24/7 Exhibition Somerset House

As part of my new year’s resolution to challenge myself culturally, I dragged my sister to the 24/7 exhibition at London’s Somerset House. The last exhibition I went to was at the Victoria & Albert Museum ‘You Say You Want a Revolution?’ and even then, it was only because I was offered a free ticket by a friend. Museums, art galleries and such like are not really my bag, although that particular one did do a very good job of recreating the three-day Woodstock Festival ‘of peace and music’ in 1969, which was quite fun.

24/7 – ‘A wake-up call for our non-stop world’ opened in October last year and is on until the end of February. It promises to explore the non-stop world of today and as someone who moans at my teenage children constantly for being on their phones, then find myself reaching for mine the second I have nothing to do, I thought this might be the perfect place to try and find peace in my self-inflicted busy schedule.

There are over 50 different works, all fascinating in their own way, but I admit I didn’t ‘get’ them all. I found the bunny rabbit sculpture made from computer dust strangely fascinating and laying on a vibrating bed, in the dark listening to a slightly freaky story, strangely relaxing. I did take issue (inwardly) with the claim mothers of new-born babies work 24/7, which is incomparable to any other job in the world and also a ridiculous requirement of a human being. My issue being no other job in the world is powered by the same emotion as motherhood.

The highlight for me was listening to the world hum the chorus of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, which was also the end of the exhibition and meant we left feeling enlightened and at peace with the world, before turning our phones back on and seeing what we had missed!

See www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/247   for details and prices.