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labels

Engaging with artworks directly, without the use of labels


Sebastiano Barassi

Transcript
Jim liked to say that we really shouldn't worry about the name of the artist who made a picture or the title or anything before we approach the picture. It's the basic principle at the foundation of what he wanted to do here at Kettle's Yard, to allow people or encourage people to have a very personal, direct relationship with the artwork that's not mediated by art historical data and also that's not necessarily based upon the importance of the work, but rather on whether we like it or not. That's what mattered to him a lot. Obviously that sounds quite old fashioned nowadays. It's based on ideas developed in the twenties and thirties and formalist approach, the idea that a work of art can speak for itself whereas nowadays museums very much approach the presentation of collections by providing information and offering activities around the objects. Jim had a very different vision and sometimes those two visions clash, especially when you get visitors, and it's not infrequent, visitors do complain about the absence of labels and information. I mean, we do provide information through the house guide and above all through the invigilators so that's a way of retaining that personal relationship with the housekeeper in a sense.