MCA

Okay the biggest thing I gleaned from going to the biennale at the MCA is that modern art extends everywhere from the interesting and beautiful to the ugly and downright weird. I did find a black-and-white America-style flag where instead of the stars were the words "Liberty or Death" which seemed a little humorous, but not terribly new.

And then I found something that could be considered all four. A rather uninteresting man standing in a park or field, holding a children's balloon and singing in a strange voice. I watched for a bit and made out what sounded like some kind of a hymn or regular-type song like that. At school every friday we had a hymn in assembly and it just reminded me of my own childhood. I know it was profoundly weird, but it just... struck me as subtly powerful. I don't know. It just had an effect on me.

I managed to get a short audio recording while nobody was looking, I feel I can't properly describe it here. You can hear the artist take a couple of breaths out of the helium tank.



Double-checking things: title was "Hymn", by Mark Wallinger (1997)
Lyrics: http://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/t105.html

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