Tag Archives: Culture

Peter Aspden & Bettany Hughes debate luxury & culture at the V&A Museum

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 Thursday 6th September, 3.45pm
 V&A Museum
What does it take to create something of note? 

That is what Frost went to find out.  Arts & culture commentator Peter Aspden and award-winning historian Bettany Hughes were a great match together. The bounced off each other perfectly. Peter noted iconic moments in history – Elvis Presley singing Hound-dog to an actual hound dog, Michael Jackson – and Bettany, just back from a trip to Albania funded by Lord Rothschild,  certainly knows her stuff. Things I found out from her during the debate: it took 18 years to build the pyramids and they were made not by slaves as is popularly thought, but by citizens of Egypt for the gods.

While Peter said we should not be beholden to the past, Bettany said: “we live with the past, it is in everything we think and do”.

It was a lively debate with lots of good questions being asked. Chivas Brothers hosted the event at the beautiful Victoria & Albert museum. Chivas Brothers certainly know about good things taking time. Their whiskey takes 20 odd years to make. I saw one bottle which was thirty years old. They started making whiskey in the 1800s. They are now in the top 3 whiskey makers in the world.

The debate also raised the point that one of the reasons a 21-year-old whiskey is such a luxury is that the moment you drink it 21-years is gone.

If whiskey does not have an age statement then it is three years old, as whiskey has to be at least three years old.

Other things I learnt:

“Did you know that most of us only live for 800 months?” A.C Grayling.

The Taj Mahal took 25 years to build

Alcohol is an Arabic word.

Symposium  means “drinking together”.

What do you think?

Jack The Ripper’s London 2012

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You’ve seen the films, walked the tours and heard the rumours – now, live the experience. Jack the Ripper’s London is a promenade, interactive recreation of a Whitechapel street, above and beyond conventional theatre. Perfect for adults and children (11+) alike, allow our actors to transport you to the streets of London, 1888 in a specially converted tunnel. You will follow the story of the last victim, Mary Kelly, and her turbulent relationship with her boyfriend. From market place to music hall, pub to pavement, meet the vigilantes and police, share a drink with the colourful characters of the East End and maybe…just maybe…follow the footsteps of the illusive and infamous Jack the Ripper.

Contained within an original 19th Century archway below the rumble of London Bridge trains, enjoy the songs of Victorian London and the dances of by-gone Music Halls. All this with just a dash of local knowledge and a morsel of mystery, we invite you to learn, feel and experience Jack the Ripper’s London.

Number 10, Bermondsey Street *To be kept secret* The show begins as a “tour”..

This unique and new arts space is the perfect location to re-visit the smoggy streets of Victorian London. With original exposed brickwork and a licensed bar, this labyrinth of tunnels hides a surprise around every corner. Containing our very own Ten Bells Public House and market street, the lofty tunnels and complex passageways lend themselves to immersing the audience members completely in the world of Jack the Ripper’s London.

Educational Packages

Crow Theatre have designed Jack the Ripper’s London around factual events from 1888; more than telling the story of Jack the Ripper, the piece is an opportunity to bring our cultural heritage to life and experience history. We are offering participation opportunities for local school children and have developed appropriate tasks for school trip groups and younger members of the audience. These stimulate learning and encourage them to engage with the set, the cast and the experience as a whole, discovering secrets of the past to help them complete their worksheets.

Crow Theatre have created a show that crosses generations and will entertain and inform all ages from 11 upwards. Jack the Ripper’s London is an educational tool for schools and youth groups, including National Curriculum subjects to support academic learning, whilst at the same time engaging and inspiring.

Crow Theatre

Based in South London and fully connected to our local community, Crow create interactive theatre events, run workshops and provide affordable tailor-made packages for businesses and community organisations.

As a non-profit organisation, our priority is to encourage the whole community to participate in the Arts and change the way we experience theatre.

Director, Natasha Campbell originally trained as an actress. She started developing her own work locally in South London in 2008 in non-traditional spaces and immersive format, in order to reach new audiences. With her three shows with Crow she has explored how the audience experience theatre and pushed the boundaries of what theatre can be.

