Anish Kapoor – “Turning the World Upside Down”

I have just visited the Anish Kapoor “Turning the World Upside Down” installation sponsored by Serpintine Gallery in Kensington Gardens. 

First of all, I thought I would give you some background on Anish Kapoor:

Born in 1954 in Bombay/Mumbai. His Mother was a Jewish immigrant from Baghdad, while his Father was from a Punjabi family and was a hydrographer in the Indian Navy.

In 1971 he went to Israel to first work on a Kibbutz, and then to study Electrical Engineering. In 1973, he moved to London to study art, first at Hornsey College of Art and then the Chelsea School of Art and Design.

Kapoor’s works are often simple, curved forms that are usually monochromatic and brightly coloured. His art has evolved over the years. His early pieces rely on powder pigment to cover both his work and the floor surrounding them. This is very reminiscent of scenes in markets and temples in India. He soon moved on to using solid stone which have carved apertures and cavities. For his latest work he has produced mirror-like pieces which reflect both the viewer and the surroundings.

So here we are at the “Turning the World Upside down” exhibition.

The day started off so promising, with sunshine, and the odd fluffy cloud in the sky. Perfect for looking at Anish Kapoor’s mirrored work. The first piece (Red Sky Mirror 2009), was situated in the Round Pond at Kensington Gardens:

I’m not too sure if it was because the weather was more favourable at this time, but this was my favourite peice. It was quite odd to look at as well. The red dish is concaved, and you could tell that it was from various different angles, but if you looked at it straight on, it looked more like a flat piece of red glass. I also felt, the red add some more drama to the reflected image.

The next peice (C-Curve 2007) was a play on reflections:

and

As you can see, this played with the viewer. I approached this from the convexed side of the mirrored piece. Which kind of reminded me of somehthing that you would find in the “Hall of Mirrors” at a funfair. However, the concaved side fliped the reflection over. It was quite a strange sight.

By this time, the sunshine had gone, and the clouds got darker, and then the rain started. The last piece I visited was the cone (Non Object (Spire) 2008). I am sure with a better sky, this would have looked amazing:

If you take a closer look, you can see that the cone acutally manages to reflect itself.  Although the sky at this time, was totally grey, with very little texture in it, I did like the way the cone reflected the bare branches of the trees that surrounded it.

I am really pleased I went to see these installations, and you have until 13th March 2011, if you would like to see them for yourself.

I Made the Explored Page on Flickr

Curtain Road Graffiti – 5, originally uploaded by gary8345.

This picture made Flickr’s Explore page on Saturday 26th February. So what gets a picture featured on this page?

Explore is a Flickr feature with the intent of showing you “some of the most awesome photos on Flickr.” Photos are automatically selected by computer according to a secret algorithm called Interestingness. Mmmm, this doesn’t really help.

So what does Flickr mean by”Interestingness”?

Interestingness is what Flickr calls the criteria used for selecting which photos are shown in Explore. All photos are given an Interestingness “score” that can also be used to sort any image search on Flickr. The top 500 photos ranked by Interestingness are shown in Explore. Interestingness rankings are calculated automatically by a secret computer algorithm. The algorithm is often referred to by name as the Interestingness algorithm. Although the algorithm is secret, Flickr has stated that many factors go into calculating Interestingness including: a photo’s tags, how many groups the photo is in, views, favorites, where click-throughs are coming from, who comments on a photo and when, and more. The velocity of any of those components is a key factor. For example, getting 20 comments in an hour counts much higher than getting 20 comments in a week.

So there you have it. Basically it is a secret algorithm based on views and comments.

Commuter of the Week #5

Another sleeping commuter. It is still relatively dark in the mornings, which I think encourages people to shut their eyes and grab a few more moments of sleep before work.

