THE 'POPPIES'

09:57A
soo
I was thinking

09:57B
yes

09:57A
we hadn't talked about the poppy show
that was the first one wasn't it?

09:57B
yes
maybe I can't remember
but we can talk about it

09/01/2015 09:58A
sure
so what did you think?

09:58B
what was the actual title?

09/01/2015 09:58A
hmm
let's see
"Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red"

09/01/2015 09:59B
ok

09/01/2015 10:00A
thoughts?

10:00B
I remember I just happened to be walking past it before we were supposed to see it for the course, because I live not far from the Tower of London

10:00A
ah right

10:00B
and I didn't know anything about it
so I was just looking at it from a purely visual point of view

10:01A
And what did you think then?

10:01B
being completely ignorant of the meaning
I really liked it
I mean I was very impressed

10:01A
Yeah I think it was very overwhelming
I think having some idea of the concept I couldn't really read it on aesthetics

10:02B
yes exactly, I liked it at first, but then as soon as I found out what it was about it became a lot less interesting

10:03A
I think the more I knew the more I disliked it too, I just didn't emotionally respond to begin with

10:04B
yes true, I don't think it was a piece that was emotionally engaging, at least not to me. it was perhaps beautiful to look at or impressive
and then I looked at the video on the website and I found that really boring

10:05A
Undoubtedly impressive, due to the scale

10:05B
the way thy talked about the whole thing

10:06
The video was not a good support for the work
It seemed as shallow as the work for me

10:06B
I know they were talking about the process
but yes, it was incredibly shallow
I thought they were going to explain their reasons for making the work

10:07A
Hang on just googling to see whether the Tower of London actually had anything to do with WWI

10:08B
they probably used it in a way or the other?

10:08A
yeah sure they must have
let's see
it served as a prison and execution site, but not on a large scale
11 people executed
so I'm not sure how the work is entirely site specific

10:10B
I think they used the site because it is impressive and because it is iconic?

10:10A
I'd say it was a business strategy

10:11B
iconic of London I mean
not of WW1

10:11A
to sell the flowers
yeah definitely
a tourist and commercial kinda hotspot
I am suspicious that the whole exhibition/installation was to run at some profit

10:13B
yes I heard someone in the seminar saying they were announcing the 'poppies' in the tube and stuff

10:13A
and really as a result exploited volunteers
yes

10:14B
what did they do with the poppies after the show was taken down?

10:14A
they sold them

10:15B
just to whoever wanted to buy them?

10:15A
for 25 pounds
yeah

10:16B
and who got the profit?

10:16A
100 000 of them sold
1/3 went to a foundation I think (my memory is scratchy)\
and the remainder of the money was known supposedly to cover costs? but then certainly a big profit on that too
considering it was a volunteer project

10:17B
yes and probably the materials used weren't that expensive

10:17A
Ten per cent of the sale price, plus all profits, will go to six service charities: Combat Stress, Coming Home, Help For Heroes, the Royal British Legion, SSAFA and the Confederation of Service Charities (Cobseo).
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2718744/Charities-set-receive-millions-100-000-people-buy-25-ceramic-flowers-Tower-London-s-sea-poppies-display-memory-WWI-dead.html#ixzz3OH6a6Djy
Ceramic artist Paul Cummins, left, from Derbyshire, had the idea for Blood Swept Lands And Seas Of Red when he read a soldier's will.

10:18A
really cheap
I mean 888,246 of them, assume they sold them all- that's a huge profit!

10:19B
according to that article, all the profit went to charities though or most of it

10:19A
I think there was some profit made
I mean that's the daily mail
I think that there was one particular individual
and then he sort of escaped to the alps when he was questioned I remember reading?
I can't find the article though
he made something like a million pounds out of it

10:21B
really?

10:21A
yeah
this wasn't the article but http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2754319/Just-Tower-poppy-cash-going-help-heroes-So-WILL-pocketing-rest.html

10:23B
anyway, it's interesting to see what kind of a response this type of work had
something like this wouldn't probably have had the same impact say in Italy

10:24A
no definitely not
I think it kind of romanticised war, which I don't respond to well either
in saying that, memorials are difficult

10:25B
yes, there is always a big dose of romanticisation

10:26A
totally

10:26B
I mean the only thing I don't completely get, but then again I don't have any direct experience, is the fact that soldiers are automatically heroes if they die

10:27A
Yes, I think it's not too different to what's going on at the moment with extreme islamists dying for allah? Maybe?
bit far fetched

10:30B
I think it's more the response of the country, like, the soldiers of one's own country are heroes
but the others aren't

10:30A
yeah totally

10:32B
I don't know, I guess maybe that's the whole point of war

10:32A
I don't know there's no right or wrong, I don't understand it that's all!

10:33B
to claim one's own property as a country. so it makes kind of sense

10:35A
Antoinette Barboutis
yes