Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you! Let nothing be lost upon you.

Oscar Wilde

Marino Marini (1948) The Angel of the City.

De Gillett

International Study Tour 2011

Queensland College of Art, Griffith University.
Why travel?
To escape the familiar, the humdrum, the predictable; and instead pursue the new, the exhilarating, the innovativethe wondrous, the intriguing, the thrilling.

Why an International Study Tour?

To learn about other artists, and ourselves. To steep our souls in a first-handed experience of original works. To gain a greater understanding of aesthetic resonance. To earn 20 credit points towards our degree. For the sheer blissful indulgence of wantonly engaging with art of every kind, surrounded and supported by 40 friends and colleagues as artistically obsessed as yourself.

Why Europe?
Every destination we chose to visit on our tour was chosen for at least one reason. Perhaps we sought the story of that place itself, or the story which that place tells. We may have been there for a particular artwork, gallery, or exhibition. The itinerary for our Wondrous Grand Tour included: Frankfurt- Schirn Kunsthalle Wrzburg- Studies in Photography and German Culture, The Royal Residence. Prague- National Gallery, Exhibitions by Mucha and Dali. Berlin- Tour of Street art, The New Museum, Egyptian Museum, Bauhausarchiv Museum of Design, Jewish Museum, Kunste-werke Gallery, and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Venice- The 54th Venice Biennale and affiliated collateral exhibitions. Milan- The Last Supper.

Why Europe?
So many wonderful experiences, surrounded by centuries of art and architecture and all wrapped up in wine festivals, shopping, extraordinary food experiences and burgeoning self-awareness.

Why NOT Europe?

Every destination we chose to visit on our tour was chosen for at least one reason. Perhaps we sought the story of that place itself, or the story which that place tells. We may have been there for a particular artwork, gallery, or exhibition.

A fragment of the Berlin Wall displayed at the Reichstag, Berlin. This fragment, like the others which have been preserved both in-situ and relocated, tells a tiny part of the political story which predominantly defines the history of Berlin.

Menashe Kadishman Shalekhet (Fallen Leaves) (1997-2001). Installed at the Jewish Museum, Berlin. This place tells a story of pain and commemorates all innocent victims of violence and war. This chilling work is interactive10,000 silent faces waiting to respond with metallic screams to the movement of your feet walking across them.

In choosing a particular destination, we may be seeking the history of a place, or its visual grandeur

Festung Marienberg in Wrzburg

Rialto Bridge, The Grand Canal, Venezia.

Possibly we are there to see the architectural wonders of that place, whether they are contemporary, ancient, or somewhere in between.

Reflections in the banking district of Frankfurt.

The Powder Tower, Prague

Prague, seen from the top of the Powder Tower

As students on tour with Griffith University and James Cook University, we were in Europe for all of those reasons and more. Immersing ourselves in art was our primary task: to soak up the aura, to feel the presence of the artist, to wallow in the intensity of the first-hand experience undiminished by the twin tyrannies of distance and the inadequacies of artwork reproduction.

Tough job, but someone has to do it.

The Flame of Consciousness

The Flame of Consciousness

Walter Pater, concluding his collection of essays Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873), offers an inspirational creed to live by. He believed in enthusiasm above allthe impassioned pursuit of ecstatic moments to enrich ones life. Such moments accord humanity a vividly intense experience of life, and without them, we hardly live at all (Allen 2003, p. 24). Savoring those moments, he said, is success in life. Pater championed art as the provider of such intensity, believing in the love of art for arts sake, and art for lifes sake. He declared that:

The Flame of Consciousness

Walter Pater, concluding his collection of essays Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873), offers an inspirational creed to live by. He believed in enthusiasm above allthe impassioned pursuit of ecstatic moments to enrich ones life. Such moments accord humanity a vividly intense experience of life, and without them, we hardly live at all (Allen 2003, p. 24). Savoring those moments, he said, is success in life. Pater championed art as the provider of such intensity, believing in the love of art for arts sake, and art for lifes sake. He declared that:

To burn always with the hard, gemlike flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life.

