Naughty, naughty Independant
Got a press cutting from the Indy's media guide from a month or so back, it's been stuck to my fridge for a while. Advertising an exhibition of photographs of the Falklands campaign at the Imperial War Museum North, in Manchester. Now, if you know me you know I like photography, photography exhibitions and the Falklands was on when I was young and impressionable, so off I went to see what was what. I can waste hours in a gallery. Of course, if they'd have said that there was only going to be 31 pictures in the place; the exhibition hall was going to be the corridor between the main exhibition hall and the canteen and that half the pictures have been already been circulated in various commonly available publications previously, I probably wouldn't have bothered. The classic image of the Belgrano going down shot from a lifeboat that everyone's seen a million times already is NOT worth that journey.
So, the IWM(N)? Well, having braved the horrible roads and horrible traffic on just about the most miserable day of the year, it was a promising start; an award winning building with a "zoo" sitting outside it (ZSU-23 Russian built self propelled anti aircraft gun; fearsome repuation, even A-10 drivers are scared of them). I wanted to like the place, I really did. God knows, went far enough to see it. The problem is, there's just not enough of it. It's all style and not a lot of content. Oh, what's there is nice... a Harrier; the very first British artillery gun to fire a shot in the first world war. But it seems all the investment's gone on the building; full to bursting it is not. Everything's nicely presented and artilly lit, but it's a little rock video, if you get my drift. A full day out it is not. Also it seems to me that the message it's putting out is a bit preachy peacenikky. Might just be me, and I might be being devils advocate a little, considering my own recent disquiet as to what the real purpose of my beloved airshows is... truly to include and entertain the local population in the life of the forces, or to acclimatise them to the existance of martial society and to pacify them and involve them in accepting a foreign policy which centres on invading other peoples countries and dropping bombs on them? Hmmm, think I'm walking a bit of a line here with my boots on either side. But anyhoo, I think I'll have go to Leeds armoury next and see how it's done properly.
So, the IWM(N)? Well, having braved the horrible roads and horrible traffic on just about the most miserable day of the year, it was a promising start; an award winning building with a "zoo" sitting outside it (ZSU-23 Russian built self propelled anti aircraft gun; fearsome repuation, even A-10 drivers are scared of them). I wanted to like the place, I really did. God knows, went far enough to see it. The problem is, there's just not enough of it. It's all style and not a lot of content. Oh, what's there is nice... a Harrier; the very first British artillery gun to fire a shot in the first world war. But it seems all the investment's gone on the building; full to bursting it is not. Everything's nicely presented and artilly lit, but it's a little rock video, if you get my drift. A full day out it is not. Also it seems to me that the message it's putting out is a bit preachy peacenikky. Might just be me, and I might be being devils advocate a little, considering my own recent disquiet as to what the real purpose of my beloved airshows is... truly to include and entertain the local population in the life of the forces, or to acclimatise them to the existance of martial society and to pacify them and involve them in accepting a foreign policy which centres on invading other peoples countries and dropping bombs on them? Hmmm, think I'm walking a bit of a line here with my boots on either side. But anyhoo, I think I'll have go to Leeds armoury next and see how it's done properly.
posted by Fred the Singing Bandit at 9:06 pm
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