Museum
and Art Gallery
Designed by
thirteen.co.uk
Images courtesy
Hayward Gallery London
Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery
For more information on British Art Show 7
www.plymouthbas7.org
www.britishartshow.co.uk
Cover image
Wolfgang Tillmans
Freischwimmer 155, 2010, ©the artist 2011,
Courtesy of the artist and Maureen Paley, London