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Mapping Moscow
26th February | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
“Moscow is a city of slow historical growth, and down to the present time its different parts have wonderfully well retained the features which have been stamped upon them in the slow course of history...Each quarter is a little world in itself”.
That was Prince Peter Kropotkin, writing his Memoirs of a Revolutionist in the 1890s. Things have changed a bit since then as Moscow feels the impact of new money... -
New York, Venice, Peckham - it’s the Hannah Barry gallery
9th February | 1 comments | 1 person likes this
“Did you manage to find us without too much trouble?” asks Jamie Byrom, head of sales at the Hannah Barry gallery. The question has a slightly different resonance than if we were standing in, say, Cork Street. But then a gallery in Cork Street probably wouldn’t have the privilege of sharing a huge building with the Holy Order of Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church.
“We get wonderful music and singing to... -
Where Three Dreams Cross
28th January | 3 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
Spanning 150 years and dozens of different cultures Where Three Dreams Cross, the Whitechapel Gallery’s exhibition of photographs from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, is necessarily ambitious in its scope and variety. For outsiders like me who perhaps tend to see this whole region as a series of dramatic set-pieces – floods, political assassinations, Bollywood films – it doesn’t so much overturn stereotypes as set them in a wider context and... -
Identity detectives
18th January | 1 comments | 1 person likes this
If you’ve ever wondered about what seems to be a random face in a family photograph or felt that your own face doesn’t ‘fit’ then you’ll find something to fascinate you in the Wellcome Collection’s Identity exhibition.
Organised as a series of rooms rather like the different lobes of a person’s brain the exhibition is billed as ‘Eight Rooms Nine Lives’. Each room concentrates on a single individual with the exception... -
Five favourites at the British Museum
11th January | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
I’m feeling conscious of my age, partly because it’s a new year and partly because I’m very much looking forward to a new series on Radio 4 and that tends to mean you’re of a certain age.
The series is A History of the World in 100 Objects, the aim being to study world history through the medium of 100 objects from the British Museum, including the bust of Ramesses II... -
Earthed - climate change arrives in London’s West End
6th January | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
Ghostly white clay flowers; something that looks like a giant block of gold leaf dropped into the middle of a rural/industrial landscape of dirt roads and factory chimneys. The Earth exhibition at the Royal Academy in which artists consider the issue of climate change is full of beautiful images. This seems appropriate – if you think something is likely to disappear or change beyond all recognition you tend to look...
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Dora Gordine: sculptor and story-teller
23rd December 2009 | 0 comments | 1 person likes this
One of my favourite places (just) in London is Dorich House which sits on the south side of Richmond Park, between Kingston and Roehampton. Built in 1936 it’s the brainchild of a remarkable woman sculptor, Dora Gordine.
Gordine was a creator on all fronts, not only with clay and bronze but with the materials of her own life. Her prosperous Russian Jewish family was fragmented by the 1917 revolution and following... -
Candlelight Christmas
21st December 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
There are three more evenings left to see Tate Britain's 2009 Christmas tree which consists of nothing more than a big fir tree and several score yellow beeswax candles. Artist Tacita Dean who came up with the idea for the tree says it reflects the "purity and magic" of Christmas.
Watching the candle flames flicker and the wax drip it feels rather as though you've come across a tree which is... -
Pot-gazing at the V&A
11th December 2009 | 0 comments | 1 person likes this
It seems to be pretty universally acknowledged that the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum has an excellent shop which at this time of year encompasses everything from stocking fillers to jewellery costing around £2,000. If, during your retail mission you suddenly remember you are in a museum I’d recommend a visit to the ceramics gallery that occupies the top floor and seems to float above the city and the shopping...
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Mythical Lyrical - myths reimagined in an East End gallery
30th November 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
"Philosophy for toddlers" is the best description I heard of Floss Cobb's giant domino set, currently on display at the Sueli Turner Gallery. The wooden dominoes, each about the size of a laptop, are carved with images of people who have inspired Cobb, an eclectic bunch ranging from Samuel Pepys to the dancer and choreographer Michael Clark.
Gallery visitors are encouraged to play with the dominoes, making their own connections between...
CONTRIBUTOR
Brigitte Istim
I've just finished an MA in print journalism but, as can be seen from my picture, I'm nowhere near as young as that makes me sound. I've done a whole mix of things in my quite long life from training as a nurse to working in a cartoon library. Obviously I'm now hoping to establish myself as some sort of writer/journalist which is easier written than done.
