Category: Site_visit

29 Dec 2018, Tate Modern incl. Ice Watch (Eliasson & Rosing)

Posted on Posted in Exhibition_visit, Site_visit

29 Dec 2018, Tate Modern incl. Ice Watch (Eliasson & Rosing)

Tate Modern: “International modern and contemporary art”, www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern

“… is Britain’s national gallery of international modern art and forms part of the Tate group (together with Tate Britain … and Tate Online) … based in the former Bankside Power Station … holds the national collection of British art from 1900 to the present day and international modern and contemporary art … one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the world… Prior to redevelopment, the power station was a 200 m … long, steel framed, brick clad building with a substantial central chimney standing 99 m … The structure was roughly divided into three main areas … – the huge main Turbine Hall in the centre, with the boiler house to the north and the switch house to the south”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tate_Modern

2018_12_29 London (UK): Ice Watch
2018_12_29 London (UK): From Tate Modern

Olafur Eliasson & Minik Rosing: Ice Watch

“A public artwork … On the occasion of COP24 in Katowice, Poland, and the third anniversary of the Paris Agreement … Bankside outside Tate Modern – City of London outside Bloomberg’s European headquarters – 11 December 2018 until the ice has melted”, http://icewatchlondon.com/

Context: 3 Jan 2019, Φ Sojourn in London, 27 Dec 2018 – 3 Jan 2019

29 Dec 2018, Trafalgar Square: The Fourth Plinth

Posted on Posted in Exhibition_visit, Site_visit

29 Dec 2018, Trafalgar Square: The Fourth Plinth

2018_12_29 143254a trafalgar-sq-fourth-plinth
2018_12_29 Trafalgar Square: Fourth plinth

“The Fourth plinth is the northwest plinth in Trafalgar Square … originally intended to hold an equestrian statue of William IV, but remained bare due to insufficient funds. For over 150 years the fate of the plinth was debated; in 1998, the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce … commissioned three contemporary sculptures to be displayed temporarily on the plinth … In 2003, the ownership of Trafalgar Square was transferred … to the Mayor of London … this marked the beginning of the Mayor of London’s Fourth Plinth Commission … Under the stewardship of the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group, the following artworks have been commissioned:

  • 5 March 2015 – 6 September 2016, Hans Haacke: Gift Horse. Depicts a skeletal, riderless horse…
  • 29 September 2016 – 6 March 2018, David Shrigley: Really Good. A bronze sculpture of a human hand in a thumbs-up gesture, with the thumb greatly elongated…
  • 28 March 2018 – Present, Michael Rakowitz: The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist. A recreation of a sculpture of a lamassu (a winged bull and protective deity) that stood at the entrance to Nergal Gate of Nineveh from 700 B.C. It was destroyed in 2015 by Isis [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant], along with other artefacts in the Mosul Museum. Rakowitz’s recreation is made of empty Iraqi date syrup cans, representing the destruction of the country’s date industry
  • Planned for 2020, Heather Phillipson: The End. A dollop of whipped cream with an assortment of toppings: a cherry, a fly, and a drone. The drone will film passers-by and display them on an attached screen”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_plinth,_Trafalgar_Square

Context: 3 Jan 2019, Φ Sojourn in London, 27 Dec 2018 – 3 Jan 2019

28 Dec 2018, Φ ♣ Bloomsbury

Posted on Posted in Horticulture, Site_visit

28 Dec 2018, London:  Bloomsbury

2018_12_28 London (UK), Bloomsbury: British Medical Association building
2018_12_28 London (UK), Bloomsbury: British Medical Association building

Tavistock Square, with the British Medical Association (BMA) building and numerous momuments, including:

  • Virginia Woolf
  • Gandhi
  • Louisa Aldrich Blake
  • Hiroshima victims
  • Conscientious Objectors.
2018_12_28 London (UK), Tavistock Square: Virginia Woolf
2018_12_28 London (UK): Tavistock Square from Virginia Woolf’s perspective
2018_12_28 London (UK), Tavistock Square: Gandhi
2018_12_28 London (UK), Tavistock Square: Hiroshima victims
2018_12_28 London (UK), Tavistock Square: Louisa Brandreth Aldrich-Blake
2018_12_28 London (UK), Tavistock Square: Conscientious Objectors
2018_12_28 London (UK), Bloomsbury: Tavistock Square

Brunswick Centre: “… a grade II listed residential and shopping centre in Bloomsbury, Camden … located between Brunswick Square and Russell Square … The centre replaced streets of run-down Georgian era terrace housing … Building started in 1967 and was completed in 1972 … After failing to attract sufficient private buyers on time, the residential section was leased to the London Borough of Camden for use as council housing, while the developer retained ownership of the structure and shopping areas”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_Centre

2018_12_28 London (UK), Bloomsbury: Brunswick Centre
2018_12_28 London (UK), Bloomsbury: Brunswick Centre

Russel Square Station: Piccadilly line runs 175 steps below level ground.

