The White Cube gallery in Bermondsey has created controversy with the exhibition of Gilbert and George’s “The Banners” which are exactly, as titled, banners and have to be taken as such, relating back to an event in the Serpentine Gallery in 2014 where the artists held up banners with controversial sayings in front of the […]
Walking down a dark stretch of Beak Street in Soho, London, a doorway is open, light bursting out onto the pavement. In the darkness, the busy tourist rushing to complete Christmas shopping or to go to the theatre may just stop to notice the colourful Street Art on the wall outside which gives a hint […]
How would an artist represent the modern world with as few lines and colours as possible? How would a writer describe a person with as few words as possible? How would an architect create the perfect building where every line and every material contributed to the design? “Less is More” was famously used by the […]
Imagine a race – one team running as fast as they can to capture and organise data; the other running at the same speed to find the data and set it free. This is the race that Simon Denny explores in the brick-vaulted rooms of the Magazine, the former gunpowder store built in 1805 in […]
Crumbling concrete, powdering plaster, rusty steelwork, peeling paint and boarded-up windows, yet only a few minutes from the swinging cranes and energy of redevelopment projects on the south bank of London. This is the Bargehouse at the Oxo Tower – the decaying industrial building which is currently showing the pop-up exhibition “Exhibit Here Art Maze”. […]
The baroque style of art and architecture conjures up visions of Bavarian churches with elaborate decoration soaring upwards to skies full of clouds and cherubs. At first glance, it therefore seems strange to house galleries of European baroque art and design at the bottom of a staircase. Think however of a staircase leading down to […]
Although a short distance from the city centre, a sombre grey stone wall closed off a vast area of land from the heart of the community for as long as anyone could remember – a wall which was not there to keep people out, but rather to keep people in. Many people in the community […]
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) has been described as “one of the greatest figures of the Industrial Revolution [who] changed the face of the English landscape with his groundbreaking designs and ingenious constructions.” (L T C Rolt). How appropriate therefore that his legacy should continue with the enterprise centre Engine Shed in the buildings he created […]
Today’s headline: “Cumbria flooding: Army mobilised to rescue families hit by Storm Desmond as David Cameron convenes COBRA crisis meeting – Environment Agency admits flood defences have failed amid record rainfall as major incident declared in Cumbria. One man dies and weather warnings remain across the country”. (Daily Telegraph 6 December 2015) At the same […]
I’m out in my fishing boat, fighting the storms as I fish for mackerel and tuna, with huge shoals swarming around the coast; these are the fish that give us garum, The Romans love it; it’s the sauce they all want for their most culinary dishes. Jamie Oliver has nothing on garum! Garum was one […]
"The many great gardens of the world, of literature and poetry, of painting and music, of religion and architecture, all make the point as clear as possible: The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden. If you don't want paradise, you are not human; and if you are not human, you don't have a soul."
(Thomas Moore)
To be an architect means having a wide range of interests - architecture, art and creativity in all its variety of forms, sustainability, science and innovation. The greatest interest is often where these different worlds overlap and collide - that is when something imaginative often occurs that pushes us all forward to another place
Recent Comments