I've never seen a xenojelly before. I've never even heard the word. That's hardly surprising because both the word and the concept were made up by the artist Anicka Yi whose takeover of Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, fun though it was, could hardly be more ill timed.
If you were ever to create an exhibition that makes us of 'scentscapes' and invites use of the olfactory senses, the worst time to do that would probably be during the long tail of a global pandemic that has killed over five million people, over 142,000 in the UK alone, and at a time when, quite understandably, the wearing of masks is still advised.
Not least in Tate Modern. Not everybody was wearing them (Tate Modern don't set the law, that's the government's job and it's one they're doing horrendously badly) but I reckon about 90% of visitors were when I attended yesterday evening.
I was one of them so I can't comment on what the exhibition smelt like (my sense of smell is pretty weak at the best of times, I compensate with other senses - or like to tell myself I do) but I can report that the xenojellies and other assorted aerobes were rather enchanting. Children certainly seemed to like them. I saw one of them jumping up and down with uninhibited glee.
Anicka Yi's art is very undemanding. I found it relaxing watching these weird balloon things float up and down, back and forth, and flip their legs/tentacles/whatevers about. One even did a graceful little pirouette about twenty foot above my head. Balletic.
But as this is modern, or contemporary, art it's not enough just to enjoy the spectacle and move on. It has to be backed up with a load of bullshit. The word salad devoted to Yi's work starts off reasonably enough by asking what it would be like to live in a world alongside machines that are capable of evolving on their own (a pertinent question as AI develops) but it's not long before we're being asked to imagine scents sculpting the air and how visiting this exhibition may enhance our ecological awareness.
For me, ecological awareness is probably higher than it's ever been thanks to the climate crisis and if you're one of those people who aren't worried about it you're either stupid, selfish, or, just possibly, amazingly optimistic considering the current state of world politics. As for understanding how air works, I think it's safe to say we've all recently had quite a big lesson in that.
A much bigger one that Anicka Yi is ever going to be capable of teaching us. Despite her no doubt well meaning intentions. The tentacled machines/creatures are the xenojellies and the slightly grubby mushroomy ones have been given the name of planulae. The planulae were far less impressive as they seemed to just lurk around in the air like a bad smell.
Perhaps they contained a bad smell. Like I said, I couldn't tell. All grouped under the name aerobes, these planulae and xenojellies interact with us in ways we, apparently, can't understand/ Noticeably, they don't bump into either each other, us, or the walls or roof of the Turbine Hall. Every now and then one of them goes off to the back of the hall, descends into a covered up room, and, after a fashion, ascends again.
What are they doing in there? I, conspiratorially, imagined there to be humans in there servicing or repairing them but I don't know. The world of the xenojelly is as mysterious as that of the creatures from the deep sea that they seem to be inspired by.
Yi's worked with her studio, and a team of scientists, to bring these fabulous creations to life - or at least an approximation of it. You can simply sit and watch them float around - which is enjoyable enough although won't detain you for too long - or you could engage, as Yi would wish, with wider issues about ecology, AI, and the nature of the senses. If you're looking for the first then this show is a success. If you're hoping for the second, something a bit meatier, then it falls a little shy. For reasons we all know and for reasons that are not of Yi's making. Let's hope she's back with something even better - and at a batter time.
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