Tag Archives: England

Top Exhibitions: William Blake At Tate Britain (Sept. 11, 2019 to Feb. 2, 2020)

From a Tate Britain online description:

Nebuchandnezzar by William BlakeAlthough Blake was considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, he is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. His paintings and poetry have been characterised as part of the Romantic movement and as “Pre-Romantic”. A committed Christian who was hostile to the Church of England (indeed, to almost all forms of organised religion), Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American Revolutions.

William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. What he called his prophetic works were said by 20th-century critic Northrop Frye to form “what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language”. His visual artistry led 21st-century critic Jonathan Jones to proclaim him “far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced”. In 2002, Blake was placed at number 38 in the BBC’s poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.

To read more: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/william-blake-39

World’s Top Exhibitions: “The Deep Listener” By Danish Artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Serpentine Galleries, London (2019)

deeplistener1Designed as an augmented reality and spatial audio work downloadable as an app for mobile devices, it is both a site specific public artwork and a digital archive of these species, using tools and platforms from a range of fields including video games, computer generated images and film. Inspired by ecological science-fiction and scientific research, Kudsk Steensen creates a form of ‘slow media’ that uses the technological to foster attention rather than distraction. 

...a journey to both see and hear five of London’s species: London plane trees, bats, parakeets, azure blue damselflies and reedbeds.

Kudsk Steensen has collaborated with the field recordist and sound designer Matt McCorkle to represent five species as sound. The audio and visuals within the project are drawn directly from organic source material gathered from a period of embedded research within Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. These organic materials are then transformed through digital processes to be re-embedded within the same context.

Download brochure: https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/files/press-releases/the_deep_listener_tdl_a5_digital_v2_final.pdf

Website: https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/serpentine-augmented-architecture

Top New Travel Videos: “The Coast Of Cornwall” Produced By IKWAI (2019)

Cornwall. Less Agatha Christie and more Poldark, you’ll stumble upon secluded fishermens’ villages and dilapidated copper mines perched on gustcliffs. The sea is never far. Seagulls’ cries echo wherever you go.

The Coast of Cornwall travel video by IKWAI 2019

And sheep decide to block your way on some lonesome road outside an unpronouncable town. Of course, there’s fish and chips (too much fish and chips). It’s pure bliss.

The Coast of Cornwall travel video by IKWAI 2019

Music: Tony Anderson – Younger

Website: https://vimeo.com/ikwai

 

Top Events In Europe: “Open House London 2019”, Free Entry To City’s Top Buildings On Sept. 21-22

From a TheModernHouse.com article:

Open House London 2019 collectionsRunning the course of a weekend, from Saturday 21st to Sunday 22nd September, Open House London gives the public free access to over 800 buildings in all of the capital’s 32 boroughs, ranging from the iconic (10 Downing StreetBarbican Centre) to the prosaic (a tour of Southwark Integrated Waste Management Facility, anyone?). To help you plan your weekend, here’s our edit of what to see at Open House London 2019.

https://openhouselondon.org.uk/

Goldfinger’s London
In the 53 years Hungarian-born Ernő Goldfinger spent in London, from his arrival in 1934 to his death in 1987, the man who unwittingly gave his name to one of Ian Fleming’s villains (so notorious was his temperament) made a profound and lasting contribution to the city’s built environment. Any exploration of his legacy should begin with a trip to the home he built for his family in Hampstead, 2 Willow Road, an efficient, well-proportioned modernist vision crammed with artworks by Duchamp, Moore and Ernst.

To read more click on the following link: https://www.themodernhouse.com/journal/what-to-see-at-open-house-london-2019/?utm_source=The+Modern+House+Newsletter&utm_campaign=510c9ffe5f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_08_18_07_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1141c98ca6-510c9ffe5f-95015105&mc_cid=510c9ffe5f&mc_eid=7dc3496ab5

Top Literary Podcasts: Critic James Wood On The British, “Etonian Entitlement” And Brexit

London Review of Books PodcastsJames Wood: These Etonians

James Wood recalls his time at the college, with David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and others.

