Power Station

I managed to catch the China Power Station show in its last week at Battersea Power Station. The show itself was fairly dismal: the Chinese art world, it seems, is going through its deeply-tedious-videos-with-pretentious-titles stage. In one of the videos – which I’d assumed was shot in somewhere like deepest Shiangxi province – I recognised parts of the Lea valley in deepest East London, so God knows what that was about. Maybe it was all a cunning deconstruction of our preconceptions about what a Chinese art show should be like, and was in fact put together by an artists’ collective in Leytonstone. You can never be too sure in art galleries nowadays.

And then there was the wall of rotting apples, which was, well, a load of apples rotting away behind some wire mesh. Speaks for itself, really.

No, the main reason for going – and the reason it’s been such a popular show – is the chance to see inside the power station before they start tarting it up. I’d never been inside, or even up close, before – and I have to say it’s an amazing structure. Why we have to have the excuse of an art show to open the place up to the public I don’t know. Inside, with the mammoth chimneys against a clear blue sky, and flocks of pigeons wheeling around, it was spectacular.

Less spectacular was the blurb in the leaflet produced by the developers: “Power to the Imagination” (power – power station. Clever, eh?)

Imagine… from the place that produced the art of Damien Hirst and Lucien Freud, the music of Blur and The Rolling Stones, imagine what’s possible when imagination is unleashed. Imagine the future. Imagine a new London destination. Imagine one of the largest urban regeneration initiatives in Central London…

And so on. At least we’re spared “prestigious”, but really, would you trust people who can write guff like that? It’s not even clear what we’re going to be getting…

The Power Station is a catalyst, a place to expect the unexpected, to create possibility. Inspiring creativity, inspiring thought, inspiring people.

Or again…

At the heart of the Power Station will be an ever changing calendar of events – from art installations to spectacular shows – inspiring Londoners and visitors alike.

Here’s the project website, if you can stand the excitement.

I think I’ve just seen the best of Battersea Power Sation, as a wonderful piece of derelict industrial architecture. It could well be downhill from here on in.