Visit to Manchester Gallery Thursday 20th of March 2014

Joana Vasconcelos - Time Machine
This exhibition by Joana Vasconcelos is absolutely huge; the first sculpture we looked at covered an area from the second to the ground floor. The exhibition organisers even had to suspend a man from the ceiling in order to secure it. Natasha, the curator, who was telling us about the exhibition handed out items of fabric and similar items have been appliquéd to the sculpture by Joana's large team of staff. Had these items been looked at in isolation they would possibly have been regarded as pieces of tat but under Joana's direction and artistic ability they transformed the sculpture into an item which made you want to touch it.
The next sculpture we looked at was what Joana called 'the war machine'; it was an old-fashioned boxy car very neatly covered in toy rifles. Inside the car were lots of lovely cuddly toys who looked as though they were going out for a happy jaunt.
The next sculpture we looked at was a helicopter; it looked as though Joana had dipped it in pink ostrich feathers and gold leaf. The interior had also been beautifully upholstered and dressed. Natasha the curator told us that Joana called it 'Marie Antoinette's escape pod' it was absolutely beautiful to look at.
We moved on to yet another amazing set of three sculptures, these were the result of a three year consultation by Joana with an engineer and the manufacturer Bosch who had supplied all of the steam irons. In this sculpture the steam irons were arranged to represent flowers growing from the ground and the power of the steam activated the flowers beginning to bloom. It was an astonishing idea which had been so cleverly constructed by everybody concerned.
We were unable to look at other sculptures by Joana which were dotted around the museum because our visit was at an end. We had a hot drink and biscuits in the education suite and there we gave our thanks to Anne Hornsby for her superb descriptions of everything we had looked at and to all of the gallery staff for making it possible for us to enjoy this most extra ordinary exhibition. Thanks to our volunteer drivers who look after us so well and also to Mary for her wonderful visits that she works so hard to organise. Many thanks to everybody and we look forward to our next gallery visit.