She recently completed the Directors Traineeship with StoneCrabs Theatre and is excited about directing Jack the Ripper’s London, as much as she is about developing it with school children.

Supported by Producer Berte Watkins, a young producer at the BAC, Old Vic Tunnels and Wilton’s Music Hall and ex-Hollyoaks actor, Paul Leyshon, Crow Theatre are fast becoming one of South London’s leading modern theatre companies.

www.crowtheatre.co.uk

Book Tickets now only £12

Tickets can be booked in advance at http://www.seetickets.com/ Customers not holding tickets can call on the day to check availability and/or arrive 15 minutes early to purchase from the tour guide.

Performances of Jack The Ripper’s London will take place on:

Thursday 19th July – 12pm/3pm/8pm

Friday 20th July – 12pm/3pm/8pm

Saturday 21st July – 12pm/3pm/8pm

Sunday 22nd July – 12pm/3pm

Wednesday 25th July – 12pm/3pm

Thursday 26th – 12pm/3pm/8pm

Friday 27th July – 12pm/3pm

Saturday 28th July – 12pm/3pm/8pm

Sunday 29th July – 12pm/3pm

Wednesday 1st August – 12pm/3pm/8pm

Thursday 2nd August – 12pm/3pm/8pm

Friday 3rd August – 12pm/3pm/8pm

Saturday 4th August – 12pm/3pm/8pm

Sunday 5th August – 12pm/3pm

Meeting Point; Exit London Bridge Station at Tooley Street exit, turn left and meet outside Number 1 London Bridge, at the stone spike, next to Evans Cycles.

Top Tips To Get an Art Gallery Internship

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Getting into the art world can be hard. If you don’t know someone it can even seem impossible. Here are some top tips to get an internship at an art gallery.

Have a niche. Think about what you love the most and specialise in it.

Go to openings. Find out about art openings and socialize with the people there. Get business cards made and hand them out. Know what you are talking about. Art people are notoriously snobby but just win them over with your intelligence and personality.

Follow galleries on Twitter and like them on Facebook. We live in a world of social media. Everybody is contactable. After you have followed your chosen gallery on twitter @ reply to them (mention them or reply to one of their tweets) or retweet a few of their tweets. Flattery gets you everywhere. Making contacts with people and letting them know about you will pay dividends. It’s the squeaky wheel that gets the grease!

Write letters to people. People actually love helping other people and older people are always hungry to pass on their knowledge. People love mentoring. After you have made one connection they will pass you in to someone else, who will pass you on…you get the picture. Write a brief, concise letter explaining who you are and what you want on good stationary. Don’t get upset if no one responds, just take every ‘no’ as a step toward ‘yes’.

Have a list of galleries you are interested in. If you can’t get in straight away ask about their employee’s holidays or maternity leave. They will be impressed by your eagerness and think of you next time they need a temp.

Good luck!

Sir Tom Jones, Jason Isaacs, Tracey Emin, Rob Brydon and Sir Tom Stoppard to present South Bank Sky Arts Awards

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Sir Tom Jones, Jason Isaacs, Tracey Emin, Rob Brydon and Sir Tom Stoppard to present South Bank Sky Arts Awards

 

 1 May at 9pm on Sky Arts 1 HD

 

Sir Tom Jones, Jason Isaacs, Tracey Emin, Rob Brydon, Sir Tom Stoppard and Sir Terry Pratchett are among the names confirmed to present awards at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards on Tuesday 1 May.

 

Sir Terry Pratchett, Imelda Staunton, Wayne Sleep, Lily Cole, Ian Bostridge, and Michael Ball will also present 2012’s South Bank Sky Arts Awards winners with the Anish Kapoor designed trophy. The awards are one of the world’s most coveted arts awards, with the presenters joining host Melvyn Bragg to honour the best of British culture and achievement across the arts. Each category – visual art, theatre, opera, dance, comedy, classical music, pop, TV drama, literature and film – is traditionally presented by a celebrated talent within that field.