Even at a place like Eton, it didn’t seem likely that anyone in my year would actually become prime minister. At school, everyone is ‘ambitious’, everyone loudly stretching upwards, but perhaps true ambition has a pair of silent claws. None of us identified David Cameron as the boy marching inexorably towards Downing Street. When he became Tory leader in 2005, I had difficulty recalling him: wasn’t he that affable, sweet-faced, minor fellow at the edge of things? I remembered him as quite handsome, with the Etonian’s uncanny ability to soften entitlement with charm. Mostly, he was defined by negatives: he wasn’t an intellectual or scholar, a rebel, a musician, a school journalist or writer, even a sportsman.

Website: https://play.acast.com/s/londonreviewpodcasts/6baeeb08-0fd4-4149-af9d-7074e15b6244

Future Of Housing: London Architect Builds Affordable Shipping Container Project

From a Dwell.com online article:

FBM Architects Vale of Aylesbury Housing Trust Container Low Cost Homes Front“The scheme provides much-needed single-person accommodations for social rent using converted shipping containers to create contemporary, environmentally-friendly homes in a desirable area near to local amenities and within walking distance of the town center,” explain the architects. The firm developed the design in consultation with local residents and stakeholders, and they previously completed a pop-up container cafe for Kingston University and volumetric student residential projects in Coventry.

London-based Fraser Brown MacKenna Architects (FBM Architects) recently secured planning permission to build eco-friendly social housing from recycled secondhand shipping containers in Aylesbury, a Buckinghamshire town located an hour northwest of London.

FBM Architects Vale of Aylesbury Housing Trust Container Low Cost Homes Cut Away View

The project is the latest effort by the Vale of Aylesbury Housing Trust to provide “quality affordable homes” to people in need. So far the nonprofit has developed over 7,000 affordable homes, and it hopes the green-roofed cargotecture homes will serve as an inspiring and replicable model for future development.

To read more click on the following link: https://www.dwell.com/article/gatehouse-road-shipping-container-homes-fraser-brown-mackenna-architects-a7afdd43?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily%20dose&utm_content=featurehed_6&utm_medium=email&utm_source=postup&utm_campaign=&list=1

Top Museum Exhibits: “Leonardo Da Vinci – A Closer Look” At The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace

From a Studio International online article:

Queen's Gallery Buckingham Palace Leonardo Da Vinci DrawingsThe 200 pages on display at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, have been together since the artist’s death. They were bound by the sculptor Pompeo Leoni in about 1590 and entered the Royal Collection during the reign of Charles II. Some of his most iconic images are here, including his study of a foetus in the womb, made as part of a treatise on anatomy that came close to being finished, but was never published.

Leonardo da Vinci: A Closer Look is a revolutionary re-examination of Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings, of his techniques and of his creative thinking process. It showcases 80 of Leonardo’s finest works on paper from the Royal Collection, using specialist photographic techniques to examine his working practices. One by one, Leonardo’s processes of creation are revealed, from his choice of paper and the composition of the specialist grounds used for his drawings, to his first touches in chalk, ink or metalpoint, and on to the finished compositions.

Many of these features are of course invisible to the naked eye, and have been so for centuries, ever since Leonardo took his pen from the paper. Infrared images reveal underdrawings unseen for 500 years, published here for the first time. Ultraviolet photography brings back to life now-vanished metalpoint sketches; while spectrographic analysis allows us to explore the origin and precise chemistry of Leonardo’s papers and grounds.

Click on the following link to read more:

https://www.rct.uk/visit/the-queens-gallery-buckingham-palace?gclid=CjwKCAjw1f_pBRAEEiwApp0JKFGfQ_3bnyjYHvJIjXDW4qtepjMp_Ve8k159h0DbrFQgC3Hsy9BQBhoC4BkQAvD_BwE