Scratching the crack

I was in London over Christmas and went to the Tate Modern, and that is certainly a nice collection that they have there. I was rather less impressed by the latest large piece in the turbine hall, a giant crack running from one end to the other. Asthetically it just did nothing for me, though I did like the irony of in the leaflet that they handed out to explain its meaning.

Not any intended irony you understand. Who ever wrote it was obviously achingly sincere as they wrote how it symbolized how the growing gap between the rich countries and the poor ones of the Global South was tearing the world apart. It was obvious that this was how the learned author really saw the meaning of the work, amongst other right-on anti-capitalist clich&eaccute;s that could have come strait out of such corporation bashing books as No Logo. No, the irony came on the final page which wasn't detailing the meaning of the piece at all. This page while also fulsome in its praise about the piece and the artist and was by the sponsor, Unilever.

Yes an anti-capitalist rant, the production of which would only have been possible thanks to the multinational corporations that many anti-capitalists regard as the embodiment of evil. Who said post-modern irony was dead?