Virgin Burners

Here is an article I have entered into the Guardian travel writing competition about my trip to Burning Man this summer:

This is not a city in the conventional sense. For starters it only exists for five days of the year. This is Black Rock City – the temporary community that emerges out of the dust of the Nevada desert by forty thousand odd travellers looking for a very different type of city break.

I have arrived at the Burning Man festival; an event so called for the burning of an effigy, that often appears in such lists as: “101 things to do before you die”. It is not a festival in the traditional sense, as it has no organised music or installations - instead it runs on a policy of ‘gifting’, where ‘burners’ bring and exchange artistic gifts in whatever way they see fit.

“That’s a bit hardcore for you!” was the damming response of a friend upon hearing that I would be travelling to Burning Man with my somewhat worldlier sister. I could not help think of these words as we wound down our window to meet our official ‘greater’ who was clad in little more then a leather thong.

This larger then life lady directed us to our camp on 10 and Detroit (the city comes complete with street names) and we made our way across the ‘playa’ in our shaky RV (caravan to you and me) approaching some indeterminate objects appearing out of a cloud of dust.

The sun went down as we set up camp and on seeing the stunning horizontal landscape with its red hues; I knew we were a long way from the muddy festivals of England.

The size of Black Rock City means that bicycles are essential for moving around easily – we had decorated ours with ribbon and flowers and, so that they may be seen at night, a copious amount of UV sticks. The first time we voyaged out at night out measly efforts were put to shame. Here is but a short collection of the sights that greeted us in the middle of the desert: a large mobile neon yacht filled with revellers (just one of the many so-called ‘mutant vehicles’); 50 foot flame throwers; a fully working grand piano; a plethora of stadium-sized sound systems and stages satisfying the hedonists; towering sculptures of silver dancing women; a phone box; and many economically dressed people.

And so for a week this surreal place became our home. At night we danced and were beguiled by the many spectacles of light and sound; at day we wondered the streets of Black Rock getting a massage at a holistic camp or becoming shiny at ‘glitter’ camp. It seemed as if there was a place to satisfy every craving and desire. By the end of the week I had been transformed- albeit temporarily- from a retiring wallflower into a free spirited ‘burner’.

Looking in the wing mirror as we drove away on our final day, dust had filled the sky and the mirage of Black Rock City was no more.

David Hockney @ Nottingham Contemporary

At Nottingham Contemporary they are currently showing a David Hockney retrospective until the end of January. For such a small exhibition which is held in only two of the rooms at the new gallery they really managed to create a narrative of how his personal art has developed over his career. I especially loved the piece entitled "Life Art for a Diploma" in which he mocks his lack of interest in his colleges life drawing classes which needed to be completed for his course. This showed a ironic and satirical nature of his work that later developed into his famous depictions of californian life.

A short but sweet little exhibition.

Nottingham Contemporary

This week a brand new contemporary Art gallery has opened in my old stomping ground of Nottingham. It sits on the crest of a hill which has provided the Caruso St John architects with a unique site that they have taken full advantage of. They play with its various aspects and levels; framing the appealing views with carefully placed windows as well as carving out some new rights of way for any pedestrian. Unlike the design of many contemporary art galleries the architects have not been brazen with its form- it sits comfortably within the existing skyline, yet not too comfortably that it is not intriguing. I especially loved the lace imprint made onto some of the exterior concrete panels, a little nod to its site on the edge of the old lace market.

All in all I can hardly criticise any initiative that adds exciting new architecture to the city skyline, let alone free Art to the residents of that city... a resounding thumbs up!

Quote of the Day

" A building should be to a city as a brick is to a brick wall"

- Mamdar Puranik

Radical Nature @ The Barbican

I trekked across London last week to catch this exhibition before it closed. Radical Nature: Art and Architecture for a changing planet was to me a bit of a disappointment. I don't want to be too harsh as individually there where some exciting pieces; instead my dissolution rests with the organizers of the exhibition, who put together something that was shoddily presented and with no real narrative to drive the spectator through the space. Dealing with such a relevant issue of the relationship between nature and architecture it failed to make any clear statement- most of the pieces being highly conceptual and unable to relate to contemporary life. The curators chose pieces that were not subtle about their chosen subject, In fact many seemed to shout "Im an artist dealing with nature!", an example of this poster art being the section of rainforest tipped on its side in Henrik Hakansson's Fallen Forest (2006). Having been to so many wonderfully exhibitions of late that employ a meaningful narrative that enhance the spectators experience, it was hard to feel that they had got the most out of this topic at the Barbican.

Telling Tales @ The V&A

This current exhibition explores the unique and high-end pieces of contemporary designers who deal with themes of opulence, fantasy and nightmare. We visited on a busy saturday afternoon which meant that the surreal atmosphere constructed by the curators was partly destroyed by the bustle of visitors. Spectators 'oohd' and 'arrd' at the sensationalist design pieces - a favorite being the bath in the form of a boat. Personally, I enjoyed many of the pieces, and found the theatrical stage set upon which they were placed was a good way of presenting them in there full glory. The latter part of the exhibition which dealt with the theme of nightmares was less successful in this regard. Pieces where obscured by fragmentary viewing windows which, instead of providing a justified framing became irritating, complicating the spectators experience to an unnecessary degree.

