Walking downstairs, I could hear Madonna's "Vogue" blaring, and arriving in the exhibition space proper, there it was playing on a huge screen directly in front of me; the screen, it turned out, was dedicated to one of the exhibition's nine organising themes, 'Body Language' - ie dancing. (Later I saw Kanye West's "Can't Tell Me Nothing", about the music of which I could tell you precisely nothing, but the video - featuring Zach Galifianakis and Will Oldham vamping it up in a rural setting - is indelible.)
It's in the nature of the thing that I only got a very partial experience of the exhibition - a lot of the videos were on loops of between a dozen and twenty, perhaps more, on each screen, and besides I ran out of time. But that didn't matter - dipping in and out brought just as much joy as a more systematic attempt would have, especially for songs that I know and, in many cases, love, some on headphones on smaller screens and others drifting through various parts of the exhibition area.
Amongst others, Air's "Playground Love", Blur's "Coffee and TV", Bowie's "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" (featuring Tilda Swinton - a perfect synergy)...I probably need to go back some time.
It's in the nature of the thing that I only got a very partial experience of the exhibition - a lot of the videos were on loops of between a dozen and twenty, perhaps more, on each screen, and besides I ran out of time. But that didn't matter - dipping in and out brought just as much joy as a more systematic attempt would have, especially for songs that I know and, in many cases, love, some on headphones on smaller screens and others drifting through various parts of the exhibition area.
Amongst others, Air's "Playground Love", Blur's "Coffee and TV", Bowie's "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" (featuring Tilda Swinton - a perfect synergy)...I probably need to go back some time.