Context: 3 Jan 2019, Φ Sojourn in London, 27 Dec 2018 – 3 Jan 2019

27 Dec 2018, London: Shoreditch & Spitalfields

Posted on Posted in Site_visit

27 Dec 2018, London: Shoreditch & Spitalfields

2018_12_27 London (UK), Shoreditch: Arnold Circus
2018_12_27 London (UK), Spitalfields: Christ Church
2018_12_27 London (UK), Spitalfields: Old Market
2018_12_27 London (UK), Spitalfields: Artillery Passage
  • Arnold Circus, with wooded mound and a bandstand. “Until 1891 this was the heart of London’s worst slum, the Old Nichol rookery. Nearly 6000 people lost their homes when the slum was cleared … The rubble from the 730 demolished houses lies under the bandstand” (Harper et al, p.209). Alternatively: “The Boundary Estate is a housing development in Shoreditch, formally opened in 1900 … The estate, constructed from 1890, was one of the earliest social housing schemes built by a local government authority … It replaced the Friars Mount rookery in the Old Nichol. It was built on top of the demolished rookery … It was, arguably, the world’s first council estate [Leo, https://dict.leo.org/englisch-deutsch/council%20estate: “gemeindeeigene Wohnsiedlung”, “Siedlung mit Sozialwohnungen”]. Soil from the foundations was used to construct a mound in the middle of Arnold Circus at the centre of the development, surmounted by a still-extant bandstand. The estate consists of multi-story brick tenements radiating from the central circus…”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary_Estate
  • Old Truman Brewery, http://trumanbrewery.com/cgi-bin/index.pl
  • Brick Lane / “Banglatown”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brick_Lane
  • Fournier Street, “an ‘east-end’ street of 18th-century houses in Spitalfields … named after a man of Huguenot extraction, George Fournier … the church of Christ Church Spitalfields at its western extremity … built between 1714 and 1729 … widely considered to be the highest expression of English Baroque architecture. … the Ten Bells public house … notorious for its connection with Jack the Ripper during the 1880s”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fournier_Street
  • Old Spitalfields Market, https://oldspitalfieldsmarket.com/. “Der Name des Stadtteils geht auf eine Zusammenziehung von hospital fields (deutsch „Spitalfelder“) zurück. 1197 war dort eine Abtei mit dem Krankenhaus Mary’s Spital gegründet worden. Seit dem 17. Jahrhundert gab es den traditionsreichen Obst- und Gemüsemarkt Old Spitalfields Market …“, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spitalfields
  • Artillery Passage, british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol27/pp226-236
  • Middlesex Street (formerly: Petticoat Lane), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petticoat_Lane_Market.

For the travel path, see Harper et al. (1998/2018): London. Lonely Planet, pp. 208-9 (reversed order).

Context: 3 Jan 2019, Φ Sojourn in London, 27 Dec 2018 – 3 Jan 2019

27 Dec 2018, Φ London Hackney: Ultra Low Emission Streets

Posted on Posted in Site_visit
2018_12_27 162525 hackney-ultra-low-emissions
2018_12_27 Hackney Council: Ultra Low Emission Street

27 Dec 2018, London Hackney: Ultra Low Emission Streets

London Borough of Hackney: Rivington Street

“We have launched 2 zones … that, during peak hours, will be restricted to walking, cycling and low emissions vehicles only (vehicles that emit less than 75g/km of CO2) … These zones, known as ultra low emissions streets, or ULEV streets, will prioritise low pollution transport, reducing the harmful effects of pollution … during commuting hours, making it easier and safer to walk and cycle and improving the character of the area for residents and businesses … ULEV streets will be in operation Monday to Friday, 7-10am and 4-7pm”, www.hackney.gov.uk/ulev-streets

Context: 3 Jan 2019, Φ Sojourn in London, 27 Dec 2018 – 3 Jan 2019