Review: The first emperor

It's taken me a while to get round to reviewing this exhibition at the British Museum, but as everyone and his mother was reviewing it a while back I decided to give it a whirl. So I grabbed my own mother and hot footed it down to Russell Square. The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army explores one of the greatest archeological finds of the 20th century and the man responsible for creating this amazing site: Qin Shi Huang.


China syndrome: Qin (pronounced 'chin') gave his name to modern China


Qin Shi Huang is a remarkable figure. He became king of Qin at the tender age of 13 back in 247BC. At the time what we know as China was a collection of warring states, of which Qin was one. The soon-to-be emperor set about unifying these states, and due to a combination of superior numbers and advanced weaponry the disparate territories fell to the Qin one by one. One of the improvements Qin Shi Huang introduced was the mass production of weapons, all were made to a blueprint so that if a part broke in battle it could simply be replaced, instead of rendering the weapon useless. The Qin were also extraordinary horsemen, giving them an advantage on the battlefield.

Qin Shi Huang united China in 221BC. He had built a network of palaces that reflected the constellations to illustrate his leadership over the heavens as well as earth. He also invented a new title for himself: emperor, to show his eminance over the other kings of China. While all this building above ground was going on, Qin was also having created an underground necropolis to cater for his death.

The tomb covers approximately four square miles; it took 700,000 conscripts 36 years to complete the mausoleum, and many of them would have been buried alive with the emperor (just one of the ghoulish facts you'll learn at the exhibition). According to Chinese historian Sima Qian, writing less than a century after the emperor's death, the tomb was filled with rare jewels, money, a map of the heavens and a map of China, with mercury representing seas and rivers. Along with all these riches, of course, were the Terracotta Army - a 7,000-strong regiment created to defend the emperor in death.


Toy soldiers: the warriors were mass produced, master craftsmen then added individual features such as moustaches or plaits




The head of one of the soldiers was discovered by a farmer in 1974, spawning an enormous exploration of the area. The exhibition charts this discovery and gives an insight into how the army was discovered and put back together. It shows how the figures were made, with each individual soldier given its own 'personality'. The First Emperor combines artefacts and information about the tomb, how it was created and the contents. The heart of the exhibition is a collection of terracotta warriors, and it is quite amazing to see them in formation. Each standing six feet or above, they are intimidating, even though their weapons have long since rotted away, and the level of detail is breathtaking - from their plaited hair to their hobnailed boots.

The audio tour, at £3.50, is definitely worth the extra cost. It contains much more information than that given on the cards describing each artefact and helps give a more detailed picture of the emperor and his final resting place.

The exhibition is fascinating, the number of exhibits and the trouble the curators have gone to to give a huge amount of information is incredible. And the down sides? Well it was very busy. At times it was simply a matter of standing in line waiting to see the next exhibit. And with all those bodies it got uncomfortably hot. But that's no reason not to go. And you really should, before these wonderful warriors return home, I can honestly say it's an opportunity of a lifetime. The exhibition runs until 6 April 2008 and tickets cost £12. I recommend advance booking.

So was Sima Qian right? Well as yet no one knows - the actual tomb has not yet been excavated. But tests have shown the soil to have an unusual amount of mercury.

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The British Museum

Art attack

Yesterday marked the beginning the Royal Academy’s 239th Summer Exhibition. Held annually since the RA was founded in 1768 under the patronage of King George III, the exhibition is the largest open contemporary art show in the world. Works from unknown artists are hung alongside those of famous Royal Academicians such as Tracy Emin and German artist Anselm Kiefer. Other eminent artists on show this year include Michael Craig-Martin, David Hockney and Jasper Johns. Any artist may enter work for the show and the majority of pieces are for sale.

Around 13,000 works were submitted this year, and it is the job of the committee, whose annually rotating membership of practising artists curates the show, to whittle this down to a more manageable number. Around 1,200 works are displayed, and one of the selection methods dates back to the RA’s earliest days. Two wands, one marked ‘D’ and one ‘X’ are used. Any work that manages three ‘D’s (for doubtful) make it through to the next round, while any which get the more ominous ‘X’ are returned to the artist.

