It's all too beautiful

Once upon a time, many years ago, M said to me 'you don't really like art, do you?'. This was an unfair and untrue insult, and one which was born, I feel, of a slight public school snobbishness on his part. I like art, I said, I just don't like the wanky stuff you like. I think he may occasionally still feel slightly ashamed of himself.

But our worlds collided, as did those of many other people, at the weird and wonderful Power Plant installation at the Oxford Botanic Gardens. These are weird and wonderful in themselves by day, with their Victorian greenhouses and exotic planting set against classic Oxford architecture. But they are never open at night, so this this was something amazing.

Said the blurb (paraphrased):

Oxford Contemporary Music have teamed up with the University of Oxford Botanic Garden to ... transform the Garden into an extraordinary world of sound and light. For three nights only, you will be able to explore the garden in the moonlight. You can take a magical musical and visual journey amongst intriguing constructions and installations around the walled garden, water garden, plants and trees... combining sound, fire, pyrotechnics and light.

And it truly was a beautiful thing. There was no light but the light from the installations, and it was a magical place of huge glowing balloons deflating through harmonicas, non-epilepsy safe neon flickering, whoomfing fire lanterns playing midi tunes in the gunnera, little buzzing red firefly machines, banging gongs, live projected technicolour snail action and so much more, all lit by candles in paper bags and whirring smoke and light machines. It was like being out of your head in a slightly edgy but very safe underworld.

I just asked M if he would say the same thing about me and art now, and he said 'no... I wouldn't say you didn't like art... but I also think you're more open to it'. Maybe we each had something to learn from the other.

joella