Allez Les Bleus
I went to Trafalgar Square to see the new installation on the Fourth Plinth.
I was not impressed and I think it’s one of the post pointless pieces of art, I’ve seen since Carl Andre’s bricks or Equivalent VIII.
One point, is that my late wife would have hated it, as she hated live chickens with a passion. She felt they were OK though when they were dead and cooked on a plate.
It’s a bit crass to put a symbol of France in a square to commemorate one of Britain’s bigger victories over France. At least the England France rugby international in 2014 is taking place in Paris and hopefully this silly object will be gone by the time of the 2015 encounter.
One thing I did notice and that is there is only one clock in Trafalgar Square and that is on St. Martin-in-the-Fields.
Perhaps we need a properly designed clock on the Fourth Plinth!
The Expansion Of Tate Modern
The Tate Modern is being expanded as Wikipedia says here.
A bridge is being built across turbine hall to connect the new extension to the current galleries.
Three Reasons To Join The Tate
Obviously, if you join the Tate as I have, you get various advantages with the entry to exhibitions, but there are other less obvious ones.
In the Tate Modern, you get to use a Member’s Room with good views over the river.
The View From Tate Modern
This picture probably shows the Barbican and St. Paul’s better than the one I showed in the gallery. The Member’s Room also serves a mean cup of tea.
A Two Pound Pot Of Tea
At a mean price, I should say too, as I got two cups from the pot for just two pounds.
There are also two viewing galleries off the Member’s Room.
The Shard From Tate Modern
I only explored the South-facing one, which sadly is overlooked by the dreaded Shard.
Even if you’re not a member, the Tate has several cafes and restaurants and none seem to be small.
The Bold Millennium Bridge
The Millennium Bridge was not without controversy and many still call it the wobbly bridge.
But my walk shows how good the concept is and it was right to build a bridge there in the first place.
If you’re going to the Tate Modern, then in my view, it should be approached over the bridge.
It might be sensible too, to go back across using the new Blackfriars station, which is a bridge as well.
Or you could do as I did later and take the RV1 hydrogen-powered bus route to Covent Garden.
Through St. Paul’s To The Tate Modern
I went for a walk this morning, starting on the North side of St. Paul’s Cathedral and then over the Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern.
I’d actually never been in the gardens of the cathedral before, which connect the two sides of the building. As it was fairly early, it would have been a pleasant place to sit around for thirty minutes or so.
There’s more on the blue trees here.
The Dalston House Reaches China
I’ve just picked up an article on the Dalston House on a Chinese web site.
So I suppose we’ll now see Dalston Houses all over China.
The Dalston House Goes Worldwide
Type Dalston House into Google News and you don’t just find stories from the UK. There’s this story from the Baltimore Sun, which has an extensive set of excellent pictures, a long article from the New York Times, this story from India Today and another from the Daily Bhaskar.
Has Dalston now got its name into the news in such a way, that people will know where it is and something about the area?
It’s certainly all very positive!
Look At This Guy!
Everybody is getting into the swing of the Dalston House.
These two pictures show someone enjoying himself.
The Dalston House
I went to look at the Dalston House Art Installation by Leandro Erlich, this morning.
The idea is basically very simple. a fake house front has been created on the ground and a large mirror at 45° has been placed so that if you say sit in the windows of the house, you can see yourself sitting in the reflection.
It was fascinating and many of those exploring it, seemed to feel they were children again.
One of the best things, was seeing the expression on a three-year-old’s face as he walked towards the mirror, seeing himself sticking out of the wall.
I can see that this simple idea being replicated all over the world.
My mother used to work at Reeves just round the corner and she used to tell a tale about how an enormous German bomb in the Second World War, destoryed a lot of the area. I checked at the library and the whole site, where the Dalston House has been built was a bomb site. They have a copy of the LCC Bomb Damage Book, which is a must-read book, for anybody, who lives or is thinking of living in an area of London that suffered bombing.
And to make everything even better, there is no entry charge to see this unusual work of art.
You just turn up and play! But they do limit the time you spend walking up and down the house to five or six minutes!
Fotografiska
Fotografiska is Stockholm’s photographic museum. I like photography so I walked there from the station at Slussen. I must admit, I was drawn there by the adverts for a Helmut Newton exhibition all over the city.
Unfortunately, the city built a motorway, between the museum and the cliff face behind, so there are no buses. One of the staff told me, that the city is redeveloping the area and hasn’t made up its mind about the transport in the area.
The various exhibits were fascinating, but the Helmut Newton exhibition also included some portraits of the famous, including a striking one of Margaret Thatcher, which is shown here. I also like this quote from Helmut Newton.
Nothing has been retouched, nothing electronically altered. I photographed what I saw.
It is a good rule for a photographer, that they shouldn’t break.
There was also a restaurant with views across the city on the top floor. If I’d had more time, I’d have had lunch!
The Anonymous Widower 