 

The Times Breakthrough Award, which honours the best new artistic talent, will return for 2012. This year it will be presented by violinist Nicola Benedetti. The award for Outstanding Achievement, in association with The Dorchester, will be presented by playwright Sir Tom Stoppard.

 

The awards will also see performances by the award-winning trumpeter Alison Balsom, jazz singer Gregory Porter and new opera sensation Noah Stewart to an audience of 300 guests from across the arts.

 

SOUTH BANK SKY ARTS AWARDS: CONFIRMED PRESENTERS

 
·      Sir Tom Jones: Pop Music·      Alison Balsom: Classical Music·      Wayne Sleep: Dance

·      Sir Tom Stoppard: The Dorchester Award for Outstanding Achievement

·      Lily Cole: Film

·      Rob Brydon: Comedy

 

 ·      Sir Terry Pratchett: Literature:·      Tracey Emin: Visual Art·      Jason Isaacs: TV Drama

·      Nicola Benedetti: The Times Breakthrough Award

·      Ian Bostridge: Opera

·      Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton: Theatre

 

 

The televised awards will broadcast that evening on Sky Arts 1 HD at 9pm and on the move with Sky Go.

 

This year also sees the return of The South Bank Show to screens from 27th May, following the announcement in 2010 that it would no longer air on terrestrial television. This iconic series adds to the growing roster of original British content across Sky’s entertainment channel portfolio.

 

 

“We are delighted that so manyof the most talented people from across the arts in this country are able to join us to celebrate the awards this year,” comments Melvyn Bragg. “It is testament to a particularly strong year for the arts that these performers and presenters are so keen to lend their support, both to the awards and our world class list of nominees. At a time when the arts are under pressure in this country, it’s quite useful to be reminded what a roaring success the whole sector is.”

 

A Magical Production

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Lost in the Dark presents Ondine by Jean Giraudoux

When I was a child, I used to make up plays.  They would often involve princesses, love stories and magical powers.  Ondine is exactly the type of play that child would have loved: the embodiment of the sense of wonder that draws us to drama in the first place.  To bring this off in a small fringe venue like the White Bear is no small achievement.  But bring it off to a very high standard is precisely what Lost in the Dark have done.

Ondine is the story of a supernatural creature who falls in love with a mortal man..When Hans and Ondine meet, the worlds of a mortal man and a magical creature of the water dangerously collide and she is forced to make an inexorable pact, which will change both their lives forever. Should he betray her, he must die and, along with her time on earth, be erased completely from her memory for her to return to the world of the lake forever.

The first thing to strike me when I entered was the set.  Auguste (Michael Eden) and Eugenie (Terry Diab) were already seated, she knitting, he reading, in a fisherman’s cottage, complete with daub walls and a working window.  The small oil lamps were a particularly nice touch.  Haunting music played from offstage.  The first act takes place in this kitchen, with Hans (Andrew Venning) and Ondine (Elizabeth Merrick) completing the cast for this part of the story.  The second set takes place in the Royal Palace, where Richard Hurst, Brice Stratford, Rob Leonard, Phoebe Batteson Brown, David Frias Robles, Marian Elizabeth and Hilary Hodsman make their debuts.  The final act takes place on a rock by the sea, where the story comes to its tragic, but inevitable end.

There were no bum notes in this production, although a personal preference would be for the actors not to turn their back on the audience quite so much, but apart from that they dealt with the small space admirably.  Everyone involved did a fantastic job: however, there are some who deserve a special mention.  Firstly, set designer Zanna Mercer has created three excellent environments for the play, which are spectacular by the standards of black-box theatre.  Andrew Venning grabbed my attention from the moment he came on stage, and continued to captivate the audience throughout, with his expressive, heartfelt delivery and physical presence.  Elizabeth Merrick was superb as Ondine, her opera training showing to advantage in her movement, her vocal range, and her portrayal of wide-eyed wonder, tragedy and love.  The final scene between Ondine and Hans was particularly poignant, with both actors showing marvellous emotional depth.  Marian Elizabeth gave a lovely, credible performance as Bertha, particulary in one scene, where I almost believed she had a live bird in her hand.  She played the part with charm and grace.  I would have liked to see more of Phoebe Batteson Brown (Voilante/Kitchen Maid).  She drew my eyes whenever she was on stage and although her parts were small, they gave indications of a much larger potential.  Finally, a play is only as good as its director, and Cat Robey must take a large amount of credit for this magical piece of theatre.

