London : January 6th 2011

Today we started by going to the Serpentine Gallery. The artist that was currently on display was Philippe Parreno. Inside the gallery there were four different videos playing in four different rooms. What was interesting about this gallery's set up was they only played one video at a time and you had to go where ever the next video started. What would happen is once the video was done the sound would carry over into the next place it was going to so you could follow it. I found this a very interesting way of bringing you through to each space and was a good way to make sure you watched all of the videos.
In the center gallery towards the back there was a video that showed images of outside with sounds as if you are looking outside from inside a train. As the video goes on there are more scenes of outside with people scattered along train tracks watching you as you go by. The train seems to be a funeral train because of all the people gathering to watch as the train goes by and people are even taking pictures as the train goes by.
Then the next video continues into the right side of the gallery. In here we watch a video that at first flashes through scenes of a city, showing people working in a factory, fish and a Chinese dragon in the street. Then you start to see a static light form appearing in the pictures which then starts to take on an alien shape. It then shows you a boy and you follow him around in a few different rooms, the he is in the same room as alien. The video ends with showing a scene of the city snowing and then the video ends. Then outside the gallery you are in it starts to snow, which really when looked at up close is soap.
The next video continues in the center gallery towards the front. This video shows children protesting and chanting "No More Reality". This same line is repeated throughout the video showing various images of the children with signs and protesting.
The last video is show in the left side of the gallery. This video starts off by showing a building at night that looks to be some sort of electrical building. It then switches to some nature pictures and then back building in the day with a bison near it. Then there is a rain storm with lightning at night, then returns to the building in the day when storm is over again.
I found that everything was interconnected nicely. There was repetition in sound, light, absence and were all high quality images. I really enjoyed how the snow connected you to the video and then to the outside. Throughout the videos there was also a theme of reality verses fiction.

While we were walking around the outside we saw Anish Kapoor's reflecting mirrors. They were so nice to see, i always love seeing his sculptures. I only wish it was sunnier out so we could see the reflections in the mirrors better. 

In the afternoon we visited the Satchi Gardens. I thought this museum was very interesting and i was sad that i wasn't able to spend more time here. I found a new artist that i really love and enjoy looking at. Her name is Tessa Farmer and the artwork is called Swarm. At first glance i thought this is just a tank with bugs hanging inside it, and even though that is interesting, i thought it was anything special. Then when you get up close you see that these are not your normal insects. These insects are dragonflies and bumble bees with small flying creatures riding them, fighting each other and before long i realize this is whole environment with some sort of fight or war going on. I am so drawn in now and i can't believe the amazing detail each one of these creatures have. I took some picture details so you could understand what i was seeing.