An Obadiah Slope Column
Mushrooming: Obadiah has a confession – he has not been a big fan of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney’s Circular Quay: too many video installations for his curmudgeonly tastes. He has a modified earworm: WhyMCA?
But Ai Wei Wei has arrived. He makes contemporary art that challenges and works to raise questions – that is what the best of modern art does.
On the MCA’s Tallawoladah Lawn, a small meadow beside the harbour, Ai Wei Wei has set out 500 replica German helmets to make us think about war, the Ukrainian frontline that he has visited four times.
Mushrooms – the name of the work – is a derisive commentary on the German donation of 5000 helmets to Ukraine as the russian war machine thundered in.
At first, the 500 helmets that gaze at the Opera House seem identical. But Ai Wei Wei commissioned the Chinese foundry that produced them to make each one different, moulding the padding underneath from an actual helmet.
Speaking of the sandstone MCA, Ai Wei Wei told the Guardian: “That building represents rational, peaceful enjoyment … but at the same time we have to re-announce that there are wars going on and peace is essential for any civilised society.”
For a moment, as Obadiah walked between the helmets/mushrooms, it was as though the war had reached Sydney. It made Obadiah feel fragile – which is the art Ai Wei Wei intended.
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Art from inside: On the other side of the harbour there’s a different art exhibition, inside Church By The Bridge in Kirribilli. Art from Inside comes from incarcerated people – and it is unexpectedly joyous. That’s because many artists from jail have experienced the work of Prison Fellowship, who put on the exhibition. If Ai Wei Wei’s 500 mushrooms gives you a chill in your heart – as it surely should – then Art from the Inside makes your soul sing.
But you’ll need to rush; the three-day exhibition closes 3 pm Saturday.
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Savings: Obadiah leads church tomorrow and maybe he goes a bit overboard: “Welcome to church where it is not only daylight that gets saved. Welcome to church where people get saved. Where there’s not just extra sun in the evening, but Jesus, the light that is with us till the end. Our lives are not advanced by an hour but put on a new path. Our lives are not just put forward 60 minutes, but touch eternity. Not extra sun, but the Son of god.
“Which is to say welcome to church, whoever you are, what ever joys or challenges, you bring, whether life goes smoothly or the road is rough. You are in the right place.”