To see more of my Commutergraphy pictures, click HERE

Shoreditch Graffiti

There are lots of great graffiti around Shoreditch, but this caught my eye. Appearing in the zig-zag shutters of Corby House, Curtain Road, is this very cleaver paint job. From one side it says:

Then you take a few paces to the left, and you see this view:

Commutergraphy – 200 Not Out

Today sees a milstone reached for my Commutergraphy Project. Here is commuter number 200:

IT’S ME!!!!! I’m not too sure if this was a good idea, I might have blown my cover 🙂

Olympic Park – February 2011

Building workd at the Olympic Park for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games are now in its final stages. A great view of the park can be seen from the View Tube on the Greenway:

I have visited a number of times since June 2007 to see the progress that has been made, with most of my attention being taken by the Olympic Stadium.

June 2007:

January 2009:

November 2009:

May 2010:

October 2010:

My latest visit this month, sees little change to the Olympic Stadium. The structure was completed some time ago now, and all the work that is being carried out is inside.

Work has begun on Anish Kapoor’s “The Orbit”. This structure will stand at 114m, and will offer great views of both the Olympic Park as well as London itself:

Progress on the Aquatic Center has been fast. They have now completed the structures that will hold 17,500 spectators:

However, it is a shame, as these temporary grandstands obscue the great lines of the Aquatic Centre roof.

There are also signs that the park is about to spring to life. I spotted a number of trees that have been planted, as well as some grass which has been laid. I am sure over the coming months we will see more of this.

Although I have been a frequent visitor to the View Tube, my visits have been a little in-frequent, but I am now planning on visiting once a month to document the changes to the run up of the games.

The First Olympic Park Venue is Ready

Yes, the first Olympic Park venue is ready. Nearly 18 months before the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, the Velodrome is opening today. The 6,000 seat arena will hopefully see Sir Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Team GB repeat the medal haul they won in the Bejing Olympics in 2008.

I visited the Velodrome last July, and as an empty shell it looked impressive:

Since these pictures were taken, the track has been installed which is made  of Siberian pine (56Km of timber) put in place using more than 350,000 nails.

The velodrome has already been nick-named “The Pringle”, and is sure to be a focus for Team GB supporters during the games. I can’t wait to visit again.

Tracks at Upminster

Tracks, originally uploaded by gary8345.

I really like the patterns the track make in this picture.It was taken at the Eastern terminus of the District Line on a wet and dreary February afternoon.

I think the weather conditions add to this image, as the tracks seem to fade into the mist ahead.

Camera-less Photography

I attended one of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s free lunchtime talks the other day. The talks are on a vast range of subjects, all linked to exhibits at the museum. At the moment there is an exhibition entitled “Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography“, and this talk was linked to that .

I had been trying to imagine what was meant by camera-less photography, and must admit to being rather stumped by the concept. Obviously my imagination isn’t as good as it should be. So I was intrigued to find out more.

The lecture was given by Martin Barnes – senior curator of photography at the Victoria and Albert Museum. He introduced the concepts of camera-less photography: light, time and light sensitive materials.

An early example of camera-less photography – the capturing of shadows in paintings. An example of this is Lavater’s Silhouette Chair:

A simple conception. The subject sat between a canvas and a candle, and the artist painted the silhouette cast by the shadow the candle light produced.

There are many different processes and techniques used in camera-less photography today:

CHEMIGRAM: made by directly manipulating the surface of photographic paper, often using vanishes, oils and photographic chemicals. These are produced in full light.

DYE DESTRUCTION PRINT: made using direct positive colour paper to print colour transparencies or negatives. Ir is coated with at least three layers of emulsion (usually primary colours). Each layer also contains a dye related to that colour. During the development of the image any unexposed dyes are bleached out, leaving the remaining dyes to form a full-colour image.

GELATIN-SILVER PRINT: using a paper coated in gelatin containing silver salts. Where the light hits the silver salts, they become dark. The image can then be developed using chemical developer.

LUMINOGRAM: produced by light falling directly on the paper, which forms the image. Objects are placed between the light and the paper, but not touching the paper, which will filter or block the light.

