Culture • November 2014
Art unbound: six weird places to see art
Who said art had to be confined to the four walls of a gallery? From the Mexican seabed to the Sahara desert, The Club tracks down some of the unexpected places you can spot works of art
Underwater Museum, Cancun
You can snorkel, scuba dive or get a glass-bottomed boat (if you want dry feet) to look at English artist Jason deCaires Taylor’s Silent Evolution. Fixed to the Mexican seabed off the coast of Cancun’s Isla Mujeres, the sculptures – which range from a life-size Volkswagen Beetle to groups of people – were submerged in 2009, and have over time developed into artificial coral reefs that are home to more than 50 species of marine life.
Neon Museum, Las Vegas
Sin City’s glittering lights are its leitmotif, and the neon signs that made old Las Vegas famous as far back as the 1930s – including the iconic Stardust Hotel sign – have been given a new lease of life at the Neon Museum. Escape the desert heat and take a tour of its ‘boneyard’ at night.
Carriageworks, Sydney
A former railway carriage factory and repair workshop, Carriageworks is in the heart of Sydney’s hip Redfern district. The sprawling site has hosted international sculptures and installations, from Japanese sound artist Ryoji Ikeda to French sculptor Christian Boltanski – and is set to be a key venue for the brilliant Sydney Festival in January.
Desert Breath, Hurghada, Egypt
Desert Breath is an inspiring 100,000 square metre spiralling swirl of land art created in the sand of the Sahara, by architect D.A.ST. The best way to see it is to take a pleasure flight, which swoops low over this huge work. Failing that, it is viewable through satellite pictures on Google Earth.
Freeway art, Johannesburg
The street art and colourful graffiti on Bree Street and Carr Street around the pillars of the double-decked M1 freeway have attracted Johannesburg’s more intrepid inner-city art tourists for years. Now the entire surrounding Newtown precinct around Museum Africa and the Market Theatre teems with super-sized sculptures and outdoor installations, creating an urban art overdose. Check out Gerhard and Maja Marx’s ‘Paper Pigeon’ or the sculpture of singer Brenda Fassie, ‘Madonna of the Townships’.
Lux Festival, Helsinki
From 4-8 January 2015 – not always the most exciting week of the year – Helsinki will light up with something a little more interesting. Sculptures, projections, installations and luminous trickery will dot the compact centre of the capital city as part of Lux Festival, a new and very cool celebration of light art. If you’re really lucky, you might even have the spectacular northern lights as a backdrop.
This article has been tagged Destination, Culture