Ondine is running at the White Bear Theatre, London, SE11 4DJ, 28th February – 18th March 2012, Tues-Sat 7:30pm, Sun 6pm.  For more information, visit www.ondine-lost-in-the-dark.com.

 

Ink Exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery

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Ink
The New Ink Art from China
at the Saatchi Gallery 16-28 June 2012
and at Asia House July 2012

Xu Lei, Tree of Blue Underglaze, 2008, Ink and color on xuan paper, (213 x 125 cm)

Ink is an exhibition featuring the finest examples of contemporary Chinese Ink art at London’s landmark Saatchi gallery and subsequently at Asia House. The exhibition, curated by Michael Goedhuis, is the first comprehensive display of this genre to be shown in a public gallery of international standing and draws together major examples from distinguished private collections. Timed to coincide with London in June when art and antique collectors from all over the world descend on the capital, this cutting-edge show will feature ground-breaking artists from the internationally recognized Xu Lei to the avant-garde Qiu Anxiong. Ink will run from Saturday 16 June to Thursday 28 June 2012 at the Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York’s Square, London, SW3 4SQ.

“I am delighted to be working with the Saatchi Gallery to finally be able to provide the general public access to The New Ink Art which is perhaps the boldest pictorial experiment in art today. Artists trained in, and deeply knowledgeable of classical painting, are meeting the challenge of creating a pictorial language that is a convincing expression of the world of TODAY and in particular the transformed world of China. It is the theme of this exhibition to define just how audacious and innovative the best of these artists are, despite, or perhaps because of, their deep study of the past. Just as Cezanne and Picasso assimilated the work of Poussin and Velazquez and other Old Masters in order to develop their own revolutionary language, so the ink artists are grappling with the same challenge – how to express the transformation of their society with works that are meaningful precisely because they take account of the past in order to make sense of the present”.

The New Ink Art is increasingly being recognised, not only in China but also internationally, as the most audacious and idealistic movement in contemporary culture and is poised to shortly enter the mainstream of the art-world’s focus.

Michael Goedhuis, who was the first dealer in the west to recognize the significance of these radical innovations in Chinese culture, has concentrated in the past eighteen months on identifying for this exhibition the artists who are in the process of shifting the axis of Chinese aesthetics. It is for this reason that informed art-lovers and collectors and indeed the public at large will be drawn to the Saatchi Gallery for this culturally ground-breaking initiative. Although this exhibition is a loan show and works will therefore not be for sale, it is significant that the price range for the best of contemporary ink paintings is still very accessible by international standards.

A highlight of the exhibition is Tree of Blue Underglaze by the internationally feted artist Xu Lei who last year was the chosen artist for the design of the 2008 vintage Chateau Mouton Rothschild wine label. Inspired by the significance of the year 2008 for the Chinese and to highlight Mouton’s stature in the Chinese wine market, Mouton selected a Chinese artist. Xu Lei himself is one of China’s foremost artists and a leader in the innovative field of ink painting; he serves as the art director of the Today Art Museum in Beijing and is the editor-in-chief of the magazine ‘Classics’.

Qiu Jie, Mao in the Cotton Field , 2007, pencil on paper, (150 x 168 cm)

Other works of note include Gao Xingjian represented by the painting Dream Mountain (La Montagne de Rêve), who was born in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province in 1940. A writer, translator and dramatist he moved to Paris in the 1980s as a political refugee. Here he immersed himself in nature creating semi- abstracted landscapes, believing that art should not be used for political activism, but instead should be an expression of the soul. He received the Nobel Prize for literature in 2000. Qiu Jie, who was born in Shanghai in 1960, grew up during the most violent phase of the Cultural Revolution and by the age of 10 was nurturing his talent making copies of propaganda images from local newspapers. He creates images blending stark themes from the Cultural Revolution with striking elements from contemporary culture (see illustration).

