An Urban History of Photography at Tate Modern (Qype does London)

An Urban History of Photography at Tate Modern
by Chris Osburn
Qype does London
07 2nd, 2008

With gelatine silver plate images dating from the 1880s to current examples by today’s photography vanguard, Street & Studio is (according to the Tate) “the first exhibition to explore the urban photographic portrait through the parallel development of its two important sites: the street and the studio.”

Click here for complete post.

Graffiti Coming to Tate Modern

I suppose it was only a matter of time. Is this the beginning of the end, a new beginning or the end full stop?

Street art to adorn Tate's walls
A series of giant graffiti-style murals are to be painted on the walls of London's Tate Modern gallery for its summer season.
BBC News
Page last updated at 08:50 GMT, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 09:50 UK

The artworks will be displayed for three months from 23 May ... A Tate spokesman said a protective coating would be placed on the wall to avoid damage when they are removed.

Click here for complete article.

Horniman Museum Video

Here's a pretty cool lil video of and about one of my favourite museums, South London's Horniman Museum. Enjoy.

Londonist asks "What's for Lunch?" Members Room at Tate Modern

Here's another What's for Lunch? post for Londonist. Stayed tuned for subsequent instalments on Tuesdays around noon.

What's for Lunch? Members Room at Tate Modern
by Chris Osburn
Londonist
November 27, 2007









Not as exclusive as some of our readers might think ... the Members Room at the mighty Tate Modern is a splendid spot for lunch. Positioned on the sixth floor with large windows and a terrace over the Thames, the Members Room’s dead on view of St Paul’s Cathedral inspires as much as many of the pieces held in the Tate Modern’s collection.

Click here for complete article.

Londonist asks "What’s for Lunch?" Spicy Food Plus

Here's another What's for Lunch? post for Londonist. Stayed tuned for subsequent instalments on Tuesdays around noon.









What's for Lunch? Spicy Food Plus
by Chris Osburn
Londonist
October 30, 2007

Spicy Food Plus, a rather nondescript hole-in-the-wall about halfway between Victoria Station and Pimlico Station, is (in the words of at least one well travelled London foodie) home of “the best naan” outside of India.

Click here for complete review.

Londonist asks "What’s for Lunch?" Hot Dog Stand outside the British Museum

Here's another What's for Lunch? post for Londonist. Stayed tuned for subsequent instalments on Tuesdays around noon.

What's for Lunch? Hot Dog Stand outside the British Museum
by Chris Osburn
Londonist
October 23, 2007










Haut cuisine it’s not, but what’s more indulgent than a hot dog every once in awhile? And, at £2.50 for a “jumbo” hot dog, who can’t afford to indulge every now and then?

Click here for complete review.

Excellent Time to Head over to Tate Modern

Sculptor fills Tate with a hole
Sculptor Doris Salcedo has unveiled a hole at the Tate Modern - the latest installation in the art gallery's Turbine Hall.
BBC News
Last Updated: Monday, 8 October 2007, 14:23 GMT 15:23 UK

The work, entitled Shibboleth 2007, runs the full 167 metres of the cavernous hall on London's South Bank ... "It is the experience of a Third World person coming into the heart of Europe."

Click here for complete article.

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Spidermum Returns
By Lindsey
Londonist
October 8, 2007

No, it's not some 'attack of the giant cathedral eating spiders' B-movie filmset but the return of Maman, the giant spider sculpture by Louise Bourgeois, which originally stalked the Turbine Hall when Tate Modern opened in 2000.

Click here for complete article.

Photography by Chris Osburn © 2007

London may host language museum

"Multilingual London may get language museum"
Source: Reuters, 23 May 2007
Translating is an Art
May 24, 2007

Language enthusiasts want to open a dedicated museum in London - the world's most multilingual city, where more than 350 languages are spoken - to coincide with the 2012 Olympics.

Click here for complete post.

Surreal Things at the V&A;

Surreal Things
Surrealism and Design

March 29 - July 22, 2007

Daily 10:00-17:45 (last ticket sold 16:45, last entry 17:00)
Fridays 10:00-22:00 (last ticket sold 20:45, last entry 21:00)

Victoria and Albert Museum
Cromwell Road
London SW7
020 7942 2000
Nearest Tube: South Kensington Station
Buses: C1, 14 and 74 stop outside the Cromwell Road entrance








Surreal Things is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see 300 of the most extraordinary objects ever created, in a spectacular theatrical setting. This exhibition is the first to explore the influence of Surrealism on the worlds of fashion, design, theatre, interiors, film, architecture and advertising. It shows how artists engaged with design and how designers were inspired by Surrealism.

Click here for more details.

Ghana Exhibition at the British Museum

The Fabric of a Nation
Textiles and Identity in modern Ghana
22 February - 10 April 2007
Room 3
The British Museum
Free Admission

A New World: England’s first view of America (at the British Museum)

A New World: England’s first view of America
15 March – 17 June 2007
British Museum
Room 5
Book exhibition tickets now


A New World looks at the lasting impact John White's watercolours had on the Old World's impression of America. His legacy continued for over 250 years after his death thanks to the reproduction and adaptation of his work by later artists, a selection of which is displayed in the exhibition.




Click here to visit the British Museum online.

