While cycling back to Liverpool St Station I came across
this fine example of smoking architecture (an architectural intervention
developed expressly for the purposes for smoking). I will add it to my
collection. OCA this week has been the start of Testing Boundaries - the assignment that is creating new work for
new spaces - all within an incredibly short timeframe. It's a real challenge
but one that everyone rises to and goes on to succeed. As we embark on this year's
iteration I think we have a strong possibility of doing something especially challenging
after the first session threw up many issues around culturally specific locations.
A day of group crits at NUA means 4 sessions of 8-9 students for an hour and a
half each back to back - it's a full day, but there are some very strong bodies
of thought emerging. Camberwell continues to be a long celebratory wake as the
course is taught out and I run two more sessions for the very last time - writing reading and presenting problems. I think the relaxed atmosphere is bringing out
some of the most extraordinary conversations, again the group consists of
individuals from many corners of the world with multiple culturally specific
knowledge - it really is a privilege.
So far halfway through Good Girls - it's a Netflix winner that started out as an
interesting portrayal of strong women doing it for themselves has now added jeopardy
and turned into a worry - will they be okay? Watching They shall not grow old was an incredibly odd experience - getting
beyond the 'unnatural naturalness' - the 'it's a little like a war movie'
feeling was a challenge - the everyday footage of German and British soldiers 'hanging
around' in the same place somehow symbolised the seeming pointlessness of it
all. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7905466/?ref_=rvi_tt