Artists to be exhibited include:
Gao Xingjian (???), Gu Wenda (???), Huan Yong Ping (???),Jennifer Wen Ma (??), Li Huayi (???), Li Jin (??), Liu Dan (??), Liu Kuo-sung (???), Liu Qinghe (???), Liu Wei (??), Lo Ch’ing (??), Lu Hao (??), Qin Feng (??), Qiu Anxiong(???)?Qiu Deshu (???),Qiu Jie (??), Qiu Zhijie (???), Wang Dongling(???), Wei Ligang (???), Wilson Shieh ( ???), Wu Yi (??), Xu Bing (??),Xu Lei (??), Yang Jiechang (???), Yang Yanping (???), Yao Jui-chung (???), Zeng Shanqing (???), Zeng Xiaojun (???), and Zhang Huan (??).

After the Saatchi Gallery, the exhibition will travel to Asia House where it will remain until the end of July. Founded in London in 1996, Asia House is the leading pan-Asian, non-profit and non-political organisation in Britain.

Londoner's LIfe 21 – By Phil Ryan

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The big sleep is over and now we begin to take stock of the year ahead. And for Londoners the hardest thing to come to immediate terms with are the usual high price rises on the tubes, trains and buses. It now being cheaper to travel in London by car! Honestly I worked it out. 2 people in a car popping across to say Camberwell (not of course via the congestion charge zone that’s only for the super-rich and white van drivers). Not very green I’ll grant you but very nice. Comfortable and clean. You get to listen to your own music and not the tinny wasp farting noises from the headphones of the JB sports clad gimp in the hoodie glaring at his iphone from a seat saying for pregnant ladies and the elderly. In an average sized car you shouldn’t use more than a fivers worth of fuel per trip. Cheaper than two Oyster card worth of trips. Of course there are a few drawbacks to this concept. Thanks to Camden and Westminster Councils whose Chief Executive Officers are more like Afghan warlords than public servants nowadays you can’t stop easily. Not without facing the ludicrous parking charges and restrictions they so delight in inflicting on us AFTER public consultations. Where are these public consultations? We had one in Camden once about the greatest con trick of all – the dreaded Residents Permits (or a tax to use your own street every year). The Council sent out a questionnaire using hysterically loaded questions. DO YOU WANT STRANGERS FILLING YOUR STREETS AND RAPING YOUR FAMILY? Tick A or B. You know the sort of lies they use. A bit like the new green re-cycling madness. I now have SIX bins. I’m not making this up. Everyday some trucks trundle up and down my street taking away stuff. It’s getting very specific. I saw a bin by a bus stop that said only suitable for 18th century manuscript paper with a picture of Jane Austen on it for the hard of hearing.

But in an Olympic year my favourite new London game is spotting the very tenuous Olympic links everyone is using to push prices up. Of course top of the charts are those soulless parasites the London estate agents. Every borough I’ve been in recently apparently is perfect to access the Olympic stadium from according to estate agents boards and ads. Including far flung spots like Barnet, Roehampton and Ilford presumably viewing the Olympic Park by radio telescope. Of course there are those local areas directly around the stadiums who are also twinned with Helmand Province in the safety stakes which they handily fail to point out! I’ve also realised the prices going up now will presumably not fall afterwards despite the fools and suckers buying an overpriced flat to see a waste of money that only lasts a month. That’s property in London I guess. But many new terrorized folk will at least be able to shuffle around the Stratford Westfield shopping centre or take in the empty velodrome. The great legacy is getting vaguer. But the areas are certainly being built up. Mainly ‘so called ‘luxury’ apartments with names like The Point, The Wave and The Shoe Box (I made the last one up) But take a wander around Canning Town station to see the ghastly rabbit hutches being thrown up left right and centre. With ceiling heights too low for the average hobbit and walls thinner than a cream cracker these ‘architect designed’ monstrosities will presumably fill up quicker than Cheryl Cole at her next sacking. And bizarrely they all have tiny balconies allowing them to see other people on their tiny balconies. Just a sample of the new examples of the wonderful ‘design’ we can expect over the coming property developers feeding frenzy Olympic year.