The Flame of Consciousness

Walter Pater, concluding his collection of essays Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873), offers an inspirational creed to live by. He believed in enthusiasm above allthe impassioned pursuit of ecstatic moments to enrich ones life. Such moments accord humanity a vividly intense experience of life, and without them, we hardly live at all (Allen 2003, p. 24). Savoring those moments, he said, is success in life. Pater championed art as the provider of such intensity, believing in the love of art for arts sake, and art for lifes sake. He declared that:

To burn always with the hard, gemlike flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life.
Pater proposed art as the primary source of more heat, more flickering, flamelike sensations with which to maintain our enthusiasm for life. He asserts that we find the highest value in moments of aesthetic beauty, and that art exists for no greater purpose than to bring us those moments in abundance. In also allowing that ecstatic moments are everywhere, if only we know how to see them, Pater points beyond the love of art for arts sake to a motivating and positive way of living in general (Allen 2003, pp. 24, 25).

So in pursuit of my own intense flame, I want art that excites me

Marino Marini (1948) The Angel of the City, Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

Judy Millar at Personal Structures collateral exhibition, Palazzo Bembo , 54th Venice Bienniale.

I want art that impresses me with its sheer technical brilliance

Gustave Courbet Woman in a straw hat with flowers (1857) The National Gallery in Prague

Tintoretto Saint Jerome (1550) The New Museum, Berlin

The National Gallery in Prague

Pablo Picasso Woman in an armchair (1910) The National Gallery in Prague

I want art that is succinct

Fabriano Plessi Mariverticali (2010) Venice Pavillion, 54th Venice Biennale.

Sigalit Landau One mans floor is another mans feelings (2011) Israel Pavilion, 54th Venice Biennale

I want art that is clever

Oksana Mas, seen from the Grand Canal, Venizia

I want art that makes me laugh

Nathaniel Mellors Hippy Dialectics (Ourhouse) (2010) ILLUMInations Pavillion, 54th Venice Biennale

Salvador Dali Exhibition at Old Town Square, Prague.

 and I want art that is absurd. I am, however, not quite sure that this fountain in Prague needs to effectively block the only access to the Information Centre with its slippery slimy overflow

I want art that brings me to my knees in grateful silence

The Cloisters, St. Agnes Monastery

art that whispers, and seduces me with sheer elegance.

Lee Ufan at Personal Structures collateral exhibition, Palazzo Bembo, 54th Venice Bienniale.

I want art that I feel, art that connects with more than my brain. Only then will understanding slowly blossom.
We can experience beauty and pleasure together or apart. It is pleasure which is the ultimate motivator, the source of those flickering, flame like moments of rapture that fuel our passion for life (Allen 2003, p. 24). The pleasure that beauty can afford simply makes us exist as though were existing for that very experience (Krystle 2005, p. 93). We must, however, distinguish between the beauty of any object and the pleasure involved in those rapturous moments of interaction. We may certainly find pleasure in the un-beautiful, and engage with the beautiful without pleasurewith distaste, dismissal or revulsion. The beautiful object is far from the only thing that brings us acute pleasure. It can, however, simultaneously bring us an un-selfing (Scarry 1999, p. 114), a state of opiated adjacency (Scarry 1999, p.113) in which we step aside from being the central character in our own personal tragedy. This radical decentring (Scarry 1999, p. 109) affords an opportunity to be unselfish and objectivein short, to be a better, more ethical and capacious self (Scarry 1999, pp. 109-114). This generous gift of beauty was a constant presence during our Grand Tour, and we Cultural Tourists have grown immensely thanks to its munificent influence.

So we were Cultural Tourists, embarking on a 21st Century Grand Tour. Historically, many Grand Tourists embarked on their tour with sketchbooks to fill. Regrettably, mine followed historical precedent and stayed almost as empty.

Sketchbook page, ink pen on paper, St Agnes Cathedral,

Architectural detail, Wrzburg. Sketchbook page, ink pen and chalk on paper.

Stuck on a fast moving train from Prague to Berlin, Rachael couldnt get away.
Sketchbook page, ink pen on paper.

Architectural detail, Wrzburg. Sketchbook page, ink pen and chalk on paper

My sketch of Mariverticali, pen and cont on paper. Such immersive beauty encouraged me to be still, the meaning of the work materialising slowly. The mindful hours I spent sketching, propped against the wall inside the Venice Pavilion absorbing Mariverticali were a gift I will long remember.

Sheer exhaustion played a definite role in the lack of sketching time And I suppose it is vaguely possible that a little shopping got in the way as well

The National Gallery in Prague was the first place on our itinerary that got me way way WAY too excited.

I enjoyed a fleeting but fulfilling relationship with this lovely gallery attendant we shared no language, but spent almost an hour showing each other our favourite works, reading the quotes on the walls to each other in our respective languages and enthusing together over Egon Schiele and Pablo Picasso.

Life is not to have fun- it is to suffer, be enchanted, be amazed. Karel apek.

