3 days ago
Tai Shani: ‘The Spell or The Dream'
'The sleep of reason produces monsters'. It's a perpetually instructive aphorism that artists have repeatedly returned to. Francisco Goya used it to name one of his most well-known etchings from the late 18th century, depicting a character whose head rests on a desk, surrounded by shadowy creatures. Centuries later, in 2008, British artist Yinka Shonibare borrowed the image and title for another body of work.
And now, the Turner Prize-winning artist Tai Shani's new commission for Somerset House takes the ongoing sleep of reason as its starting point. In the grand Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court, she has installed a ten-metre-tall blue figure, who lays supine, gently breathing with closed eyes. We're told that this ethereal, childlike giant has slept through 'warnings of present and imminent catastrophes, political and social disaster and environmental collapse.' Watching its stomach peacefully rising and falling, it's easy to believe that ignorance is bliss.
Here is a deft balance of content and form
Encased in an illuminated casket-like glass box, the figure – the dreamer – is clothed in white lace and mesh. Visitors are invited to step onto its plinth for a closer look at the beautiful hand- painted sculpture, which is both imposing and delicate. On one end, its feet are each the size of a toddler; on the other, flushed cheeks and pink lips give the impression of a fairy tale princess. The Sleeping Beauty parallel is emphasised by an otherworldly, subtly swelling soundscape by the composer Maxwell Sterling, the son of the mononymous artist Linder, whose first London retrospective recently took place across the river at the Hayward Gallery.
Though the figure lies alone in the courtyard, it's actually just half of Shani's commission. The Dream Radio is an accompanying online broadcast co-curated by the artist, including newly commissioned work by a diverse array of artists, writers, musicians and thinkers, including poet Eileen Myles, fellow Turner Prize winner Mark Leckey, musician Brian Eno and the ex-Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. In this second section, Shani moves beyond a hand-wringing depiction of sleep as a symbol of ignorance. Here, she is joined by a chorus of voices in celebrating its radical possibilities: dreams.
The commission is further accompanied by a busy events programme, highlights of which include panel discussions on environmental and economic future models and philosophy seminars for children. Public sculpture often enriches the urban landscape, but rarely does it amount to the kind of engaging flashpoint that The Spell or The Dream will be.
Shani's work is neither embittered nor unimaginative – two criticisms that have become fashionable to level at political art. In fact, it's the opposite. Art with a message often risks being didactic, prioritising its statement over its aesthetic experience. Here, though, is a deft balance of content and form: a nuanced message, contained within immediately impressive and accessible art.
