Some Bob Marley Connoisseurs Unimpressed With ‘One Love Experience’ At Saatchi Gallery

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Bob Marley

Even as some Reggae fans are voicing excitement about the Bob Marley One Love Experience exhibition underway at the Saatchi Gallery in London, there are other unimpressed connoisseurs of his music, who are claiming that the showcase lacks authenticity and is a disservice to his legacy.

The exhibition opened on February 2, just in time for the Gong’s 77th birthday, and will run until April 18.   Entrance fees range from £18 for a standard ticket from Mondays to Thursdays, while on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, standard tickets are sold for £24.  There is also a £90 entrance fee for the Live DJ Night, while access to the VIP room costs £50 and the ‘Expert Guided Group Tour fees run at £70.

The exhibition organizers have promoted it as offering viewings of unseen photos and memorabilia of the Jamaican legend, while promising to immerse audiences on a journey through his lifestyle, passions, influences, and enduring legacy.

The various showrooms include the Viewers, One Love Music Room, One Love Forest, Soul Shakedown Studio, The Beautiful Life space, The Concrete Jungle and Fan Art Exhibition, and the Next Gen Room which focuses on Marley’s descendants.

However, writing in the Financial Times, Ludovic Hunter-Tilney described the exhibition as “a new addition to the swelling ranks of so-called immersive experiences and that it provides a “thin and superficial immersion in the world of the Marley brand”.

In his article titled The Bob Marley One Love Experience — waiting in vain for the magic, he described the One Love Music Room starting point as a “desultory collection of memorabilia, which fails to do justice to Marley’s music career”.

He also appears bemused by a replica of the denim shirt Marley used to wear on stage,  which he said was “intriguingly donated by one of his daughters”.

“Did she buy this replica especially for the show?” he asked.

“In a nearby glass case is a battered acoustic guitar like the one he wrote songs on. Its caption ambiguously fudges whether it is the actual instrument he used. (It turns out it isn’t),” he added in voicing his astonishment.

He went on to describe The One Love Forest, as a “room where synthetic grass, a smoke machine, plastic foliage, insect noises and green lighting provide a dystopian approximation of the Jamaican countryside”, where smoking or vaping is prohibited, and where those who attempt it can “expect instant ejection and possible police action”.

He also points out that there is a “fake tree” in the Next Gen Zone”, later noting that “all the worthy curatorial stuff that frumpy old exhibitions provide in way of information and interpretation is missing”.

“The omission is deliberate. Bob Marley One Love Experience aims to make us feel the lived reality of its subject, not understand him,” he noted.

“Immersion means seeing the world through someone’s eyes rather than observing them as a spectator. There could be value in this approach if it were done well — but it has not been,” the critic noted, adding that: “costing £24 at weekends for a visit that the show estimates will last 40 to 50 minutes, this is not so much an immersive experience as an extractive one”.

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We were jamming all night long at the grand opening of the Bob Marley One Love Experience at @saatchi_gallery #bobmarleysaatchi #placestovisit

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The Guardian’s David Katz in his article titled Bob Marley One Love Experience review – corporate exhibition can’t satisfy the soul, a play on Marley’s 1978 song Satisfy My Soul, noted that there “are poignant objects and portraits in this ultimately worthwhile tour of the reggae icon’s life – but also ersatz recreations and shallow commerciality”.

“Aside from his date and place of birth displayed on a banner on the wall, there is precious little information about the man himself, though many may already be familiar with the tale,” Katz noted.

“The One Love Forest offers a chance to slouch on beanbags or mount a rope-swing, but we’re hardly transported to the Jamaican countryside; beneath the hazy green lights and chirping birdsong, the fug evokes disinfectant and artificial grass, the plastic plants reminding us that we’re in Babylon and not the idyllic hills of Nine Mile, where Marley spent his formative years,” he added.

He also describes the Beautiful Life zone, dedicated to Marley’s love of football and table tennis, as having “a gratuitous display of the family-sanctioned Adidas Ajax third kit shoe, situated “ironically beneath the song quote, ‘Don’t gain the world and lose your soul / Wisdom is better than silver and gold,’ which he said emphasised the tussles between art and commerce at the heart of the posthumous Marley industry.

“As implied by the name, the Bob Marley One Love Experience is not especially nuanced, nor trying to be deep; this is very much a commercial enterprise celebrating Marley as an industry success story as much as a creative force,” he noted.

“Nevertheless, the family-friendly format is inclusive (if not hugely instructive), and whether diehard devotee or casual listener, there is plenty to savour for an hour or two if approached with an open mind,” he added.

Over on the Saatchi Instagram page, there were many people, who deemed it an “amazing exhibition”, while there were those who, like the two writers, were not too happy with the quality, with one man describing it as “a load of inauthentic honkie drivel”.

“It’s very very bad. Like a child’s GCSE project. I was so disappointed as it told nothing of Bob Marley’s legendary life. Do not waste your money,” feefashionista said, while gareth.jones33 declared: “Terrible exhibition. Hardly anything of origin and just lots of printed up canvases with quotes. Lacked any substance…”

“This is the worst exhibition I have been to and learnt nothing whatsoever. What a wasted opportunity. Nothing original, no movie clips except one in the so called immersive room that was embarrassing. It was just set up for Instagram opportunities. Poor show Saatchi gallery. We deserve better for £26 😡,” carolyn0007 complained.

Another Marley fan apollothamc, said that the exhibit appeared too commercialized, noting that “it doesn’t feel right”.

“From adverts, to European football shirts, musicals now exhibits.. it’s not what Bob Marley stood for and the music tells us that,” he declared, while sandrajvmartin, giving it a thumbs-down, added: “The work looked great and the photos were beautiful but the exhibition itself was lacking in soul, it feels like it’s been stripped of its life, it didn’t feel authentic at all 👎🏽”.

Others took issue with the venue, noting that the Saatchi gallery represented Eurocentric ideals, in stark contrast to the Afrocentricity promulgated by Bob, arguing that the showcase ought to have been held instead, at the Black Cultural Archives “to build revenue for black businesses and communities”.

“Why not put it at the Black Cultural Archives – the Marley’s love money it’s hard to believe that Tuff Gong was their Dad smdh,” one woman said after learning that the Marley family was involved in the exhibition.

“Yuh see it! How can I as a Afrikan woman pay money to Saatchii gallery to see a rastaman who wanted to liberate his people through his music my knowledge of self won’t allow it. Just another platitude to make us feel ‘equal’ ffs smh,” talawa_001 contended.