We started with the Camden Art Centre right down the hill in Hampstead. An oversize Victorian brick building that was once Hampstead's Public Library, is now a contemporary art space with exhibition galleries, studios, a café and a fabulous bookshop. We went because we had never been, and now have to admit that was pretty negligent of us. On top of that we loved the exhibit. Jim Hodges, a New York based artist, who does all sorts of smart pieces with a variety of materials from spit-and-charcoal to silk flowers. The cut paper pieces were especially interesting. These are from Google images and weren't in the exhibition, but Bob loved a similar once which also used cut up music scores.
And there were lots of spider images.
Then we headed over to one of our 1000 Best Churches (#288), St. Augustine's in Maida Vale. A Victorian behemoth that arose from the 19th century Oxford Movement of Anglicans not happy with the split from Rome, and set out to create an Anglo-Catholic hybrid worship, without benefit of the Pope. The church is the size of a Gothic cathedral.
Then we went over to Trafalgar Square to see the Ship in a Bottle on the Fourth Plinth.
Trafalgar Square commemorates Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar, so the ship in the bottle is Nelson's H.M.S. Victory.
We stopped into the National Portrait Gallery, not having been there in a long, long time. Not much to see at the moment except the annual BP Portrait Award Show. Always interesting, but this year's first prize is a skeletal dead woman. Ah memento mori. . .but who needs it these days of endless collapse. A photographic portrait show of Brits who live in New York was not very satisfying. It sounded more interesting written up in The Guardian last week. The statements accompanying the photo are supposed to say why they prefer living in NY over London. Most of them said they missed the English countryside and gardens and planned to come back here. One said he missed the value placed on social justice that was lacking in the States. Kate Winslet, who is not the sharpest tool in the box, said she likes NY because all the people of all races and ethnicities from around the world live together peacefully! I guess she doesn't get out much.
Then it was over to Cadogan Hall for a Proms concert. The popularity of the Proms, London's summer music festival sponsored by the BBC, has led to extra concerts besides the daily evening concerts at the Albert Hall. Bob booked because he saw it was two of our favourite groups together, the Britten Sinfonia and I Fagiolini, a small choral ensemble who sings mostly Renaissance music. This was a very odd concert alternating old pieces with new pieces inspired by the old pieces. A Dowland song Flow my tears, followed by Britten's Lachrymae; some Gesualdo, who murdered his wife and her lover, followed by a new Australian piece about Gesualdo murdering his wife; and a bit of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo where the messenger brings him news that his bride is dead, followed by an Israeli piece written during the Lebanon war 4 years ago with lots of traditional keening on tape. Very odd programme, and to top it off, it was broadcast live for BBC3's afternoon concert, so we had to sit for 2 hours with no interval. Anyone interested, can listen on the BBC iplayer.
And that was our day, finishing up the third full week of our Staycation. Now we move into the last week of August and the Bank Holiday weekend that marks the end of summer here. In the States, there is a whole extra week of summer until Labor Day. I can already feel the seasonal change beginning. For one thing the days are markedly shorter; it is dark by 8:30 now, and the dawn does not wake me at 4 am.
The Autumnal Equinox is only a month away.
No comments:
Post a Comment