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Monday, 6 August 2012
Slow Boat Reaches London! .(scribbled at 20:20 )
After a staggering trek over 100 miles, Britain's coolest narrowboat (ahem, slightly biased) finally reached London after 2 weeks of not exceeding the 4mph canal speed limit.
Celebrations were due to be underway that Saturday afternoon, so I went over to the New London Architecture Centre on Tottenham Court Road that morning. Which was absolutely beautiful, I spent about half an hour just admiring Pipers Central London model (and searching in vain to see whether Finsbury Park had made it onto the 1: 1500 scale centrepiece. Alas, it only reached King's Cross...darn)
It wasn't just this display that was utterly brilliant though, the centre was filled with a wide selection of scale models of London's finest buildings, skyscapers and outdoor spaces. And if that wasn't fascinating enough ( I'm an architectural model obsessive so I won't waffle on too much about those...) the basement was filled with scale models of home that focused on the ideal energy efficient home. Okay, as I'm typing that it doesn't sound too thrilling but you just have to see it! It's so refreshing to see an organisation that really understands our needs for the future, and does its utter best to illustrate that through this media of beautiful models and displays (the mini solar panels were rather adorable too!)
Anywho, moving very swiftly back to tillers adorned with kingfisher decorations...
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Too cute to eat, surely?
A selection of sweet stuff prepared by the Chisenhale Crew |
Slow Boat is now in London until Saturday, so if any of you are around this area you should bloody go see it! It's not everyday that you see a floating radio station-come-art space. It's moored just behind Chisenhale Gallery, who have programmed an intense series of events between now and its departure this weekend. There's a film screening at the gallery on Thursday evening which I'll undoubtedly be heading off to see straight after work. Oh, and there's a talk about radio stations with the brilliant boat master (and canal extraordinaire!) Graham Fisher, who famously appeared on Julia Bradbury's Canal Walks last Summer. I also happen to know from experience that Graham is brilliant to talk to about the waterways over a nice brew...
After seeing the boat, I went along to Victoria Park with Ikon Gallery's youth programme and Propeller (Chisenhale's Youth Programme) to catch a bit of the Olympic screening on their huge screen... and engage in a but of public sculpture discussions, obviously...
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| Entrance at Victoria Park |
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| What I Wore Today: A breton top, because I actually have a Helmsmans Certificate. |
Anyway, things in Victoria Park were pretty cool. I've got such an urge to try out the (£15!) zipwire there, although I imagine I'll have a Boris Johnson moment and inevitably get stuck halfway...
The ska band by the main entrance were pretty awesome too, although this photograph I took doesn't quite show the capacity, the audience were fairly huge.
http://ikonslowboat.com/2012/
http://www.chisenhale.org.uk/
http://www.ikon-gallery.co.uk/Labels: AAD, ART DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE, Breton Tops, Chisenhale Gallery, Hertford Union Canal, Ikon Youth Programme, London 2012, NLA, Propeller, Slow Boat, Vermeer's Sponge, Victoria Park
Sunday, 29 July 2012
Happy Olympics!! .(scribbled at 21:38 )
It's now been 2 days since Friday's hysteria at the Opening Ceremony in Stratford, and as my tube rides around the city haven't been complete and utter chaos since then I've now decided the Olympics aren't so bad after all...
Regardless of how lazy this weekend has been, I don't think I can spare 4 hours with iPlayer absorbing Danny Boyle's extravaganza right now. But the beginning of Friday's events were pretty cool though. I actually left the house early to catch the
All the Bells event on my walk to work (my devotion to contemporary art astounds me sometimes...). If you live under a bigger rock than I do, then basically Martin Creed asked everyone
everywhere to ring a bell (any bell will do!) for 3 minutes between 8:12- 8:15am to celebrate the start of the Olympics. When I first heard about this, I thought Creed would want everyone ringing cowbells and other ridiculously loud instruments, but it was a whole different kettle of fish on Millennium Bridge: it was actually serene!
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Apparently Martin Creed was intending to ring his own door bell
incessantly for 3 minutes. Which doesn't surprise me. |
Undoubtedly the best 3 minutes I've had outside Tate Modern, everything was so peaceful in a bizarre way. On the top right hand corner of that photograph you see one of the many office-workers-that-looks-like-they've-came-from-the-opening-credits-of-the-apprentice ...but this was no ordinary suit. Yes, whilst people were crossing the bridge to get to work they jingled bells all the way. (apologies for pun, I'm too lazy to reword it now). Ditto cyclists, who also took time to gently tap the bell on their handlebar as a means of joining the camaraderie...
...and ditto that guy in the sunglasses who like me, just woke up early for Creed.
Mmm, I'm currently on a sugary high right now as I type. My landlady baked these scones earlier, and they are delicious . How I haven't gorged the entire lot is beyond me. Teamed with a sliver of butter and a lashing (or four) of your finest jam (I opted for Fortnum & Mason's strawberry variety, a gift from a brilliant friend of mine), I am absolutely certain that there's always time for home baked loveliness.
P.S, I saw Marcus Brigstocke at St. Pancras earlier!
P.P.S, I saw this on my street earlier. I think North London has a peculiar answer to Banksy who evidently feels induced by Flemish bonding...
Labels: All the Bells Millennium Bridge, ART DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE, Baking and Patisserie, CLOTM, Fortnum and Mason Jam, Go Lizzie Armitstead, London 2012, Martin Creed, Scones, tate
