Culture

Halloween Nightmare at the Tate Britain Gallery

by Beaulieu | November 2, 2009 at 02:43 am

159 views | 14 Recommendations | 5 comments

No, this isn't exactly the nightmare you think. It was even worse than a nightmare, after all I can cope with ghosts and ghouls but not screaming kids in national art galleries:-)

The Tate Britain ran a 'SpookyTate' day on Halloween. It was a day that kids in Halloween outfits were let to run wild in the Galleries (something I hadn't bargained for).

Imagine the hell.

Hundreds of young kids spralled all over the normally quiet galleries, were screaming, chucking all their clutter all over the floor like a creche.

Visitors like myself were tripping up over their pencils, bags and orange Halloween papers trying to look at the paintings, sometimes being unable to hear each other. I dread to think what the visually impaired people thought as their guidedogs, if they have them, navigated the creche. In fact, the Tate were encouraging them to come by providing large print descriptions by the paintings.

I also tripped over the ZigZag type artwork, distracted by the noise which was a tripping hazard anyway. The Tate failed to put any hazard warning signs.

I had wanted to visit the Turner and Constable Galleries but I am pleased to say that the Turner Galleries were actually spared this Halloween Hell.

Now the worst bit was the Constable Gallery:

A couple of chinese people (one dressed in ChineseOpera) were getting the kids to play loud Chinese musical instruments including the gong. Needless to say there was a huge racket. I am surprised the loud gongs didn't dislodge any of Constable's paintings. The racket of the chinese gongs and screeching music failed to complement Constable's poetical paintings of Suffolk. As I walked by I overhead other visitors complaining too. I actually had to cut my trip short and had a headache that lasted the rest of the day:-)

I believe that kids should be encouraged to learn art young but kids treating art galleries as some kind of children's playground is inappropriate. No one was making any effort to clean up the mess. Will our National Treasures be damaged if they throw orange paint and objects at the paintings? A national art gallery isn't designed to be a playground. It is no wonder some of the staff looked unhappy too, but they have no choice.

I have videoed a short clip (I asked permission) which I will upload later.

I personally handed in a 'What do you Think' comment form to the Tate which I found hidden behind the information desk, they didn't put them out in the galleries.

The only bright side was reading the visitor comments stuck up on a wall by The Turner Prize Gallery, a number of people said the exhibition was overpriced and ageist (underlined) and one person said 'this is what I think of it and left a blank page'. The Tate PR people didn't vet these comments.

Next time they ought to invite me to their previews:-)

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Beaulieu

at 06:14 on November 2nd, 2009

Let's get some balance here:

The person I was with liked the idea (being a liberal type of person) but then he didn't have to trip up over them. And, he is partially deaf though he probably couldn't hear the racket as much as me. We both put in separate comment forms on the basis of 'we agree to disagree' basis:-)

Amy Judd

at 12:18 on November 3rd, 2009

Having been to the Tate when it was almost empty, I can't imagine the chaos - good story though, I liked it!

Beaulieu

at 13:01 on November 3rd, 2009

It was like being in a 'bad dream'. I was struck at how unbelievable it was. I just hope the kids were toilet trained too:-)

They even had babies in the melee (as if they would benefit from Constable's paintings).

Great writing material though.

Beaulieu

at 03:48 on November 10th, 2009

A 'weak' reply from the Tate:

"Thank you for taking the time to fill in a comments form during your recent visit to Tate Britain.

I was sorry to read that you felt your visit was badly affected by children in the gallery.

On the day you visited we were hosting a BP Family Day called Spooky Tate. During which children were invited to take part in a number of different events. Education is a strong part of Tate’s philosophy and we welcome all visitors including children of all ages.

However, it was unfortunate that during your visit here you felt the noise hampered your enjoyment. We do ensure that all our promotional material states the rules for families. I do understand that the level of noise can at times reach an uncomfortable level for some of our visitors, but it is up to the discretion of our Gallery Assistants or Supervisors to intervene when suitable.

If you wish to avoid such groups in the future, there are a number of options available to you. A calendar of events taking place in the gallery can be found on the Tate website at www.tate.org.uk. Alternatively you can phone the Information department on 020 7887 8819, or ask at the Information desk in the gallery for the timetable of tours and workshops." Email fails to mention safety issues though ie tripping hazards pencils/artwork etc. And of the loud Chinese gongs in the Constable Gallery, organised by the Gallery. Reported to Health and Safety Executive and RNIB. Have written back to the Tate today.

Beaulieu

at 04:24 on November 10th, 2009

Spoke to the RNIB who apparently 'have good connections with the Tate' and may able to tackle this issue. They were very interested and concerned about the tripping hazards.