Camera and Sketchbook Pics
Dieter Rams
Wasn't sure I was going to enjoy the exhibition to be honest- I mean I know a bit about the guy and the designs but couldn't help feeling they were slavishly following a movement rather than doing there own thing and that they were plastic monstrosities created to be consumed and re bought with a different shell. The objects were however filled with an integrity and honesty which rendered a good majority of the objects still very contemporary looking. Of course some things dated- portable record players and some of the shavers and coffee makers. But alot of the audio equipment could have come straight out of Muji- and on reflection alot of the clean functionality which is characteristic of Ram's work for Braun can still be seen in Industrial Facilities work for Muji and others- (and if were going to name drop other contemporay people designing like that there's Apple to consider). I re-found Rams' 'Ten Principles of Good Design' and when you see some of the pieces it resounds very well. His universal shelving system is still on sale today and it really is a testament to the design that it looks so fresh.
1) Good design is innovative.
2) Good design makes a product useful.
3) Good design is aesthetic.
4) Good design makes a product understandable.
5) Good design is unobtrusive.
6) Good design is honest.
7) Good design is long lasting.
8) Good design is consistent throughout.
9) Good design is sustainable.
10) Good design is as little design as possible.
London Thames Chalk
Picked up some chalk from a beach in Limehouse. I carved it into some special London chalk. What should I do with it now do you think?
Lastest Pics
Cable Street.2
Images from last weeks excursion- I think I got a couple of gooduns this time, starting to get a feel for it. I guess I was thinking more about what I was taking photos of, which is a good thing. Just need to get the people involved now.
The Museum of Everything
Me and Lou went to The Museum of Everything the other day up near Primrose Hill (bloody jolly nice area as well you know), which was ace. It's a temporary gallery of sorts for 'Outsider Art', so basically lots of people who were or had been in psychiatric wards and mental asylums drawings, paintings and objets de art accompanied by introductions written by contemporary cultural/artistic types- Ed Ruscha, Jarvis Cocker, etc. As I imagine is the case with alot of outsider art, the context and lives of the artists where as interesting as the work itself. Also it's worth mentioning that alot of the works had a scale of spectacle about them- a dedication of immense amounts of time spent which adds to their effect- be it either immensely detailed drawings (they provided magnifying glasses) or the physical size of the pieces- one triptych was about like 6 or 7 metres tall,- or the number of similar pieces displayed, repetition seemed to play a fair part and coming from my collections point of view I reckon that the cumulative effect was very much a factor in the museum. (There was a nice moment where i heard a guy on the telephone saying 'I'm still at the Museum' which I thought was great, I think the distinction between a art gallery and a museum of curiosities is an important one- for some reason i feel closer to museums than galleries.) It didn't feel like a typical art space either- they museum guided you first up some steps and then through a series of small rooms and corridors- here was one of my favourite collections: Russian military enthusiast Aleksander Lobanov, 
but the route then rounded a corner and you were standing at the top of some steps overlooking a massive double height space where the walls were dripping with paintings and drawings- the space was a warehouse like space too and the structure they'd erected to hang things on was brilliant- there were more rooms downstairs and at the end a place to get a cup of tea for a donation- brilliant. The graphics for the show were also spot on- the whole space thing was excellent and at the moment it's only on until the end of December so get down there.
Allotment Away!
So we (Lizzy and me), started the allotment project this weekend- we just went round some allotments and a local archive- was good- I'm excited about this bad boy- I'm not going to post everything here I don't think. I've made a separate and purely functional blog for it- over here: Allotment Project Blog- I'm hoping to put all and everything that comes to us up there- but I'll probably post the highlights here. Mostly images and bullet thoughts I guess. Allotment Project Blog.
