Hang up your headsets, turn down the volume. The sculptor Tony Cragg has pressed mute on the art audio guide. “I think they look sad,” Cragg told the Guardian. “The way I have met art and become engaged with it is just standing in front of an artwork and having my own experience. That is what is so fantastic about looking at stuff.” He continued: “To have things formatted with the opinion of someone else … why? Why do that?”
There will be no audio guides to his sculpture show opening this week in the grounds of Castle Howard in Yorkshire and no labels beyond a brisk list of title, artist and materials. Any more than that and you “mess up people’s experiences”.
There will be no audio guides to the sculptor Tony Cragg’s show in Castle Howard. Pictured: Cragg’s artworks, Outspan (right) and McCormack (left)
OLI SCARFF/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
I’m on