PHOTOGRAM: images are made by placing an object in contact with a photo-sensitive surface in the dark, and then exposing both to light. This creates a shadow, which is recorded on paper. Photogramists are not able to predict the outcome of the final image as it is only apparent after physical and chemical manipulation.

The exhibition features the work of 5 camera-less photographers:

Floris Neususs – born Germany, 1937. Neususs has dedicated his whole career to practice, study and teach photogram. His work deals with opposites, black and white, shadow and light, movement and stillness and presence and absence.

This image, entitled’Bin Gleich Zurück, (Be Right Back), (Fotogramminstallation), 1984/87′ and is an example of presence and absence, and is quite a strange picture to view. It confuses the mind, as you are trying to find out how the shadow is created.

Piere Cordier – born Belgium, 1933. Cordier discovered the Chemigram process in 1956 and explored its potential like an experimental scientist. Works more like a painter than a photographer, except that Cordier replaces the canvas with photographic paper.

This image is titled ‘Chemigram 7/5/82 II  ”Pauli Kleei ad Marginem”1982 and is  a Chemigram on gelatin-silver paper.

Garry Fabian Miller, in 1984 discovered a method of using photographic enlarger that allowed a direct translation between plants and the photographic print. He later turned to making abstract images using glass vessels filled with liquids, and used cut paper to cast shadows and filter light.

This image is ‘Breathing in the Beech Wood, Homeland, Dartmoor, Twenty-four Days of Sunlight, May 2004’ 2004 Dye destruction prints.

Susan Derges, born London, 1955. During the 1990’s, Susan Derges became known for her photograms of water. To make these works she waited for dark-fall and hen submerged large sheets of photographic paper in rivers, and using a combination of moon and flashlight to create the exposure.

‘Eden 5’ 2004 Dye destruction print photogram

Adam Fuss, born London, 1961. Known as a photgramist, his work concerns the discovery of the unknown.

This work is ‘Invocation’ 1992 Dye destruction print photogram

I really enjoyed the lecture, and it made me think how the art of photography would have evolved without the invention of the camera. The examples here, are very imaginative and thought provoking, and although we wouldn’t have had factual records that camera photography gives you, we still would have had a vibrant, if often abstract art form.

Chelsea Vs Everton – 19th February 2011

This was a very unusual event, a FA Cup replay on a Saturday. This was a fourth round FA Cup tie, with the first game ending in a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park three weeks ago.

Again, Chelsea started of slowly. Everton were the far better team in the first half. However, Everton’s foul count grew and grew, which interrupted the flow of the game. Interestingly it took until the 50th minute for the first Everton player to be booked. Chelsea’s dominance grew in the second half, but yet again after 90 minutes, they drew a blank. However, they were lucky to go end the 90 minutes at 0-0 as a minute from the end Fellaini knocked the ball in from close range after a free-kick move but the big Belgian was flagged a few inches offside.

So it was to extra-time, and all looked right in the World again, when Lampard drilled the ball home in the 103rd minute. It was from across by Anelka, intended for Drogba, who seemed to mis-time his shot, which in the end found Lampard in the penalty area. The game seemed to be heading for a Chelsea win, when in injury time Ivanovic was judged to have fouled just outside the area. Baines was always likely to be dangerous from there and despite the pressure, curled the free-kick over the wall, and into the top corner.

So like the first game, the replay ended 1-1, and now it was down to penalties to settle the tie. Chelsea started the penalty shoot-out well, with both Lampard and Drogba scoring, and the advantage looked like Chelsea’s when Baines missed for Everton. However, with Anelka, who looked like he was “show-boating” and Cole firing over the cross-bar, the shoot out ended as many involving Chelsea do, with the opposition winning. So it’s Everton who progress to the next round.

It was Chelsea’s first defeat in the FA Cup since 2007, and the first time in 13 years, that they had failed to progress to the 5th round. Quiet a record I suppose.

However, this season seems to be going from bad to worse, and with the resumption of the Champions League on Tuesday, we had better rediscover our scoring touch very quickly.