saw the Monsters of Folk on tuesday. felt like an age since i last went to a gig (though i think it was only late summer, Tindersticks), i finally get to see the inside of the Troxy. it was good, there is more to write later maybe.

went drinking last night with current and former office colleagues. one of the good things about this place is the comraderie and genuine affection the workers have for one another. although it takes some getting used to and has definite downsides regarding personal/professional boundaries etc. glad to see some old faces, but was super-tired all day, and 3.5 pints later was ver drunk. ah well. don't feel too bad today but a mild hangover is indicated by my lack of disposition to do anything, and frequent typos.

some of these are good: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/openletters/

and, my painter friend is in this show, at orbital comics, ends on monday: http://www.dansemacabre-art.co.uk/dm_london2009.html go see it.

now, to work out how to get to Longstowe tonight, and Burwell tomorrow. should i try and get a lift, or just accept that there will be a lot of cycling tomorrow (Longstowe-Cambridge-Burwell-Cambridge)...?

Sophie Calle exhib at Whitechapel
Points of View: Capturing the 19th Century in Photographs at the British Library http://www.bl.uk/pointsofview/
Photography collections at the Victoria & Albert Museum http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/photography/
Of Dreams and Cities at BFI Southbank http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_southbank/film_programme/november_seasons/of_dreams_and_cities
Garry Fabian Miller (photo that was in the overview permanent stuff at V&A titled "Breathing in the Beech Wood, Homeland, Dartmoor, Twenty Four Days of Sunlight")
http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/photography/past_exhns/miller/index.html
http://www.jameshymangallery.com/pages/exhibition/760.html

archity:
http://www.horhizon.com/
http://cfd.wimbledon.ac.uk/ - centre for drawing
http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/sophie-calle-talking-to-strangers

i like this project: making useful and fun stuff from the Olympics site bright blue hoarding as the contractors are taking it down. http://superniche.org/2009/08/24/the-blue-fence-project/

also - a chance (if more tickets appear) to see the Kingsway subway, on until 8th November. http://measure.org.uk/measurenews.html

saw 3 exhibs last week:

Sarah Oppenheimer and Yuko Shiraishi at Annely Juda, very quiet when it's not a David Hockeny show... the piece of gallery floor, lifted, shaped, cut for views, looking a bit like some high-tech stealth aircraft, was rather good, wedged into the gallery. and a small maquette unfolded flat in a frame, showing the skeleton (although it was flat against the wall and looked like it should have been lifted away, like its life-size version). The Space Tea House was alright, in a way it should have been better, but it was in an airless gallery, isolated, when it seemed like it should have been installed on a rooftop (Annely Juda has some fine rooftop views) with the damp grey sky occuppying its wirey thin frame.

Castellani Flavin Judd Uecker at the Haunch of Venison - occupying bits of a ground floor wing and upstairs. i like the way those minimal installation pieces blur into the gallery - the round glassy CCTV camera in the corner, and the old lighting tracks in the ceiling, all getting absorbed into the work, no edges. There was a funny inbetween windowless room - just a small lobby between two other rooms, with open doorways into each - with green fluorescent tubes diagonally arranged on the wall (must've been a Flavin piece) which had the rather entertaining effect of making the rooms either side really pink. even when you know! brain - stop trying to white-balance the green! amazing really. and there's a funny little ping! when you leave and see out of the window and everything is normal again.

okay, lastly, Rosalind Nashashibi at the ICA. much better than i was expecting - good little incidental moments. a big room downstairs with a projection room in the middle and projectors facing 3 of the walls. peering into the projection room, what appears to be a leak or incidental reflection of the side projection, overlaid with the light coming through the fan bit (stripey), it must've been deliberate, a proper projection and a little one going the opposite way, but i couldn't work out or quite see how. starting with the glass window right infront of the projection lens tilted at about a 45degree angle though, perhaps. and the other two projectors played alternately, and while the other one played you could sit on the bench facing the non-projection - just a white rectangle painted on the grey wall, and watch the colours of the rectangle shift and change with the reflected light from around the room. Upstairs, an absolutely genius piece - so simple and perfectly executed. 16mm film of a woman, mostly seen from behind, walking around Southbank. not continuous, nicely edited, and with sound. plays as a continuous loop (here's the genius bit) on two projectors, projecting side by side. they weren't protected so it was as fascinating to watch the film wind diagonally across from one to the other, as to watch the projected film repeat perfectly and inevitably , never catching up, side by side. near the beginning there's a bit where the film judders and the projector rattles - must be something to do with the sprocket holes out of line - and of course it does it a few seconds later on the other projection. dunno why but that especially pleased me... worth seeing.

