modernistdream

Wow - Faro - a modernist dream. https://www.myboutiquehotel.com/en/boutique-hotels-faro/the-modernist-architecture-experience.html The apartment was stunningly minimal and beautiful. Simple living with formal systems, exquisite choice of materials with superb attention to detail. The building forms part of modernist walking tour of which there are so many amazing examples in the city. Spent the days wandering, eating, drinking, looking at architecture and enjoying the weather. Got to fulfil a psychogeography dream of walking to and from the airport. You walk out of town through unloved, non-defensible, seemingly unowned spaces, into a landscape of salt marsh, creaks, littered fences, under big skies. Watching planes taxi, land and take off through a perimeter fence. Faro is a great place to eat, as ever heading to dark back streets gets you the best food. As well as fresh food and general otherness the central market is awash with great cafe style eating. It’s difficult not to get excited about repeat pattern in a town covered in tiles. Churches in the area are full on - startling religious imagery, reliquaries, and garments. The museum reenacts various traditional activity through life-size dioramas and models.

everythingyouthoughtwasatruthwasalie

Spending 7 days in what was East Germany was an eye opener in so many ways. There is something about the history of East Germany that results in two modes of what feels opposing behaviour – walking the streets holding bottles of beer feels de-rigour. As does waiting endlessly at pedestrian crossings for the walking man to turn green even if there is no traffic. Something about control and release! A full 7 days of art, museums, cycling and walking - first up was Dresden – there was a Biennale that centred on the Robotron Kantine a space occupied by artists promoting it as an art space with other work in the OSTRALE – Center for Contemporary Art, which itself is a statement of intention, a place just outside the city where artists have created a collective vibe. Every piece in the show was underpinned by political positioning. Old Dresden is spectacularly excessive, the architecture category is fairy tale on acid, great use of gold leaf and Baroque doesn’t cover it. The Zwinger a totally over the top excessive experience of a building in the center of old Dresden has a beautiful display of old technical instruments including globes, maps, telescopes and tools for measuring space, stars and even melting metal. Another highlight was The German Hygiene Museum, especially the excellent cafe. There were some extraordinary objects, including a see-through woman, sculptures of defecated baby’s nappies and lots of unusual cross sections of bodies. The revelation that hygiene in this context has its roots in cultural cleansing rather than cleaning was a little shocking. The formal parks are stunning and endless, cycling through them joyous. On the way to the station, I popped into see the Folk Art collection at the Museum for Saxon Puppet Theatre Collection. It houses some of the most bizarre objects which have echoes in my childhood tv watching. The train to Leipzig was with all European trains exemplary. Leipzig has Forum Leipzig Contemporary History, a museum that starts with a newspaper detailing the death of Hitler. What we know of this part of the world is shockingly slim. The shifting politics and contextual existence are mind blowing. The contents of the museum should have been shown to every potential voter thinking about Brexit. There is a huge out of town space called Spinnerei. It was once a cotton spinning mill but is now home to Contemporary art spaces and galleries. Again, the politics of the artists were to the fore, and again another great space to eat. The Monument to the Battle of the Nations is so big. It’s difficult to document the immensity of the thing itself. A monument to the defeat of Napoleon against Germany who were supported by Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Sweden built 100 years after the event and 2 years before Germany went to war against the world. To say there is a real complexity to the history of this area of Europe is an understatement. A Museum of printing is housed in an old printing works and has so many machines. Its collection has some very old examples but focuses mainly on ones that I have worked on as a student at LCP! Ones own lived experience becomes history. There is so much to see – other highlights include Panometer GmbH is a huge gasometer that has a 360 experience, this one focused on 911 but was really an antiwar protest piece, widening its focus to all acts of terrorism. GRASSI Museum for Applied Arts is huge, and I only managed to spend time in the musical instrument rooms, truly excellent. G 2 K U N S T H A L L E: has a fantastic contemporary collection alongside temporary shows. Finally, I highly recommend cycling everywhere, German cities enable and seem to celebrate easy movement on two wheels, again lessons to learn.

