5 Case Study 1 - Leicester Research Archive - University of Leicester

some people that are experiencing that. So wherever the world the
earth opened… in the first world there is mesh keeping people out or
inside as you want to see it, anyway keeping people away so it’s a
piece that is both in the epicentre of catastrophe and at the same time it
is outside catastrophe.”
A video like this may not allow an authentic experience of ‘Shibboleth,’ since it
is not even shown in the video. However, looking at the content of the interview
it shows that it certainly contains the key points, which lie at the bottom of work.
And for someone not familiar with her work, this brief round up of the artist’s
motivations and intentions might be crucial for understanding what this work is
about. There are a number of images of Shibboleth on Tate Online and there is a
video that shows a camera moving above the large scar in the Turbine Hall and
visitors looking at it. With these a user can certainly gain an impression of what
the piece looks like and, together with the video, people might get a good idea of
what the work means.
One could now argue that the visual arts are about visual experiences and that a
truly authentic experience only works via a visual encounter with a work of art.
If one would rigidly subscribe to this approach, then one would have to conclude
that a video with an artist talking about the work does not allow the viewer an
authentic experience. Based on the discussion before, one could make the
assumption that Quatremère de Quincy would probably agree with this.
However, one could also say that someone who has no idea who the artist is,
where she is coming from and what she is trying to achieve with her work, might
also not have an authentic experience of the piece, even when walking around
Tate’s Turbine Hall. The work might not touch the viewer, because s/he is not
able to relate to the artistic intentions by merely looking at the work. The work
might impress the viewer because it is big and unusual. But it might not engage
the viewer in the kind of critical thinking that the artist hopes to foster. Looking
at the work online and listening to the interview, on the other hand, might well
engage and disturb people in a manner wished by the artist, and make them think
about what Salcedo aims to achieve.
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