Hogarth now open at Tate Britain

Hogarth: The Artist and the City
7 February - 29 April 2007
Tate Britain
Millbank
London SW1P 4RG

Social commentary so sharp it bites, Tate Britain's Hogarth exhibition has already been a complete sell out in Paris and is tipped to be the show of the year here too. (Times)

Embracing everything from the satirical to the salacious, Hogarth provides a portal to an 18th century metropolis. His luscious paintings invite us to "walk in Londo's streets, plunging into the city's smells, tastes, sights and sounds." (Guardian)

Carouse with William Hogarth at Tate Britain. A rollicking show of the great chronicler of Georgian life - high and low. (Telegraph)

The godfather of British satire. (Independent)

Click here for more details.

COLLECT: applied and decorative arts galleries at the V&A;

The international art fair for contemporary objects. Presented by the British Crafts Council.

8 - 12 February 2007

The only international art fair of its kind in Europe, COLLECT presents a selection of prestigious applied and decorative arts galleries from around the globe within the distinguished setting of the V&A.

Click here for more information and to find out about COLLECTion, a programme of special events and exhibitions taking place around the UK to coincide with COLLECT 2007.

Heroic animals and Moore at the Imperial War Museum

Two great exhibitions at the Imperial War Museum - The Animals' War and Henry Moore: War and Utility - make for a thoughtful day out.

The Animals' War, which runs until 22 April 2007, makes clear the folly and frailty of humans as well as the seemingly innate nobility of animals.

If you've ever even contemplated having a pet, this exhibition may have a profound effect on you ... leaving you with a sense of wonder at how animals how enhanced our lives and of disgust for humans, with our disposition for war. Click here for more information from the IWM's website.

A remedy for this disgust is to cross over immediately to the Henry Moore: War and Utility exhibition, which runs until 25 February 2007.

This exhibition explores how Moore was influenced by the human responses to conflict, revealing how the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War and the austere post-war decade informed his practice. It is at once serene and inspirational. Click here for more information from the IWM's website.

How was the Hockney exhibition?

Didn't get to catch the Hockney exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery? You missed a very good show.

David Hockney Portraits, the most comprehensive survey of Hockney's portraits to date, opened October 12 at the National Portrait Gallery to the delight of thousands. From his earliest self portraits as a teenager to his Cubist-influenced photographic collages of the 1980s and his recent camera lucida drawings, Portraits offered a fascinating visual diary of the personal life of one of Britain's most admired and innovative contemporary artists. This exhibition also provided a unique window to the late twentieth century worlds of art and celebrity, with portraits of leading cultural figures, such as Andy Warhol, Man Ray and W H Auden.

The definitive exhibition catalogue, fully illustrated with over 300 illustrations, by curators Sarah Howgate and Barbara Stern Shapiro, with essays by Mark Glazebrook, Marco Livingstone and Edmund White is published by the National Portrait Gallery in hardback.

Hockney is hot too!

Apparently, Velázquez isn't the only hot show in town.

Portrait gallery's midnight hours
The National Portrait Gallery is to keep its doors open until midnight for the first time to meet demand for its latest exhibition.
BBC News
Published: 2007/01/10 13:46:27 GMT


So far 113,000 people have visited the David Hockney Portraits collection since it opened in October.

Click here for complete article.

Click here to visit the National Portrait Gallery online.

Up close and personal with the Face of Spain (book about Velázquez)

Didn't get to catch the National Gallery's Velázquez exhibition or couldn't linger over the paintings because of the gobs of people? A great book with lots of images is Norbert Wolf's Diego Velázquez: 1599-1660, The Face of Spain, published by Taschen. Enjoy.

Velázquez is hot!

Last month, I reviewed the National Gallery's Velázquez exhibition and mentioned being 'overwhelmed' by how many people were 'crammed into the four large rooms.' Well, the cramming continued to the point of making the exhibition the Gallery's most popular paid-for exhibition ever.

Check out what the BBC has to say about the exhibition:

Velazquez show 'to break record'
The Velazquez exhibition is set to become the National Gallery's most popular paid-for exhibition ever.
BBC
Published: 2007/01/05 18:46:32 GMT

More than 235,000 people have so far been to see the 46 paintings by the Spanish master painter, with over 4,000 visits on a single day last week.

Click here for complete article.

Click here for more information about the exhibition, which closes on 21 January.

How was the Velasquez exhibition?

Fantastic ... except for the large crowd of other admirers with the same idea to see the first UK exhibition that traces "the career of one of the very greatest painters - Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660)."

For 10:30am on a Sunday, I was overwhelmed by the number of people crammed into the four large rooms featuring 46 paintings from Velázquez's beginnings in Seville, to his move to Madrid and appointment as court painter to Philip IV, to his two trips to Italy, and to his final days and knighthood. Of course, it's good to see people eager to view great art and, honestly, negotiating the maze of humanity was a small price to pay to see these works under one roof.

Thumbs up!

Click here for more information from the National Gallery's Velázquez webpage.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee at the Tate Modern

Finally made it over to the Tate Modern to give Carsten Höller's slides a whirl. Too much fun and totally worth queueing up for.

Photography by Emiana © 2006














Click here for more info on the Tate Modern website.