tellmeaboutgreatness

Back from a short and yet somehow extended trip out of this sad Brexit filed country over to France and then Finland. Spending time with 'foreigners' is challenging. They ask questions like What is going wrong in Britain? Don't you like us anymore? With a bemused air of confusion. I find it best to start any conversation with an apology for being English. Johnson is seen as a fool child and we implicated along with him for encouraging and supporting him, there is little understanding of why we, the public put up with the constant obvious lying. Best to keep a distance from all of the nonsense but it's difficult when our very existence somehow represents all this. Meanwhile, as ever Marseille was glorious, bright blue skies and wondrous food. Dropped into the Frac which had some interesting work by Hamish Fulton but I felt was poorly hung. An old friend 60th birthday party was the focus of the break - great wine and food and dancing to music - live and recorded late into the morning. It all made for a fantastic experience - it's a reason for living. The setting up and taking down felt communal with a chance to catch up with friends from the past. Helsinki was all about the Biennale - we had tickets 2 years ago, but Government rules around Covid put a stop to that. Helsinki itself was extraordinary - clean, spacious, and full of great design, large and expansive second-hand shops, clean, wide streets, cheap efficient public transport with swimming and saunas all around. They have a truly amazing library, that felt like a utopian ideal with recording studios to hire, booths with gaming devices, a huge area that was a maker space, superb seating and full of light. Well designed, expansive tube stations transported you at speed, cleanly and on time to yet another museum or art gallery where the focus was always on celebrating Finland's rich heritage. The Biennale took place on an island, with every artist addressing the environmental impact of humans on this planet in a way that was rich and open. Why wouldn't you when you have such stunning landscape all around. Ham has a giant seagull on its entrance, a warning sign of the vicious birds beadily eyeing your food around the docks and port. Inside I saw thoughtful commissioning work, again around environmental issues. Out on a 20-minute tube ride to Esposito was the glorious EMMA which has a collection of glassware, crafts, and textiles, displayed so cleverly. The temporary show by Pierre Huyghe was equal parts distressing and all consuming. In the accompanying video interview, he talks about queerness in a way that, is at the true root of its meaning. He is making important, unsettling work that truly makes you think. A visit to Helsinki's modern fully equipped art school, which has dedicated studios for the lectures - now there's an idea, was again eye opening, again it felt like somehow England has been left behind. It was located just down the road from a partially repurposed meat market where the easy-going bars nestle with the existing meat wholesalers. Reindeer sausages and tinned bear meat anybody? I would recommend Helsinki to anyone, although there was a lot of impressive stairs so I'm unsure about access. 

And finally, did I mention that it didn't get dark! Strangely disorienting at first but you get used to it walking around at 1 in the morning with a very slight orange dusk in the air. I'm sure I will be back as I only touched the surface on what is on offer.  

walkingandwalkingandwalking

5 days walking part of the Cami de Ronda from Lloret de Mar to Llafranc, then into Palafrugell to get the bus to the airport. This part of the path mostly follows the coast. You find yourself walking through endless deserted small coves, into and out of working towns with one whole day in the mountains and woods. The beaches are tremendous - quiet, wild and empty - just left alone - if another person was there, it was a rare occurrence. Great food - we were in the patatas bravas, fried fish and arroz negro part of the world. It was difficult to eat badly. Warm air, clear blue sea and sky, beaming sun, stunning natural landscapes, interspersed with some amazing man-made sights, the modern cemetery at Lloret de Mar and the art nouveau hotel Diana in Tossa del Mar were particularly stunning. The latest show at The Print Room in Bruisyard has some excellent and beautiful work by Jonathan Keep. The 3D printed pots are exceptional, the mesmerizing forms enhanced by the stunning surfaces. 

adayoutinlondon

a great day in London – after a f2f meeting exploring the possibilities around synthetic anatomy 5 I got to explore a few exhibitions. Whitecube had a whole load of fantastic sewing machines going off occasionally alongside images of bats! – Anicka Yi at Tate Modern was nice – Rothko at Pace was glorious, it was truly sublime, but highlights of the day were the steel girders holding up a building’s facade, the window display at Louis Vuitton and the view of Richard Rodgers Lloyds building at Liverpool Street which you can now see as the buildings in front of it have been pulled down

teachingwatchingandsadness

some interesting teaching over the past 6 days – a workshop session that focused on supporting the students develop of themselves as a brand with year 3 textile students at NUA – http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/009-possible-branding-10-02-14

an exploration of our relationships to audiences through the objects we make with MA Book Art students. http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/012-relationships-with-audience and working with Open College of the Arts students – the future!! On ideas around integrating research into practice http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/research-process-and-practice-final-year-10-2-14-31131182

In terms of films there are a couple of recommendations – if you want a cosy evening try the latest Richard Curtis film – about time - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2194499/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_3 an interesting premise but unsure if the ‘science’ stacks up!  and an oddball one with Terance Stamp and Kurt Russell – The Art of the Steal - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2172985/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_3  – it’s a fun ride.  

Meanwhile some un-owned, unloved and generally crap architecture from a visit to Coventry.