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.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, otherwise known as the Met, is one of the largest art galleries in the world. The images above (apart from the very top) were taken on a phone and so are not the best quality. Their collection ranges from Asian art to Greek and Roman art, and they display over two million pieces of art. When I went I didn't get to walk around the whole museum, that would have taken a few days. But one of the best collections I saw was the Greek and Roman art. They had an extensive collection of sculptures still in good condition, others not so much. Even the room, if you can even call it that, where the sculptures were situated was impressive. Another collection I saw was the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. There are a couple of pictures above from this collection. There were huge intricately carved totem poles, and the strange thing hanging from the roof in the third image was a ceiling from a temple.
The Met has special collections that they display or a limited time only, and while I was there, they had a Francis Bacon collection on display. As one of my favourite artists I had to see it and it wasn't a let down. His work is haunting, filled with nightmarish people who look deeply tormented. I don't think I would want one hanging on my wall at home but they are defintely well worth a visit if an exhibition pops up.
The Met is an an amazing building even without the art work, with soaring ceilings and mammoth sized rooms. To see all the collections you would have to visit a couple of times at least, but as the collection is permanent you can go back again to one you wanted to see but may have missed.

The Animals

I found Nacho Gil on the web, he has created a collection of animals using triangles and gradients. The are amazing, its such a simple idea and it looks amazing, almost as if someone has folded paper to look like the animal heads.

http://www.nacho-gil.com/

The heads are all symmetrical (apart from one strange looking creature), and the one above is one of my favourites. It looks like Gil uses black and a light blue/white colour as the gradient, and it works really well.

DON'T CLICK IT!!

I found a website with an interesting concept, don't click! It is a flash site where you don't need to click to navigate to different pages, just hover. Its weird and wonderful, and it made me really want to click the mouse! I did, intentionally, to see what happened. Basically they are analysing what movements you make, whether you click, and if you do, is intentional or accidental.

http://www.dontclick.it/

Have a go and see if you can resist the power of the click.

The Empire State Building

When I went to New York in June I visited lots of places, including the Empire State Building. This skyscraper is the tallest in New York, and the third tallest in the USA, over a quarter of a mile high. On the 86th floor is the observatory deck, it gives stunning views of Manhattan, and you can even see the Statue of Liberty in the Bay.

The building began construction in 1930, and was finished a year later. William Lamb was the architect, and he based the Empire State Building on the shape of a pencil. It is easy to see this by the image above, how the top of the building gradually narrows to a point.

The building is art deco inspired, a popular art movement at the time it was built. Strong perpendicular lines, mathmatical geometric shapes, and symmetry are typical of the art deco style.

Wuthering Heights

The story centres on Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw and their turbulent love, set in the Yorkshire Dales.

Mr Lockwood arrives to Wuthering Heights to visit Heathcliff because he is renting Thrushcross Grange. During the night at the Heights, Lockwood finds a diary written by Catherine Earnshaw. Whilst he sleeps he has a horrific dream about Catherine and is woken by an angry Heathcliff. Once Lockwood is at Thrushcross Grange, he meets Nelly Dean, the housekeeper, who becomes the narrator and tells Lockwood about Heathcliff and Catherines lives as they grew up, how Heathcliff became bitter when he returned from his travels to find Catherine with Edgar Linton. He in turn marries Isabella Linton, Edgars sister. They move away and have a child named Linton. Heathcliff returns to visit Catherine a few times, and after the last meeting, when Catherine is dying, they reconcile. Catherine dies after giving birth to Cathy. Heathcliff becomes even more bitter and twisted, and tries to get revenge on everyone around him.

Cathy grows to a young woman. She meets Heathcliff who has obtained Wuthering Heights, her cousin Hareton, and Linton is brought to Heathcliff when Isabella dies. Cathy becomes friends with the sickly Linton, who slowly becomes as twisted and horrible as his father, and she is eventually forced to marry him. Due to his health, Linton dies, as does Cathys father Edgar. Cathy is still at Wuthering Heights and grows closer to Hareton, and they fall in love.

Its a difficult book to read for a long time just because the language isn't the same as it is today. It takes a bit of work. The story itself is a good one, its difficult to believe Catherine and Heathcliff could still be in love after being so horrible to each other. Emily Bronte creates vivid scenes in your imagination, she describes everything with great detail. It was different to books I usually read, and I was pleasantly surprised. I imagine this book to be more of a female read than a males, Almost like an 19th century chick lit!

Sara Fanelli

Sara Fanelli is a childrens book illustrator. Her style is collage, below are a few examples. She collects bits of paper, whether its a bit of scrap wallpaper or a bus timetable, she keeps them for her art. Her quirky characters are endearing, and her style of writing is childlike. She doesn't use printed text, she writes her own, and it adds to the quality of the book.
As well as making childrens books she has also done work for the Royal Mail, the V&A, BBC, and Faber and Faber just to name a few. She has won many awards, including two D&AD pencils.
I like her because she has a very distinctive style, and her books are unlike any other childrens book I've seen. The collage makes the pictures look like they are raised on the page, and the colours are wonderfully vivid. An interesting alternative to the run of the mill childrens books.

