London Journal: Tacky Tame Tate Tubes

Old Feb 21st, 2007, 08:59 AM
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London Journal: Tacky Tame Tate Tubes

I read on Fodor's about the Tate Tubes and it intrigued me to visit the Tate Modern last week in London. Once again i loved one of Europe's most novel and delightful museums but the Tubes...

what a bunch of nothing...simple plastic tube you slowly slide down

a glorified playground slide. and tacky to me.

But i guess that's part of the Tate experience - great modern art and then something so nothing that it becomes a work of art.

Thank God they will be soon gone...oh really i guess i could care less... and to think of it they actually seem bizarre and i like that.
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Old Feb 21st, 2007, 09:11 AM
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PalenQ

I too was underwhelmed by the tubes when I saw them at the end of November. I did not realise that they were “special” – just thought it was a touch of the Disney to amuse the kids.
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Old Feb 21st, 2007, 09:16 AM
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I think they may have won the Turner Prize!
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Old Feb 23rd, 2007, 06:05 AM
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And about lines and reservations

In a Fodorpost a few months ago asking about reservations for these things...though you may be able to make them i saw nearly no one riding these things so you can just walk up.
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Old Feb 23rd, 2007, 06:57 AM
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If they won the Turner Prize I am disappointed - not a brick or piece of rotting flesh in sight!
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Old Mar 15th, 2007, 06:39 AM
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Just saw an ariticle on the Slides, apparently as they call it and not the Tubes:

five tubuluar spirals, one of which is 170 feet and on which riders balst up to 30 m.p.h.

Brainchild of German artist Carsten Holler who pontificates that 'slides should be taken more seriously as a means of transport (!!) and to fight stress and depression."

One of his slides has been installed in Italian designer Miuccia Prada's office and allows her to travel from her top-floor office to her car in seconds.

riders are stuffed inside canvas bags so they can't use their feet for brakes

rides will continue through apr 9, 2007 but there have been inevitable calls for them to become a permanent part of the museum.

The slides are part of the Test Site art exhibit.

www.tate.org.uk/modern
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Old Mar 15th, 2007, 12:21 PM
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you apparently did not ride them - right?? The only one you can "just walk up to" is #1 - the short wimpy one storey one.

For the others (and only 2 others are open currently - #3 is closed because another installation is in the way) you MUST get pre-timed tickets - one cannot just walk up and get on. Tickets are given out in the turbine hall and then you have to go up to the 5th and 2nd floors to get on the slides. Tickets are given out during the day and almost every single ticket for the next 3 hour period is gone w/i 30 minutes of the line forming.

#2 is shorter - and not overly fast but pretty quick. #5 is FAST and a kick. Neither one is nslow by anymeans. Looking at the slides from the outside does not give you any concept of what riding them is like.
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Old Mar 15th, 2007, 12:24 PM
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No i did not because i've had knee problems and don't chance it though they looked safe enough in that regard.

I saw the slides on all levels and folks were just walking up and boarding them without any reservations. In fact very few people were doing it and there was no one riding much of the time. But that was in January on a weekday.

I still think they aren't much but that's only my impression - maybe if i had ridden i'd have felt differently, granted.
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Old Mar 15th, 2007, 12:32 PM
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They had to give a ticket to the attendant before they could get on. No one can just walk up and get on. I rode them (twice) in Feb and both days every single slot was fully booked.

(If they looks so tame and slow and safe to you why did you have any concerns??) Trust me - slow they ain't . . . . .
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Old Mar 15th, 2007, 12:34 PM
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In retrospect i see your point - just as art i think they're zilch. like a swimming pool slide.

And then again i guess it makes a potentially sterile museum come alive and that was refreshing. But my comments were from an art standpoint, not as a thrill ride.
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Old Mar 15th, 2007, 12:56 PM
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because even on the slow ones it looked like you could be dumped off the end - unlikely but i couldn't take any chances. I've had two serious knee injuries and still have problems.

but whether they were slow or not and i grant you from the inside they must seem fast, as art they IMO stink - just another water park slide.

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Old Mar 15th, 2007, 08:43 PM
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here are videos of riding the slides

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibi...ler/video.shtm
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Old Mar 16th, 2007, 06:46 AM
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jainsi:

i was remiss even to talk about the actual tube ride - it did seem slow when i watched it but that may have been because no one was riding - every few minutes someone would blow by.

there was no one riding that day perhaps because that was the day of the 'blizzard' that dumped a few inches of snow on London and it was in the morning when the city was still in 'chaos' as the tabloids screamed the next day.

My tacky opinion is just my opinion of the artistic merit that i did not find in the slides...and i should not have even commented on the actual ride itself as it was peripheral to what i meant to opine.

Actually your comments have made me feel better about the tubes if not their artistic merit and i hope they stay in place as it does make the museum experience less sterile.
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