went to Kettles Yard on sunday to see upside down / inside out, which was lovely, especially the Winnifred Nicolson flowers on a windowsill (hung on the wall facing Castle Hill to be seen from the pavement) with sunlight through leaves and tissue paper, the gathering in one room of Kit Wood and Alfred Wallis paintings, and in the house, particularly the beautiful black and white pinhole photos of the house by Kathryn Faulkner, hung in visual echoes, and the grouped Edmund de Waal ceramics, at once domestic and refined. actually, there were a lot of echoes, what with photographs of the place hung in the place, or in a nearby room, or captured in a little camera obscura; paintings familiar from the house hung in the gallery; repeated motifs of collected pots, fake pets, glossy black acrylic screens across different rooms... it reminded me that a similar thing happened, albeit in a much more contained way, at the Roni Horn exhib earlier this year. Bought "Light Spells" last year, and really should look at it properly.

was referred to as a "gentleman" upon entering KY house. for a moment i wonder which of us, out of Liv and myself was the lady and which the gent, but i figured since i wasn't the one wearing the partly-pink swishy skirt, it was probably me... this sort of thing doesn't surprise me when people aren't really paying attention, but the other day i was in a bar/club, can't remember where but it had a toilet attendant. i was in there washing my hands and she said "are you a boy or a girl" "what?" "are you a boy or a girl?" "oh. um, a girl" (me looking confused). bit of clue there - i'm in the ladies aren't i? meh, whatever.

Kathryn Faulkner has been up to some good stuff in the several years since the Light Spells work, must keep an eye on it: http://www.kathrynfaulkner.com/

"film artist" Rosalind Nashashibi is showing at the ICA til 1st Nov. looks good?

i haven't done much of what i wanted to, again.
anyway, this weekend i want to get to:
David Byrne's installation at the Roundhouse - last day monday
Richard Long at Tate Britain - ends next weekend

and at some point:
SANAA Serpentine pavilion until 18th October
Upside-down/Inside-out at Kettles Yard House and Gallery (things swopped around, things you can't normally see on display, special installations... ), until 27th Sept

At the weekend, among other things, i went to the Walking In My Mind exhibition at the Hayward. It was good in parts but overall a bit disappointing. A few things that frustrated by not being as good as they could have been or indeed just plain irritating. I enjoyed last year's Psycho Buildings better (close enough for comparison). The absolute stand-out stuff for me was by Charles Avery - sculptures and drawings making up a fragmentary picture of a fantastic island, the hunters, tourists and wildlife. His drawings are an absolute dream, i was surprised to find out how young he is - something in the way of capturing expressions and postures, line and white combined with sparse wash (or maybe it's his name!) reminds me of old-school cartoons. i also enjoyed Bo Christian Larsson's installation (squashed owls and illogical chains) and there were some impressive parts of Keith Tyson's wall of paintings.

Guardian piece on Avery
Doggerfisher - Charles Avery images and biography

this was going to be a collection of stuff that i'm going to see in the next few weeks or so, but on current form, it might just be a list of stuff that you could see, if it's your sort of thing.

EXYZT, those crazy french activist-architects that brought you last year's Bankside Lido, return with the Dalston Mill (til 9th aug). as far as i can tell, it's just east of kingsland rd, north of dalston lane. open 2-10pm everyday, bar thurs-sun. the event that looks most interesting is EXYZT and celine condorelli in conversation, 2nd august.

as previously posted, current Hannah Barry Gallery exhibition Bold Tendencies III is installed in the top couple of levels of the Peckham Rye carpark (at the multiplex). complete with rooftop bar and gorgeous sunset views. til 30th sept, open 11am-10pm, Thurs to Sun.

some little installation things, called Tides and Times, at Southwark Cathedral,
Somerset House, and Southbank. with films by kids and stuff. not sure when it's on til.

the superstar pavilion - SANAA at the Serpentine - on til 18th october

now for the not-free stuff:

Richard Long at tate britain til 6th sept.

Walking In My Mind at the hayward til 6th sept.