No Country for Old Men

This film is essentially about a game of cat and mouse. Llewelyn Moss is hunting in the desert and stumbles upon a murder scene. One man is alive who he leaves in the truck, and he finds drugs in the back. A bit further from the brutal scene he finds the man who got away with the money, and takes it for himself. That night, feeling guilty, he takes some water back to the desert to give to the man he found. He is soon discovered by a couple of men who chase him away.

Anton Chigurh is a hitman chosen to find Moss and retrieve the money. He pursuits Moss, killing anyone that stands in his way. He shows no emotion, its as if he is completely detached to what he is doing. He follows Moss with a transponder that has been planted amongst the money, which Moss eventually finds and removes. The cat and mouse chase explodes towards the end of the film, and then slows down to a stop.

The film was originally a book, it would be interesting to see if it stayed true to it. It was a tense film, building up slowly. Javier Bardem as Chiguhr was scary, evil, and showed no remorse. He was most definitely the most interesting character.

Boone Oakley

Boone Oakley is an advertising agency with a difference. Their website is actually a series of youtube videos, all linked to one another. I've seen a couple of these before, where people tell a story and you pick what you want to happen. Its different and very clever, and the simple graphic's add to its effectiveness. And the music is amusing. I think you might have to redirect to youtube.com if you want it to work properly.

A Spot of Bother

I have read a couple of Mark Haddon books, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which is about a young boy with Asperger's syndrome who finds a dog pitchforked to the ground in his next door neighbours garden, and decides to launch a murder investigation. A highly recommended book.
A spot of bother is about an ordinary family, the Halls, in particular the normal middle aged man George. George's wife Jean is having an affair with an ex-colleague of his, his daughter Katie is getting married to a man he isn't all that keen on, and his gay son Jamie invites his lover to the wedding which ends in disaster. Whilst all this is happening, George finds a lesion on his hip, and begins to slowly go insane, thinking of -mostly gruesome- ways to get rid of it.
Its a very funny read, and its relatable, it could be happening to my family right now! George's quiet spiral downwards is entertaining, he believes you can keep some things to yourself, and going insane is one of them.

MOMA

Whilst I was in New York I managed to visit loads of museums, one being the Museum of Modern Art.
From the outside it is a modest building, unlike the Met which I will review later. The interior is modern, and very white. A large room was dedicated to design, which is where I saw the Polish posters that I’ve blogged on.
What I enjoy most is seeing paintings that I know and know quite a bit about. Fortunately the MOMA is filled to the brim with artwork from new artists and the old, more well known artists. I took some photos and here are a select few.

I don't think I have ever seen a Jackson Pollock in the flesh before, and this was certainly impressive. It is called One:Number 31. I remember watching a programme at college about Pollock, and his painting technique. He laid the canvas' on the floor and used brushes, or sticks to flick and dribble the paint over the canvas. Sometimes he would even pour the paint on straight from the tin. The paint is so dense, and the colours contrast to make it look even more layered. This style was what Pollock became most known for.

I got quite excited about seeing this painting by Picasso, mostly because I wrote an essay on Cubism and analysed it for quite a while. It is called La Demoiselles d'Avignon and it was the very first Cubist painting, revolutionising art there on after. It depicts five prostitutes in a brothel. Picasso was influenced by Primitivism and African tribal masks, which Picasso said was to warn off evil spirits. It was unlike anything that had ever been painted before, women were usually rounded with soft edges, not sharp and pointy. Many people didn't like it because went completely against traditional painting, but some did, including Georges Braque, whose work was heavily influenced by Cubism. I was surprised it wasn't bigger than it was, I imagined it to be a huge painting but it was quite modest. Overall it was a highlight of the MOMA.

There was a lot of Andy Warhol, including the soup cans and this Marilyn Monroe print. Golden Marilyn Monroe was painted right after Monroe died, and it has a religious feel about it, due to the golden background and the lone print or Marilyn's head.

This painting by Edward Ruscha made me smile. Oof is a word found in comic books, so its somewhat odd seeing it in big yellow letters on a big canvas. The colours make it striking and its difficult not to notice it. Ruscha said they hold "a certain comedic value" which I definitely agree with, and it makes this strange painting even more appealing.

The Lily Theatre

The Lily Theatre is a loosely based on the childhood of the author Lulu Wang.

Lian is growing up in Mao's China where bourgeois attitudes will not will not be tolerated. Lian is the child of intellectual parents, who, because of their counter-revolutionary ways, get sent to prison camps. Lian is struck with vitiligo and goes to live with her mother in one of these camps, where she is taught by China's leading scholars. Once freed she is reunited with her best friend Kim, but the strict caste system makes their friendship wrong and unacceptable in the eyes of the outsiders.

The book is a clear and stark look at the uprising of communist China. Its informative, educational, and engrossing. You really feel for Lian at times, she seems so wise even though she is a young teenager. Her views on the cultural revolution are logical but she repeatedly gets punished for expressing them. Makes you feel thankful to live in a free country like Britain.

