I didn't think it would be so hard to leave a little bit of information about my project in art galleries. You would think that these places would be happy to hear about any form of art happening elsewhere in the world, well let me tell you THIS IS NOT THE CASE.
I first went to the ICA and it was closed but I came in because the door was opened and someone asked me what I was doing there. I answered that I just wanted to leave some infomation about my project. This person told me that there was a rack for information but there was an organisation actually in charge of arranging the info on the rack and I needed to get in touch with them. TOO DIFFICULT.
I decided not to put any info on that rack (in fact I couldn't) but instead I prefered talking to the human being that was in front of me. After all, that was better than a rack! I told him about the project and asked him if perhaps he could display the poster in the staff room ? He was cool and said he would do it. I left and that was it. As I was leaving I passed the Mall Galleries and asked if I could leave some info, the lady said 'of course, I will find you place next to art horse'...no comment.
My next step was Tate Modern. I took a bus to St Paul's cathedral and crossed over on the bridge. At Tate, I looked for some kind of rack and I found one but all the info was about Tate, Tate in all formats, different colours leaflets saying exactly the same thing:Tate, Tate and Tate again.
Tate, the monopole of Art, interesting. Despite that evident lack of external interest, I ventured to the information desk where I was told:' we used to have a rack where people could display public information but it has been removed so ....the best thing to do is to ask that man in the glass box...'. OK, so here am I in search of the man in the glass box. I found the glass box and two men inside. I went in.
One man talked to me asking me what I was doing there, I told him that the receptionist has sent me here regarding leaflets. He replied that the rack had disappeared and showed me the space where it used to be. GREAT, it used to be there but it is not anymore, what do I do now?
Then I realised that I had another human being in front of me and I decided to tell him all about the project. He loved it and wished me luck. I asked him if I could perhaps leave some leaflets in the restaurants on the tables. He replied 'try'.
To cut a long story short, I went to two big Art organisations today and I talked to two people. Perhaps I would have had the same impact with my leaflets in terms of return, except that now I still have my leaflets. The world is not ready for me yet, never mind I shall wait.