Archive for November, 2005

Francis Alÿs

Posted on: by Richard

Seven Walks, Artangel

Trained as an architect, Alÿs turned to a visual arts based practice in the early 1990s as a more immediate, direct, and effective way of exploring issues related to urbanization, to the ordering and signification of urban space and to the semiotics of its use. The show displayed documentation of some amusing works. I found their humour to be witty and whimsical. As implied by the title, the exhibition focused on walking, but specifically within an urban setting. For example, one slideshow documented his Paradox of Praxis (1997) piece in which the artist pushed a block of ice through the streets of Mexico City until it melted. Alÿs also had several short films that displayed the same tongue-in-cheek style: Railings, that depict a walker tapping rhythmically on the gates and metal fencing around Regency London. (more…)

On Divine Purpose and Missing Trains

Posted on: by Richard

It is two minutes to nine and my train leaves at the top of the hour. I can see the Cambridge Heath Station overpass two blocks ahead and with my long gate, I feel assured that I am on time. Before I could fully inhale my assurance; however, a train slowly pulls away from the station. !@£$ Did I miscalculate? Is my watch incorrect? With half an hour until the next train, missing one would be slightly more irritation than I had planned on acquiring today. Three stops ahead, lying dormant in Ben’s Internet connection, is a slumbering map of Cambridge, my seemingly unplanned destination for this afternoon.

(more…)

Why there is no need to rush to become famous

Posted on: by Richard

Bruno and I met Marcel outside the Russell Square tube station. Marcel is a bushy-haired astrophysicist student from Kings College. He was suitably enthusiastic tonight and like Bruno, amicably charming.

The lights dimmed in a packed and hot Logan Hall at London University. The golden wooden stage was set. Two attendants rolled Stephen Hawking in front of the audience: the mind, himself. (more…)