At the time of typing this on a sunny Saturday evening, 117 miles in Birmingham away a 72ft narrow boat had began making an epic voyage at an average speed of 4mph...

Meanwhile 117 miles away in London's Whitechapel Gallery, I was listening to a lecture given by William Mann (of Witherford Watson Mann Architects) entitled Piece by Piece: The Case for Incrementalism. 

Lloyds Building: the epitome of adaptability? Img courtesy of Wikipedia

Beginning with an anecdotal talk about the rich history of East London, Mann spoke about a need for adaptability in the buildings that we inhabit ourselves with. Using Whitechapel Gallery as a paradigm for this, he explored the notion of rather than buildings being fit for one purpose, we should look to buildings as a structure which can at times, be flexible. We are rapidly expanding, and are thus building upwards to accommodate more of our daily needs as a society.

There were mentions of old and new buildings co-existing harmoniously (like The Whitechapel, which used the old Passmore Edwards library next door to form its great expansion plan during 2007-2009) Mann's talk shifted slightly, with a gentle reminder that nowadays buildings are simply knocked down altogether and rebuilt, rather than adapting them to fit the needs of the contemporary user. Buildings with a lifespan of no more than 25 years are becoming depressingly common...

Not long after this, Mann had delved further into how space is used in East London, with particular focus on the developments around Shoreditch between the 18th and 20th Century. Myself (and the rest of the audience included) laughed with Mann as he wittily remarked that on Commercial Street 'a bombsite had been transformed into a NCP car park'.

La Sagrada Família: Still a building site after 130 years

Just as we were learning more about the peculiarities of land around Stratford , the talk was put on a momentarily pause whilst the sounds of cheer and applause radiating from Whitechapel High Street became too loud to bear: the Olympic Torch had just passed us by.

Mann also argued the case that when the structure of a building has been complete, this is in fact the beginning of its life rather than the end. If buildings do in fact continue to grow, expand and develop then we can't assume that just by laying the foundations of a building that this process of development has truly started.... which kind of got me thinking about my trip to La Sagrada Família last month. Gaudí began this monumental basilica back in the 4th quarter of the 19th Century, and yet still it is incomplete. But we generally do not regard it as incomplete; it is visited by thousands of people each week, and even though it is essentially a construction site, it's frequently used by Roman Catholics as if it were whole.

Anyway I'm just going to sign this bit off with a brilliant quotation from the beginning of the lecture, regarding Stratford and its immediate surroundings:

It's a landscape like no other I've seen before in London... a landscape of juxtaposition.

(William Mann, 2012)

From Landscape to PortraitChris Wilkinson (RA) Price: £180, 000

From Whitechapel, I went straight to the Royal Academy for their late opening to catch this year's grand Summer Exhibition. If last year's 2 1/2 hours spent there was anything to go by, I figured that it would be best to allow at least that much time to look around this year.

Now, whilst I have every intention of writing an excruciatingly long write up of what I thought about the works, I've decided to keep it sweet with my three favourite pieces.

© Katharine Morling

Above is Katharine Morling's edition of 100, simply entitled Matches. I actually hadn't even noticed this work at all when walking through the galleries- it was the 50 red stickers next to the work that caught my eye (NB: a circular red sticker in the galleries indicates that a work has been purchased). On closer inspection, we see that Morling has delicately handled the ceramics to create this work. It is subtle, unpretentious and to be frank: quite cute.

©ARTnet.com

Who doesn't love Johannes Vermeer? This contemporary take on the classic Milkmaid by Raeda Saadeh is brilliantly put together.

And my third favourite work? Is a piece by Yosef Cohen called 'The End' which sits in its main exhibition space (Room 3). I've yet to find an image of it, but the work can be viewed on Cohen's website here. Being the cold, unemotional soul that I am, it's rather rare that I audibly react to artworks. But Cohen's work even made me chortle a wee bit. It basically consists of the shell of an alarm clock mounted to the wall. The time indicates that it's 10:40, and we see the second hand ticking from where the '6' would be on the clock all the way through to '10'. And then the second hand falls limply back to where it began, repeating this process... the clock has a mere capability of 20 seconds.

Of course, just like last year there were some brilliant works by Wearing and Craig-Martin. But less so by Martin Creed, who for this year had put one of his neon signs on sale for the exhibition. This one being 'Work no. 623, DOGS', which flashed in a vivid shade of green.... it's £66, 000 (and an edition of 3 as well). I much preferred his stacked chairs from last year's Summer Exhibition (alas, I can't remember how much those sold for).

...and then I cycled through Hyde Park during dusk on the way back. Twas lovely.

Labels: AAD, ART DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE, Gaudi, Hyde Park Cycling, Slow Boat, Summer Exhibition Royal Academy, Whitechapel Gallery, Witherford Watson Mann Architects