Radical Nature at the barbican til 18th oct. last couple of things i've been to at the barbican i've been disappointed by the curating/installation/attitude. still, it sounds promising, and potentially rather relevant to next year's unit...

the last couple of hours have been tedious. there's been too much to do this week and very little of it's been done, so i thought i'd stay a little late, but i've just been staring into middle distance and feeling tired. ho hum. a little update and then a final burst of productivity and then chucking out time...
tuesday night went along to the opening of the Hannah Barry gallery's summer sculpture (and other art) show. i was at their painting exhibition a few months ago and Sven, the co-owner, got chatting and said i should come to it. he was unusually chatty and friendly for a gallery owner... they've made quite a name for themselves in the last year and a little bit since they've been open, with reviews in the FT, outpost exhibition in the west end (2 doors along from Annely Juda), a showing at the Venice Biennale this year (the "Peckham Pavilion") and more good review. both notably young (25 and 30) they seem to just have loads of reasonably talented friends, connections, and aren't afraid of just doing stuff.
so, the show, it is "Bold Tendencies III" and it is on the top 2 levels of the carpark in the Cineplex on Rye Lane, Peckham. Very good indeed, a single scruffy lift (packed with visitors) takes you to level 6 (it's actually only the 2nd floor - they number the half-levels and start from ground) to a dark concrete car-park, with only one car parking there tonight, but dozens of nice-looking bikes looked to every available drainpipe and railing (you know the ones, retro or actually old and reconditioned, racer or touring, that mostly boys with skinny jeans and interesting but not ridiculous hairstyles and plaid shirts ride - oh wait, everyone's in plaid shirts this year) and the occasional security guard in a dark, smart suit. the visitors are all sort of flowing up the ramps towards pieces of gently glowing art, or groups of friends and acquaintances. the low concrete ceiling and plain half-height wall frame the views of a big artist-occupied warehouse across the railway line, and peckham in the sunset on the other side. My favorite piece in this dark space was a big loop of 8mm film projecting (business card sized) a sea view against a concrete column. a metal pipe played the sound of trains from the direction of the railway, but it was a small tape player stuck to the end. Piano wire stretched across vibrating gently, glimmering slightly in a carfeully placed light (how long before someone walks into it though). Big paintings and a bus stop style light-box. Even a small bit of white-walled-gallery installed (Andrew thought he recognised the work from the Camberwell degree show). local kids and older gallery visitors and lots and lots of art students. Circling up the ramps again to the very top, and the art is pretty much inconsequential: it's the top of a carpark, it's summer, there's a sunset happening and a couple of hundred kids hanging around noisily. there's even a bar, very nicely built in timber with a red canopy like the Rialto fish market, but it's too busy and they've run out of beer. the kids the kids, they are all good-looking. is like being on the set of Skins (not really but a little bit). Andrew said "Even the ones who aren't good-looking are good-looking. I don't know how they manage it."
If you're in the area, check it out. it's on til end of September. i think i'll go back, i'm curious whether it will be busy or not.
i noticed it a lot that night but i've been noticing lately that my person-recognition seems to be malfunctioning slightly. i think i recognise everyone, or that they look familiar, or like someone i know. Familiar strangers. maybe it has something to do with commuting where you do see the same strangers day after day, but it might be more than that. i even think i know people in adverts, is a strange feeling.
i was halfway up to kingsx and i was tired, i decided to stay over in london. realised too late that i had left tickets for the next day at home... so did a bonkers run up to cambridge and back down again in the morning before work. gah. i thought i would have more sleep than that.
so yesterday, it was back to hyde park, to see the Tindersticks and the unlikely return of Big Star. i was just heading there when my sister texted - she was on her way to see Take That at wembley! blimey. apparently on my recommendation (even though i've only seen them on TV). anyhoo, she hadn't thought to tell me, eh, but i was heading for a rather more sedate evening. oh, i've woken up a bit now, better do some work for a bit, more later...

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/kuniyoshi/
saw it on sunday. was really good - had vaguely been meaning to go but felt £9 rather a lot for a load of 19thC prints, but actually really enjoyed it (so if you've been thinking that get down there - closes this weekend). nice snippets of context and visually very engaging. tired eyes looking at fine detail in dim lighting though...
caught the last half hour of the Jerwood painters show, which... well there was one or two good things, but generally i like to go to stuff like that to see what there is out there and it always makes me think i should do something....

other than that it has been a weekend of spotting good tattoos: guy with geometric small triangles decoration either side of his neck made him look kinda reptilian crossed with Maori, guy with a map of the world outlined on his arm, girl with a really delicate (indigo but quite pale) tree on her shoulder/arm, fine branches spread across back. girl i sometimes see on the underground with fifties sailor type motifs but more flowers, lots of bright colours, there's an awful lot of it (across chest, shoudlers, arms) but it's very pretty.

and i'm shedding pens and jumpers. i think my grey hoody is somewhere in school or else lost on transport last week, and anorak in kennington. hmm.