The New Faces: a Photographic Exhibition  

At The Book Club. It was a series of protraits and photographs by Dean Chalkney. I really liked the laid back style of the photos, and the moments which were caught seemed natural and yet well orchistrated.

"All the participants are in their late teens or early twenties, trying hard to be 'faces' on today's mod scene. Dean first encountered them last summer when they dropped into his monthly night club in north London. They would appear, dance and, after a few visits, even DJ. He became fascinated by their moves and by their style and the idea for 'The New Faces' was born"

http://www.modculture.co.uk/culture/culture.php?id=62

marks hall  -  06 / 03 / 10. Walk around Marks Hall in Essex. The planting was very beautiful in places, next to the lake birches and red barked dogwood are planted, which contrast beautifully with each other and are reflected in the water. In the woodland snow drops were out as where wood anamones and celendines.

"The Walled Garden covers two acres and was built in the C18th. It is unusual in that it is open to the lake on one side. Once completely overgrown and neglected the Trust decided to mark the 100th anniversary of Mr. Phillps Price’s acquisition of Marks Hall by creating a contemporary series of gardens to make this the summer focal point of the Arboretum. The magnificent double border is nearly 450 feet long and the five terraced gardens are designed to appeal to all ages with vibrant planting, which provides a procession of colour throughout the summer. The Duchess of Devonshire officially opened the Walled Garden on 1st July 2003."

The walled garden in winter.

Betula utilis and cornus alba, next to the lake. the contrasting colours really work together.

The walled garden was closed when we went for maintenance work. It is closed every winter as the planting is supposed to be purely intended for the summer. However we took a quick peek and I thought it was a real shame to write it off for half of the year. The beech hedges keep movement texture and some colour the garden and the sinuous curving walls reflect the silver winter light beautifully. I really enjoyed the visit especially after having been in the city for so long - you can really appreciate the changes in seasons in the country.

http://www.markshall.org.uk/map_of_marks_hall

Dusseldorf 

24 - 27 Feb 2010

I went to Dusseldorf to meet James (my boyfriend) for the end of Depeche Mode's  'tour of the universe', which he has been working on for the past few months. I was interested to visit Germany again as the only other time I have spent there was back in  the summer of 2005, when I spent some time in Munich. It was also an interesting visit for me to see the relationship the city shares with the Rhein (at university at the moment the focus of our main project is the river Thames and the relationship it shares with London and other settlements along it).

On the first morning i headed straight into the alt stadt which was very close to the hotel, and also runs along the edge of the river. The old town was quaint but the river edge was what i found interesting from a landscape perspective. The banks were wide and used as public space, the major use of the river for industry was apparent, but this didn't seem to stop the river being enjoyed by the general public, for leisure too. The Rhein is one of the major rivers in europe and is used in the area around Dusseldorf (lower Rhein) for transporting goods and industrial purposes, there are many plants and factories to be found on the banks around this area. Duisberg which is just up river from Dusseldorf has Europes biggest inland Port, acting as a hub for rotterdam, Anterp and Amsterdam sea ports. So you can see from the river edge a steady flow of goods carrying boats and barges on the river. The river edge still had the 'sea wall' type barriers and walls for flood prevention etc. which is what I felt so separated the town and the river at Gravesend (where the site is for my university project), however the use of wide spaces either side of the river for public use seemed to break down the 'barriers' and draw attention away from that boundary, so it almost was not a boundary any longer. There was a large stretch of the river which had restaurants and bars fronting straight onto it; this was fairly quiet when I went but I imagine gets very busy in better weather. This too draws people to the river and emphasises the fact that the river is something to be celebrated rather than hidden away. 

One of the main things I noticed which was used in a few public squares and along walkways along the river was avenues of pleached trees. It is something that I haven't seen used in public space often before and the effect in some areas was really pleasant. It gave the feel that the space was well looked after and managed, and it also gave direction to linear spaces without creating too much of a barrier.

Above: a square in das altstadt

below: pleated trees along the river front. Above: pretty facades in das altstadt

The final two shows of the Tour of the Universe, where fairly epic. I have seen the show before at the 02 in London, and was impressed by the graphics, videos and lights the first time i saw it. It really hit me how much of an impact good design has on most aspects of modern life. 

Photos from the last two shows of depecjed mode's Tour of the Universe, at the Espirit staduim in Dusseldorf.

The Photographers' Gallery
17th February 2010
Deutsche Borse Photography Prize 2010

http://deutsche-boerse.com/dbag/dispatch/en/kir/gdb_navigation/about_us/30_Art_Collection/25_photography_prize

The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize rewards a living photographer, of any nationality, who has made the most significant contribution, in exhibition or publication format, to the medium of photography over the previous year.'

I went to the photographers gallery to see the work of the four finalists; Zoe Leonard, Anna Fox, Sophie Ristelheuber and Donovan Wylie. I found looking at the work really interesting, i decided to look through the whole exhibition without reading any of the accompanying explanation/ commentary, so as to interpret the photographs as they are, with no preconceptions or expectations. And it was really refreshing. They were depressing, impending, bizarre, and very different from artist to artist. All seemed to demand attention and evoke a strong feeling. After having read the accompanying notes about the photographers and their chosen subject matter, i just felt the same reactions in a more comprehensible context.

The photographs which had the most dramatic effect, for me, were by Donovan Wylie. He exhibited a series of photographs of the Maze prison, which once housed both loyalist and republican prisoners in Ireland. I think he really conveyed a sense of weight with the photographs, I felt that the series was photographed in reflection to his own personal experience of the building and feelings about the building. There was a wall display of clippings and artefacts from a scrap book on the opposite wall to the photographs, which visually gave the exhibition more context and a vague explanation. It was clear from the scrap book clippings what the show was about, but the photographs had an eery mystery about them. I can clearly picture now the strong lines and use of perspective to direct the viewer to through the photograph, there was something very blunt about the images.

(http://blog.magnumphotos.com/images/wylie_LON83745_Comp.jpg)

The National Portrait Gallery

31st January 2010 

Had a wonder around the National Portrait Gallery, through the gallery displays. One of the displays I found interesting was the "Twiggy: A life in photographs". It was interesting to see the style changing with Twiggy's age. She was so iconic as a model and the images in the show were iconic  in representing the times as well as the person. Other gallery displays at the time i visited included; John Gibbons: Portraits, Chasing mirrors, Jane Bown, Format Photography Agency 1983-2002, Salome: Oscar Wilde and Maud Allan.