American Psycho

American Psycho centres on a man named Patrick Bateman. He is a successful wealthy businessman with the expensive suits, the perfect body, and the cleanest apartment. He looks perfect. Except he has one small flaw. He is a psychopath by night. He lures his victims to his house and then brutally murders them, with an axe, a chainsaw, a nail gun, whatever he can get his hands on.

We get a feeling from the start that he isn't completely sane, his OCD is a big giveaway. quite ironic how everything has to be in its place no matter what, yet at night he obliterates it all in a second. Like a big release.

The business card seems to symbolise wealth and power, and it stirs the craziness in Bateman, encouraging him to murder the men whose cards are better than his.

As the film goes on, the more insane Bateman becomes, until he completely cracks and goes on a mass murder rampage, ending in a frantic call to his lawyer in which he says he doesn't think he can get away with it anymore. It ends with Bateman having a conversation with his lawyer over the message he left him. His lawyer doesn't believe him, mistaking Bateman for another client of his, and calling Bateman a coward. The ending is quite ambiguous, did he kill all those people or was it all his imagination?

I thought it was a good film, Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman was brilliant, he was arrogant, greedy and completely psychotic all in one go. Bale is notorious for his method acting and as his character is well built he visited the gym everyday to bulk up, which is clearly apparent in the film.

I noticed before he was going to do something brutal, Bateman would always make a speech about music. Phil Collins and Genesis, Whitney Houston, Huey Lewis and the News. It builds up the tension, till it explodes with lots of blood and guts, which happens a lot. The camera never lets you look directly at the murdering or even the mutilated body after, just a pool of bloody or a part of the body that hasn't been hacked at. Your imagination does the rest for you.

Parc Guell

Another one of Gaudi’s creations, Parc Guell was originally meant to be a residential area but only two houses were built and no one wanted to buy them. Luckily for us it was transformed into beautiful gardens open to the public. The whole park oozes Gaudi, from the colourful mosaics to the smooth curves of the architecture. It is on the side of a very large hill so there are lots of steps and hills to walk up, which adds to its beauty, and has amazing views of Barcelona.

Below is the sea serpent bench. It is covered in mosaic and its very long. The bench is situated on the main terrace and is great for taking photos from.

La Sagrada Familia

Barcelona is full of amazing architecture, mostly thanks to the late great Antoni Gaudi. His work can be found throughout the city, and are instantly recognisable. What he and Barcelona are most famous for though, is the Sagrada Familia, a church that began construction on 19 March 1882, and is still unfinished today. The church was one of Gaudi’s last buildings before he died.

The building is huge, and there has been so much effort and detail gone into the workmanship that there is no wonder it hasn’t been completed yet. There are a total of 18 towers, 2 connected by a bridge and very steep spiral staircases! There are three facades, the Nativity facade, Passion facade, and the Glory facade which is still incomplete. Each one has its own style, the Nativity facade is extremely detailed, depicting the birth of Jesus. This was the first facade to be built whilst Gaudi was alive. The Passion facade is on the opposite side to the Nativity facade, and is dedicated to the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. The Glory facade faces the south-east and is the main facade.

The interior is just as awe-inspiring and impressive as the exterior. There are huge columns that appear to grow into the ceiling. Gaudi wanted the columns to look like trees, and that exactly what they made me think of when I first saw them. The stain glass windows look modern and fit right in with the architecture.

The building is already a landmark for Barcelona, even Spain, and it is yet to be completed. After seeing this and some of his other work when I was in Barcelona, he became one of my favourite architects. Pictures don’t do it justice, and I highly recommend visiting Barcelona just to see his architecture!

Dubai - Excessive and Fabulous!

My dad lives in Dubai, so I am lucky enough to go and have a free place to stay! It is one of a kind, everything is extravagant, and shiny and brand new.

Some of you may know about the Burj Dubai, a skyscraper under construction at the moment. It is in fact the tallest building in the world, rising high into the sky at a colossal 818m. I had the pleasure of seeing it last year and it towers above the other "tiny" skyscrapers. I took the very top picture on my phone which is why its not the best quality, but you can tell from the skyscrapers in the foreground the sheer scale of it. The picture above is a recent image, as you can tell its almost finished.
When it is complete, the Burj will be a residential building, with luxury apartments and brilliant views. The building is part of a huge project to create downtown Burj Dubai, complete with shopping mall, more residential buildings, and the Armani hotel. Excessive really can't describe this project!

Another landmark Dubai is known for is the Burj Al Arab. This is a luxury hotel designed to look like a sail on the sea. Its contemporary, and beautiful in its own way. The fact that it is on its own little island in the sea makes it even more striking.

Other interesting projects under construction and completed are the Palm (two of them), and the World. All these islands have limited access. The World requires a boat to get to each island. I read that there are financial worries over it due to the recession, and clients have been backing out, so work on the World has ground to a halt.

Dubai is a land of excess and money. I once read someone call it the Vegas of the Middle East, and I agree! There isn't anywhere else like it (except for perhaps Vegas), and I find it amazing how fast they put up buildings, expecially compared to the UK when it takes a year here to do up a normal sized house!