Tate Modern Turbine Hall, London

Everyone knows the Tate Modern, but do they know the building used to be a power station? Its transformation into a world renowned art gallery began in 1995, gutting the building and reconstructing the inside. The Tate Modern opened to the public in May 2000.

One of the most memorable parts of the building for me is the Turbine Hall, the huge space you walk into when you first enter. It is five storeys/35 metres high and 152 metres long. It has been used for displaying large commissioned art works, some of which I have found images for, above.

The very top image is by Olafur Eliasson, 2003-04. It is called The Weather Project, and is meant to represent the sun. It was made with a giant semi-circular form, and mono-frequenct lamps (otherwise known as street-lamps) circling it from behind. A fine mist infiltrated the air, creating an air of mystery and awe.

Carsten Holler created Test Site 2006. These were a series of tubes spiralling down from the top floor to the ground floor in the turbine hall. The name implies this is just a trial run for something even larger and better.

In 2007 Shibboleth by Doris Salcedo was commissioned. She created a chasm down the whole length of the turbine hall. Shibboleth means a custom, behaviour etc, that distinguishes different social classes. The fissure in the floor to me signifies how underneath our modern ways lies deeper issues that need to be addressed.

TH.2058 by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster was installed in 2008. It looked at what life would be like in 50 years time, and feature bunk beds, huge bug like sculptures, and snippets of science fiction films played on a huge screen. One of her biggest influences was the weather, and in particular the never ending rain, and how London has adapted to it. The scene represents a shelter where Londoners can take refuge from the rain, as well as the giant sculptures standing among the beds. The bunk beds are scattered with books, saved from the rain. I went to the Tate Modern when this installation was up, but unfortunately only saw it from above, and didn't have enough time to look around it. The first thing I saw was the giant spider sculpture towering above everything else. I couldn't see much else, I think I must have been on the top floor, but it was striking, and I did get an idea that it was something sci-fi related.

Embankment by Rachel Whiteread featured 14,000 casts of the inside of boxes, stacked on top of each other. The box that gave her inspiration was in her mothers house, shortly after she had died. It held memories for her, and from there she found more boxes to create the mountains of box casts. I vaguely remember visiting the Tate Modern when this installation was in the hall, and thinking they looke like sugar cubes. Whiteread wanted to make the hall look like a warehouse, and I think she succeeded.

This year Miroslaw Balka is being commissioned for the tenth installation in the Unilever series. It opens on 13th October if you are interested in visiting, and finishes 5th April 2010.

Google

I was just about to google something when I realised what my last design post could be about!

Google is known for adapting its logo for special occasions, and sometimes just for fun. Today the logo is a barcode, to celebrate the anniversary of the first barcode patent. Above are a few I found. I am guessing they were made for celebrating birthdays, occasions, anniversaries of Sherlock Holmes, Halloween, Dr Seuss, and Miro. To see more of their past logos visit:

http://www.google.com/intl/en/holidaylogos.html

or

http://www.google-logos.com/

As the most visited website on the internet, Google can do this. As a search engine, lets face it, it's not an exciting site. It's useful, but we don't visit it to entertain ourselves, unless we are searching for something entertaing. Google has to make things more interesting for us, surprise us, make us smile, give us a reason to visit again. Their logos, along with the fact that they are a good search engine, are that reason. Googling google logos show how many people are really quite interested in the adapted logos, a few have even made blogs dedicated to them!

We really should give Google credit for making something mundane that little bit more interesting.

Times Square

Perhaps one of the busiest places I have ever visited, Times Square is filled to the brim with digital signs. Despite the name, Times Square is a junction, where Broadway and 7th Avenue meet. It is one of the places to visit if you ever go to New York. Theatres, restaurants, and shops line the sides, and in the centre is the TKTS booth, from which you can buy mega cheap theatre tickets. But beware, you will be in for a long wait as the queues become ridiculously long unless you get there early.

Times Square wasn't always the happy lively landmark it is today. During the 1930s it was rife with crime and was a dangerous place to be. During the 60s and 70s, Times Square was notoriously known for its x-rated shows, bookshops, and movie theatres. Only in the early 80s did the clean up begin, and the transformation to what it is now.

If you want to see some live cameras streaming from Times Square visit:

http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/

Izzie Klingels

Izzie Klingels is an illustrator with a very distinctive pen and ink style. She influenced by the surreal and fairytales, which I think is very apparent in all her work. I like her work because its simple yet so detailed. From her pen and ink she can create something so complex and attractive, with no need for other materials. My favourite piece of hers is the flowers with rope stems, from a Hans Christian Andersen story "The Wind Tells the Tale of Valdemar Daee and His Daughters". There's no fuss, almost like technical drawings meant for a flower book.

Klingel also makes animations that can be found on http://www.izzieklingels.com/index.php

The Museum of Natural History

The Museum of Natural History can be found in New York, to the west of central park. It is a huge place, much like the Met. Some might remember it from the film, Night at the Museum. There are many different collections, most notably, The Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, Fossil Halls, and Extreme Mammals which was a temporary display. The latter contained the more obcure mammals, including a cast of the famous Darwinius Masillae, or Ida. This fossil is around 47 million years old, from Germany, and is one of the most complete primate fossils found. Even its stomach contents have been fossilised.

The ocean hall was impressive, with a 94 foot long blue whale hanging from the ceiling. It contains lots of dioramas, filled to the brim with life-like underwater species, and explains each one in great detail. The hall was restored in 2003, and even this year, six years on, it looked like it had only just be finished. The sound of the ocean plays through the speakers, and there is a huge screen playing films of the ocean. A definite must see out of all the collections.

The fossil halls, and in particular the dinosaur halls, are also a must see. Nearly 85% of the fossils on display are real. The Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs holds the Tyrannosaurus rex (pictured above), and the huge Brontosaurus.

The museum will take a whole day to look around, maybe more, and is well worth a visit. There is something for everyone, and so many different exhibits to choose from that you can't get bored.

Gran Torino

The story centres on Walt Kowalski, a war veteran who has just lost his wife. He lives in a neighbourhood in Michigan, mostly occupied by asians. His relationships with his relatives aren't the best, and the patriotism and prejudice he holds against anyone not caucasian isolates him from the community. That is until his next door neighbours befriend him, and he saves Thao, a Hmong teenager, from joining his cousins gang. They form a unique friendship, along with Sue, Thao's sister. But as Thao's cousins gang become more violent, Walt realises he has to do something to save his friends.

This was a great film, I loved Clint Eastwood as Walt. He was grumpy, angry, yet he became endearing, and funny. His relationship with Thao was like father and son, which was strange since he wasn't even close to his own family. He would call his neighbours every rascist word he could think of and they don't even bat an eyelid. This was the last film Clint Eastwood said he would act in, and he gave a fine performance.

Labyrinth

The book is set in the present and the past. Alice from the present is on an archaeological dig when she finds a cave with skeletons in and a ring with a labyrinth on it. This ring turns out to be very valuble and people try to take it from her. In the past, Alais lives in 13th century Carcassonne, France. Her father gives her a book from a set of three that is needed to summon the true grail. Throughout the book we swap back and forth between the two stories, which relate to one another, and come to a head towards the end. It was interesting, it was a bit slow to start with and I must admit it took two attempts to read it! But it is worth a read. Mosse clearly knows a great deal about Carcassonne and its history. It's quite Dan Brown-esque, these fast paced historical novels have become very popular in the past few years, and Labyrinth doesn't disappoint. Her second book Sepulchre runs along the same lines, but is set in the 1800s, so if you like Labyrinth, chances are you will probably like Sepulchre too.