A.A. Murakami at Superblue – Beguiling Bouncing Bubbles

Ellie & I recently visited A A Murakami’s Silent Fall at Burlington Gardens at the rear end of the Royal Academy building complex. Timed with the beginning of Frieze Week 2021 the installation will be running until summer 2022. FLOATING BUBBLES You enter a giant, relatively dark room where bubbles are being released from tube-like dispensers above you. Because of the mirrors spread all over the walls, the space seems like an infinite forest. The bubbles look relatively heavy like honey or jelly. However, they turn out to weigh next to nothing. This is why they float towards the ground very slowly. CATCH THEM WITH YOUR HAND You can catch them with your hand. The gallery provides you with a glove for that purpose, as you are not supposed to touch the bubbles with your bare hands. You can make the bubbles bounce up and down on your glove-covered palm […]

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Wayne McGregor & Random International’s No One Is An Island Dance Performance

We checked out choreographer Wayne McGregor’s & art group Random International’s collaboration No One Is An Island today. The dance performance simply blew us away. Superblue and BMW are presenting this brilliant show. MEET FIFTEEN POINTS/II The 12-minute show explores the interaction between humans and machines. It involves two dancers and one robotic machine or kinetic sculpture called Fifteen Points/II on a track of about 20-metre long rails with 15 stick-like arms that each have very strong lights at the end. It can move forward and backward on the rails and move its arms with the lights up and down, forward and backward.   INPUT FROM HARVARD The ideas for the machine were developed by Random International during various artist residences, including one at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.   A MACHINE WITH SOME HUMAN FEATURES Many of the moves of the machine feel almost human-like. This […]

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Anish Kapoor at the Lisson Gallery – Perfect for Halloween

Last weekend we checked out the Anish Kapoor exhibition at Lisson Gallery, which is free and runs until 30 October. As required, we booked a timed entry slot well ahead of the day. PAINTER WHO IS A SCULPTOR The artist is mainly known for his sculptures, even though paint and paintings have been part of his work since the beginning. Kapoor once described himself as a painter who is a sculptor. LATEST WORKS All the works on display have been created over the past two years, mostly at the artist’s London studio.   MODERN ART OXFORD Parallel to this exhibition, there is a second exhibition of Kapoor’s paintings at Modern Art Oxford until February next year, which we are planning to see soon.   FLESH AND BLOOD Kapoor is diving into the “inner world of our mind and body,” the brochure tells us, “from the physical exploration of the flesh […]

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Mixing It Up at the Hayward Gallery – An Exhibition of Contemporary British-Based Painters

A little while ago, Ellie and I visited ‘Mixing It Up: Painting Today’ at the Hayward Gallery. The exhibition focuses on contemporary British-based artists. It runs until 12 December. FRESH, COMPELLING WORKS OF ART The brochure we’re being handed explains that the 31 contemporary painters were chosen for their ability to create fresh, compelling works of art that speak to this moment. CREATE YOUR OWN REALITY, TELL A STORY Moreover, the curators claim, these artists are not focused on just observation and depiction, decorative endeavours, mere effects or aesthetics. They are more interested in creating their own reality, allegories and illusions and in telling a story, while not losing sight of what’s out there.   BEAUTIFUL SPACE Like every time we visit, we’re immediately taken in by the loft-like atmosphere of this beautiful space. Large, tall, stark rooms with mezzanine floors. There are staircases, temporary dividing walls that only reach […]

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Henry Moore Studios and Gardens – The perfect way to spend an afternoon

A couple of months ago Ellie & I visited the Henry Moore Studios and Gardens, the  workplace and family home of world-famous 20th century sculptor Henry Moore. The vast estate stretches over 70 acres of land near Stansted Airport, about 2h20m (sic!) by public transport, or half that by car, from London. Spread all over the fields and gardens are more than 20 of the big man’s monumental sculptures. SIX HENRY MOORE STUDIOS While visitors are not permitted to enter the main building, you can have a close look at the six different studio spaces. One is for maquettes, another one for carving, one for etching, one for drawing, and so on. A lovely, perfectly restored 16th century barn is the only place in the world to see Moore’s unique tapestries.   EDMUND DE WAAL’S ‘THIS LIVING HAND’ AT HENRY MOORE STUDIOS At the moment, one of the larger side […]

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