Dates Joseph Gay Pride Olafur Eliasson

OUT AND ABOUT

An action-packed week for TheEye.

It kicked off on Monday with a visit to The Whitechapel Gallery where Iraqi-American Michael Rakowitz – artist, sculptor, stone carver and occasional chef – is currently exhibiting. Rakowitz’s sculpture, Lamassu, a large winged bull with the head of a man, destroyed in 2015 by ISIS, was selected to be on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. TheEye’s excuse for this long overdue visit to see this very timely, thought-provoking show, was to celebrate the publication of his cookbook, ‘A House with A Date Palm Will Never Starve‘, consisting of recipes from world-renowned chefs, including Claudia Roden, Yotam Ottolenghi, Sam Clarke (Moro), Alice Waters and Honey & Co as well as Yvonne Rakowitz, the artist’s mother, an artist herself. The recipes all feature dates. A very happy occasion with many of the chefs also present enjoying some delicious bites from the recipes in the book.

Michael Rakowitz – artist chef at work

John, Paul, George, Ringo …and  WHO  ??

JOSEPH

It was pure coincidence that TheEye on a family outing to see Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Palladium coincided with the Gay Parade making its way to Piccadilly Circus. TheEye had loved the original production of Joseph at the Roundhouse many years ago when Jason Donovan played Joseph. Now playing Pharaoh, he is fabulously camp, funny and hyper-energetic. That said, the entire cast is wonderful and many (including 21-year-old newcomer Jac Yarrow playing the part of Joseph) are recent graduates of The Arts Educational School, a fantastic hothouse of young talent. They sing, they dance, they give it their all and the packed audience also singing and dancing in the aisles at the end loved every second. Yarrow is an overnight sensation and, apparently, there are queues lining up at the stage door of all ages eager for his autograph.

The GAY PRIDE March was happy and peaceful. No ‘incidents’. All ages, shapes and sizes, having a wonderful time and making their voices heard. For many marchers, whilst enjoying the party atmosphere, the real point was to make sure people ‘got the message’.

They dressed up and there was a great sense of ‘oneness’ and tolerant camaraderie  –  this year’s parade had a record turnout – helped, no doubt, by the good weather. Lots of sequins, tulle, big hair, and extreme eyelashes. The police presence was exemplary – no provocation. Watchful good humour which proves it can be done. If only the organisers of the Notting Hill Carnival were able to follow the example instead of turning it into something that always turns sour and squalid when the drugs and alcohol kick in.

Making her voice heard – Chanteuse singing to the crowds – Gay Parade

Two queens in tiaras – It looks like they have done a spot of shopping at Liberty!

Guys in tulle

Girls just want to have fun – and they are!!

And so are the boys!

OLAFUR ELIASSON

  IN REAL LIFE at TATE MODERN

TheEye loved this exhibition and was really lucky to go to an early morning preview when the galleries were empty and what a difference it makes! To be able to see the exhibits up close without battling and elbowing, craning your neck and — even then — not getting a worthwhile time to look. Senior curator, Mark Godfrey, gave an introductory talk to orientate us with the main themes. Very helpful (and necessary) it was, for this is a huge spectacle in 12 galleries and covers three decades of the artist’s work.

Eliasson’s ‘Weather Project’ in 2003 was a turning point for Tate Modern, leading the field as an example of what a 21st Century museum could be. In Real Life is a monumental project orchestrated in his studio in Berlin, which houses a staff of 120 craftspeople, architects, scientists, chefs, and environmentalists.

Waterfall

The first thing you see before entering the Turbine Hall is a massive waterfall cascading down in front of a building opposite. The gushing water was a little too close to home for TheEye, who recently had a massive flood in the bedroom of her home and didn’t need reminding of how powerful or destructive water can be and how fast it moves.

Eliasson focuses on three major interests (obsessions) – perception, geometry and nature. ‘Moss wall’, for example, is a 60-metre wall of Scandinavian reindeer lichen.

The counter in the Eliasson cafe

Food is another obsession and, for the duration of the exhibition, there is the Olafur Eliasson Kitchen serving a vegetarian lunch based on the lunches eaten in the Eliasson studio where 100 plus sit down to eat together at communal tables.

Some question whether Eliasson, a master of immersive experiences, is a true artist in the accepted sense or whether his main themes are really no more than brilliant gimmicks and tricks. For example, TheEye was completely fascinated and intrigued by the 39-metre-long fog tunnel ‘Your Blind Passenger” made from water-soluble fog fluid containing non-toxic polyols – a sweetener used in food production. The fog is so dense you can only see about 1.5 metres ahead of you and it totally unnerved and disorientated TheEye who ignored the instructions of the Tate guard at the door to ‘keep walking in a straight line’ and managed to collide into a wall at least three times.

Your Blind Passenger – visitor waving her hands about to avoid walking into a wall: a very disorientating experience

Maybe the important point of any exhibition is to keep you thinking and questioning long after you leave. In that sense, it has certainly succeeded. It is impossible not to be mesmerised, and to quote Waldemar Januszczak in The Sunday Times Culture, ‘So while the art here is happily effective and a joy to wander through, the show manages also to trigger a creeping suspicion that there are bigger games afoot…for me it was like a magician revealing his methods and it destroyed some of the enchantment.’

Art and science

Eliasson asks many questions, which confront visitors in this engrossing, immersive and original retrospective, but in the end, TheEye found herself questioning whether this was just a brilliant stimulating display of magic. And no fault in that.

In Real Life is at Tate Modern until early January 2020.

Colour and movement

Go and figure it out for yourselves. It’s thrilling.

6 Comments

  1. Agree that the Eliasson is great fun & really excellent to do with kids. Even on Saturday pm it wasn’t too full – and the opportunity to do a construction afterwards makes it super child friendly. While there allow time to take the kids to the Lego City Event in the Turbine Hall – you can marvel at the achievements of the Lego nerds there all day & also enjoy a couple of hours sitting back while your family gets stuck in.

  2. Being absent from London now and missing it greatly I really appreciate your description of events and exhibits and even quotes from The Times. Thanks, Ellen

  3. Thanxx for sharing this photos ..how lucky we are to be here to enjoy all this. X

  4. brilliant, as usual Jan. I love your eye….. Kisses, kathy

  5. Clare M Ferguson July 19, 2019 at 3:59 pm

    What a brilliant blog Jan.
    And fantastic photos too. I trail in your IT wake
    And thank you so much for the mention of the brilliant ArtsEd of Chiswick
    Keep it up please. We need to ever celebrate the UK’s stellar menu of the arts, liberalism, internationalism and erudition. We are exceedingly fortunate to live here.

  6. Sounds fascinating! Thank you for sharing your slice of London culture and great photos.
    Lucy

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