Serotica. 2002
Exhibition for proposed Tate Modern musical with the chart hits of Steps. Curated by Kit Hammonds, Emma Mahony and Emily Pethick.
The Guardian Guide
Saturday March 9 - Friday March 15, 2002
Serotica: The Dream Comes True
The year is 1997, the place, a defunct power station situated on the Thames which will become Britain’s finest success story of 2000: Tate Modern. There’s been the book, the TV show and the T-shirt, now comes the musical, incorporating songs by Steps and a romantic story of lost love in the institution’s hallowed Turbine Hall. The work is the wild brainchild of conceptual artist Chris Coombes, who creates democratic artworks that blend high and low culture.
“It all started while I was working at Tate Britain,” he says. “There was such an excitement about Tate Modern opening and I began to feel sorry for the director of Tate Britain, Stephen Deuchar, who was being pushed out of the limelight.”
An installation charts in timeline form the rise of pop sensation alongside the construction of Tate Modern. JL.
17-25 Cremer Street, London
Saturday 9 March
Evening Standard, 7 March 2002
From Tomorrow – Art
Serotica: The Dream Comes True
You’d imagine there would be a certain amount of back slapping that goes on behind Tate Modern’s closed doors. Nicholas Serota’s baby has been a runaway success, converting hordes of visual-art virgins to the pleasures of taking in a show. Now conceptual artist Chris Coombes launches his new project – a musical that charts the rise of the Bankside phenomenon, set to the sounds of those fallen popsters Steps. It’s an unlikely coupling but, as Cameron Mackintosh has proved, the history of musicals is littered with such episodes.
Storyboards and videos will give viewers a taste of the drama to come.
17-25 Cremer Street, E2, 6.30-10pm Friday, noon-6pm Saturday
Tel: 07768 844014.
MetroLife, 8 March 2002
AND ANOTHER THING...
Serotica: The Dream Comes True
Artist Chris Coombes unveils a work-in-progress exhibition of Serotica: The Dream Comes True, a musical about the building of Tate Modern. And cunningly, he has broadened the show’s appeal by drawing parallels with recently defunct pop sensation Steps – as an illustrated timeline and video interviews with professionals who witnessed the fortunes of group and gallery will attest. ‘Director Lars Nittve leaving after barely a year of the gallery being open was a shock – Tate Modern and Steps really do seem to link at every turn.’
Tonight and tomorrow, 17-25 Cremer Street E2, tomorrow midday until 6pm, free.
Tel: 07768 844014
www.seroticathemusical.com
Tube: Shoreditch
Photographs below showing the 2002 exhibition at 17-25 Cremer Street, London:
Timeline showing Tate Modern’s origins in red alongside Steps in yellow.
Videos show interviews with Steps biographer and Tate employee.
Projection of Steps performance on white screen behind TV screens.
Storyboards describe scenes from the musical on mirrored mosaic tiles.