This year’s theme was light, prompting the introduction of a whole gallery dedicated to photography. The works on display, however, will encompass a wide range of artistic media, including printing, printmaking, sculpture and architecture. Other features will be a gallery of works by invited artists, which will be curated by sculptor and Turner prize winner Tony Cragg RA. As per tradition there will also be a gallery celebrating the works of Royal Academicians who have died over the past year. This year Kyffin Williams RA and Sandra Blow RA will be remembered.

A highlight of the show will be Hockney’s 40ft scenic painting of Yorkshire, which will be the largest piece on display. The creations of the former Turner Prize nominees Tracey Emin and Issac Julien will feature alongside American artists Johns, Ed Ruscha, Robert Rauschenberg and Chuck Close. Edith Devaney, the head of the Summer Exhibition at the RA, said she was delighted by this year’s line-up. "There's nothing quite like it in the world,” she said.


Light fantastic: Jeppe Hein, Neon Mirror Cube. Mirror, stainless steel, neon tubes, transformers, 100 x 100 x 100 cm

The show runs until 19 August and tickets cost £7, including a list of works with details of every exhibit in the show. See www.royalacademy.org.uk for more information.

The saga of the slides - Part 2

It was a cold, gloomy Monday afternoon in February and I was sure I would get to go on the slides this time. No school holidays, people in work and a couple of months to go before the tourist season would begin in earnest, plus the intallation had been in place for a few months so surely, I thought, the interest had waned somewhat.

As you've no doubt guessed, I couldn't have been more wrong. I arrived to almost exactly the same scene as my previous trip to Tate Modern - queues to the door and families milling around waiting for their turn on these magnificent slides. People had come well prepared too; newspapers, books, drinks and snacks were all being consumed. These were no novice queue-ers, they knew exactly what they were doing and I felt quite the innocent abroad. I had no idea that queing could be such serious business.

There was no way I would get on the installation this time either - I simply hadn't put in the preparation. So I treated myself to some books from Tate Modern's wonderful shop and took some photos, and then went on my not so merry way. Heading back to London Bridge, however, I came across two attractions I'd never heard of before - the Kirkaldy Testing Museum and the Ring, London's first boxing ring, both of which are likely to appear in future postings here. So all wasn't lost, and I was reminded once more just how full of surprises London really is.

Saga of the slides - one woman's battle to ride the tubes

Art attack: Tate Modern
is the site of a new
sliding installation







Tate Modern's Unilever series has been phenomenally successful. This is a series of annual commissions sponsored by Unilever for Tate Modern's cavernous Turbine Hall. Unilever has been sponsoring these commissions since 2000, when the gallery opened, and they have generated a huge amount of interest. Olafur Eliasson, for example, had people sunbathing and picnicing in the glare of a huge 'sun' for his Weather Project installation from October 2003 to April 2004.

The latest artwork in the series is Carston Holler's Test Site: huge, tubular slides wriggle their way down from the upper floors of the gallery. Metal and clear perspex, the slides are pretty impressive simply as sculptures, but they're also interactive. According to Tate Modern's website, Holler is interested in both the 'visual aspect of watching people sliding and the inner spectacle experienced by the sliders themselves, the state of simultaneous delight and anxiety that you enter as you descend'. But more importantly, it's fun!

So, purely in the interests of research, I made my way to the gallery one Saturday a couple of weeks ago. It's free to go on the slides, but for the ones on the top floors you need a ticket. The queue to the ticket desk was huge, so I had a wander around the gallery, thinking it might quieten down. After a rather trippy hour in the newly hung Poetry and Dream room and a good few minutes walking up and down interactive installation Sliding Doors, a new acquisition for Tate Modern and also by Holler, I returned to the ticket desk. The queue was the length of the Turbine Hall. I gave up and went to Wagamama for lunch.

Watch this space for more adventures with Tate Modern slides...

Read more about Holler's commission here:
The Unilever Series: Carston Holler