Wisdom from the walls of the National Gallery in Prague.

To be in front of a work I know only from books, to stand there in relation to that work as the master would have stood; this reduced me to incoherence.

And then, right around the next corner..

Henri Matisse Joaquina (1910), The National Gallery in Prague.

Vincent Van Gogh Wheat Field (1889), The National Gallery in Prague.

It just doesnt get any better than that.

And then it did.

I discovered artists I had never heard of, but loved at first sight! Bliss!

Otto Guttfreund Head of Viki (1912-1913) The National Gallery in Prague.

The National Gallery in Prague.

Frantiek Kupka Autumn Sun (1906), The National Gallery in Prague

Frantiek Kupka Self Portrait (1905),

The National Gallery in Prague.

We seek the diamonds amongst the dross, sometimes accidentally finding surprising wonders out of pure chance.

This amazing video work was on the ceiling at the collateral exhibition Glassstress. I spent an overwhelmed and astonished hour laying on the floor, just enjoying her gentle movement and presence.

Charlotte Gyllenhammar at Glassstress (2011)

http://mocoloco.com/upload/2011/07/glasstress_2011/glassstress_2011_charlotte_gyllenhammar-thumb-468x702-28794.jpg

Intent on our mission, we move quickly past the things that bore us in search of the next fuel for our own hard gemlike flame sure to be just around the corner, just a few more foot-sore steps and if on the way we find a delightful distraction, we linger.

Soaking, immersing, feeding, renewingmarshalling our strength and resources for the next sortie of our Grand Tour.

We pass the marvellous, the mediocre, the mundane and the magnificent en-route to the Holy Grail of that particular place. Wandering in to the Wrzburg Wine Festival, we stumbled across these sculptures in the grounds of the Royal Residence.

As beautiful as they are, I was still ill-prepared for the opulent magnificence I saw the next day inside the palace.

The grand Staircase, Residenz Wrzburg Photograph Ulrich Pfeuffer

The Green Room, Residenz Wrzburg Photograph Ulrich Pfeuffer

The quest to find fuel for your hard, gemlike flame pushes you into byways and alleys with no idea what might be within. When serendipity dictates that you find not excitement or excellence, but boredom and banality, its all part of your personal understanding and growth. I have learned that I want art that makes me feela primitive, bodily connection to the cerebral reading of the work.

Without a visceral response, disdain pushed me quickly past works stuck in a cul-de-sac of aesthetic regress, where everyone is deconstructing the same elements (Saltz 2011 p. 60).

Gabriel Kuri (2011)

Retention Chart
ILLUMInations Pavillion, 54th Venice Biennale.

Yuko Sakurai at Personal Structures collateral exhibition, Palazzo Bembo, 54th Venice Bienniale.

Hany Armanious 2011 The Golden Thread (detail). Australian Pavillion, 54th Venice Biennale

Artur Barrio 2011 [Records + (Ex) Tension Brazil Pavillion 54th Venice Bienniale

Sometimes its a little banal, but beautiful and pleasureful anyway, such as this delightfully simple way to put a positive thought out there.

Yoko Ono Wish Tree Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

We have breathed the air of Europe, eaten wrst, canoli, meslibrot, and prosciutto e melon; walked for hours, danced at Lido, and dipped our tired feet into the Adriatic Sea.

I have brought home glass from Murano, boots from Milan, jetlag, blistered feet, and a rekindled love of sculpture. I have spent time getting to know some of the most positively lovely people in my world and together we celebrate beauty, joy, abundance, playfulness, wit and absurdity. I have a greater understanding of who I am, and I am enriched. THE END

Reference list
Allen, J S, 2003, The use and abuse of aestheticism, Arts Education Policy Review, vol. 104, iss. 5, pp. 24-25.

Krystle, A 2005, Hello Beautiful, Harper's Magazine, Harper's Magazine Foundation, vol. 311, iss. 7, pp. 86-95.
Saltz, J, 2011, Notes on Venice Biennale, Flash Art, vol. XLIV, no.279, pp. 58-61. Scarry, E 1999, On beauty and being just, Princeton University Press, Chicester. Wilde, O, n.d., The Picture of Dorian Gray, in Collected works of Oscar Wilde, Graystone Press, p. 118.

Some helpful websites: Residenz Wrzburg- http://www.residenz-wuerzburg.de/englisch/residenz/index.htm The National Gallery in Prague- http://www.ngprague.cz/en/1069/0/0/sekce/homepage/

All photographs by the author unless otherwise acknowledged. De Gillett