And on the subject of London’s ever changing design I have to say the new layouts around Exhibition Road in South Kensington are just very surreal. Apparently it’s all based on a Dutch concept of ‘space sharing’. In plain speak it means ripping up the pavement, covering the surfaces of the roads and streets with curious red and white flat cobblestones and then letting pedestrians ‘share’ the road space with cars. It’s akin to the way that South Africans ‘share’ the coast line with Great White Sharks. I was having tea in Le Pain Quotidien amusing myself by watching baffled tourists soiling themselves as various Buses and cars apparently mounted the side streets they were walking along and chased them. Window shopping suddenly stopped being ‘charming’ instead becoming a kind of game of chicken. It’s a very nice concept. A bit like socialism. But in practice it turns a quiet stroll into a dice with death. Very exhilarating I’m sure but not great for the terminally nervous. And as for the locals do they like it. No not really I was told. But did they care? No not really. It’s a London thing.

Violence and Claymation at Camden Arts Centre

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Clay animation, or claymation as it is commonly referred to, for me instinctively conjures images of Wallace and Gromit. Cuddly, quirky characters whose comedic traits are enhanced by the clunky childlike style inherent to the medium they work in. It is probably rather ignorant going straight for such a mainstream example, but I doubt I’m the only one.

I was nevertheless equally ignorant as I was lured towards the Camden Arts Centre by the mesmerising images from Nathalie Djubery’s exhibition A World Of Glass. For starters I assumed it would be in Camden. It is not and I still don’t know why it has given its self such a misleading title. It is actually a little unassuming building plonked by Finchley road tube station. Secondly, there was much more to the exhibition than the misshapen glass like objects that I found so pretty.

After poking around the gift shop on the way in-it’s so nice when museums do that, so you don’t feel less cultured for wanting to look around the gift shop first; not that I’d need to, I’d already overcome the intelligence hurdle of finding a museum pretending to be somewhere it wasn’t- I ventured toward the first exhibition room.

A soundscape of tinkling glass and percussion filled the room and encouraged a pensive, quiet atmosphere. This was not an exhibition where you chatted about what you though of the work whilst you were there and tried to sound pretentious, you experienced it. You also experienced it standing up, so after a few moments I began to wander.

The promotion pictures really did do the exhibit justice. In a darkened room, tables of illuminated glass like objects looked surreal and made me feel less silly for wanting to see them simply for their strangely beautiful aesthetic. It quickly transpired that they were part of the set taken from the claymation films that were playing at either end of the studio; designed to make the whole exhibition feel modestly immersive.

At first glance Natalie Djurbery’s short clay animated films seem to portray the inherent playfulness I imagined (the first image I saw was of a bull tottering around a shop full of glass), but you don’t have to watch for long before realising that the artist is merely playing upon our natural assumptions about the medium to convey her real message.

As the museum suggests, Djurbery’s films resemble folk or fairytales, but without any moral judgement. They do, however, use this genre to explore dark and crude themes of suffering, depression and violence using humans and animals. The content of each of the stories was shocking and, at times, bizarre enough; but their combination with the tranquil dim environment transformed any gut reaction into something more pensive. The effect was strangely jarring and definitely uncomfortable, as though I was somehow complicit in the twisted taboos shown on the screen.

The work I feel was important to see. It broke and built barriers between person, screen, self, other, human and animal. It showed the possibilities of claymation as a serious artform; its crudeness effectively conveyed the animalistic forces that drove the characters and its childlike nature added a level of philosophical thought to Djurberg’s portrayal of the human condition.

To summarise, I did not completely enjoy it, I’m glad I didn’t and I don’t think I was supposed to.