Serpentine Pavillion 2009

I went to visit the new serpentine pavilion last week with Ricardo and Beefy in a rare moment of sunshine across London town. It is designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA. By reading the information available I learnt that the intended effect of the thin aluminum sheets that forms the piece, was to blend into its surroundings - almost camouflaged. Although on first arrival you are met by an apparent airiness, as my friends pointed out, the low sheets and haphazard arrangement was somewhat imposing.

AA Summer Dazzler

The new summer pavilion is up in Bedford Square - and this year it is particularly stunning. It is a very sculptural piece that doesn't exactly provide shelter like a traditional pavilion. Instead, it creates an encapsulated space inside its undulating form. Reminiscent of Heatherwick's monocoque shell in his East Beach Cafe - the design was derived from organic forms such as driftwood. I specifically like the way the shape works around the existing lamppost on the square... although seemingly alien it manages to connect intuitively to its site.

Alcoholic Architecture

In a little shop off Carnaby street, Bompas and Parr - two predictably eccentric englishmen (pictured above) have created the first walk in cocktail! Once you arrive at your designated time slot, you are channelled into girl/boy changing rooms where you are given white jumpsuits (this in itself was very exciting to me). You proceed through the bar and down the stairs into a mirky basement where you enter a sticky room which is supposed to be like walking into a giant glass of Gin and Tonic- a solitary green light, a giant slice of lime and a big straw are within to add to the effect. The alcoholic vapour inside the room was definitely potent, though we couldn't be entirely objective as we had had some gin in liquid form a little earlier- dooogh! Although we were in an adventurous mood we didn't actually manage to stay down in the room for too long as it became quite claustrophobic and everything became sticky, which was not helped by the particularly humid weather outside. Alcoholic Architecture is really an interactive art installation that relies more on causing a stir then actual substance, however, I have to confess a weakness for a gimmick and this certainly fulfilled my sillyness quotient for a while.

(Photos provided by Fung Boy Ltd.)

East Beach Cafe

We went to this new beach side cafe in littlehampton today for lunch. It is designed by Thomas Heatherwick who is one of my favourite architects/designers at the moment. The cool sculptural shape (which has been likened to drift wood washed up by the shore) is made out of a rusted mild steel monocoque shell. Having looked at many photos of the building prior to the visit I was really surprised at its slender size, but my adoration of the design was not altered, plus - they have really good fish and chips which is always a nice bonus!

An Atlas of Fabrication @ AA

The current exhibition at my school shows the work of the Barkow Leibinger Architecture firm which is based in Berlin. It demonstrates the experimental nature of contemporary practices who spend a lot of time researching structure through materiality. The small exhibition reads like a catalogue of textures, rather than the integrated design of spaces - still, quite an interesting little show to fill up my lunch break today.

Portraiture . . . Aaaaargh!

I did this a couple of weeks ago and decided originally not to blog it, however, in the spirit of transparency and remembering that this is the year of trying I have decided to let you - my lovely 10 :( followers - to feast your eyes upon the archaic stiffness of portraiture.

Le Corbusier @ the Barbican

Until June a retrospective of the architect known as the father of modern Architecture is being held at the Barbican, which according to my tutor is a "truly atrocious space". Whilst trying my best to ignore the vulgar surroundings I observed his vast canon of work. I have nothing really to criticize about his actual buildings, not only because this would be blasphemous to any architect, but simply because they embody a theory that is still deeply engrained in the architecture of today. What struck me most poignantly was how his work encompasses so many different fields from poetry, writing, painting, photography through to furniture design. I love the idea that an architect must absorb themselves as much as possible in the culture and arts to understand the society that they are designing for.

"I am an acrobat of forms

 creator of forms, player with forms.

 Forms means to express all plastic emotion.

 Form, expression and style of the mind."

- Le Corbusier

Tomatoes!

If you are familiar with my obsession for this amazing fruit, you will understand the exclamation mark in the title. I requested to paint these today, and was surprised that Allen (teacher) took notice of my suggestion. . . My composition is definitely improving and I think that I am generally moving in the right direction - perhaps it was simply a case of being more excited about what I was painting.

Boom @ Royal College of Art . . .

This is the RCA's work in progress show before the final graduation show in june. The Architects were all dealing with themes of Boom and Doom: tackling how to design for a new rather depressing world of limited space, deforestation, lack or resources, etc. There was some interesting work in the Art and Animation sections, although I could not easily understand their development, as there was very limited information available. It seems that I am consistently drawn to work that clearly shows a process, which I find to be more accessible - at the RCA; this seems to occur most frequently in the work of the architecture students.

4 Green bottles . . .

Todays oil painting effort . . .

Palladio @ Royal Academy

16th Century Architect . . . nuff said!

Unveiled @ Saatchi . . .

Slipped my way across London on the ice, whilst my school was closed, to visit this exhibition today. At points the themes of oppression and conflict by the middle eastern artists was hardly subtle yet there were certain pieces that struck an emotive chord with me: the most obvious being the empty tinfoil vessels of women in prayer by Kader Attias; as well as Halim Al Karim's haunting triptychs of photographs. (Phone pics again - will try not to forget camera next time!)

AA Funkyness

Here are some cool temporary pieces that have been round the AA and are designed by some of the students in the school. The pavilion outside has been dismantled now, but I had my lunch on the cool polystyrene chair today. (photos from my phone - so apologise for the bad quality)

Hussein Chalayan

Tres cool retrospective at the Design Museum that I visited today . His dresses with Lasers and LED lights where amazing but I wasnt able to get a very good picture of them.