Hayward

A couple of weeks ago now to the Hayward Gallery on the South Bank to see their life forms show.

A wet start, but by the time we left home, drizzle rather than serious rain. Opted to leave umbrellas at home.

One of the houses on West Hill was having a small pile driver delivered, presumably in support of an extension. Looks more hilly on the ground than it does in this snap from Street View and I dare say the house surveyors do well out of opining on subsistence on clay slopes. I remember that in the years after we moved - our own house being on clay sloping front to back rather than side to side - subsidence and underpinning were all the thing. A fashion which seems to have passed; perhaps there was too much push-back from householders.

Médecins Sans Frontières were chugging in the station lobby; a good enough cause but I do not care to be invited to put my credit card into an unknown machine by an unknown person in the street. I prefer to do my giving to good causes from the safety and comfort of my own home. Cash in a tin is one thing; card in a little machine quite another.

Reached the Festival Hall, convenient for a pit-stop, to find it swarming with young school children - probably infants rather than primary - there for some musical festival involving the LPO. Maybe thousands of them: whatever the case, it seemed a lot.

While a bit further on the place was being stripped out for another refurbishment. We were directed to the Elizabeth Hall for coffees and so forth.

A place we have not visited for musical purposes for a while, possibly not since the occasion in early 2020 noticed at reference 4. Then the plague, then we stopped doing evenings, then the QEH more or less stopped doing chamber.

I was reminded that I still like the shuttered concrete which was all the thing when I was young, but I could not remember when the wood trim in the ceiling went in. From the beginning or later? And I could not remember the hangings at the back, although BH was pretty confident that we had seen them before. I worried about food hygiene, with meat pies on open display on the counter off-snap to the right. Maybe any bugs floating about were killed of by the microwave machine before you sank your teeth into them.

Passed a rather off-putting sculpture of a leg on the way to the Hayward Gallery. I failed to compute what the contraption inside was up to.

Entertaining mobile made out of what looked a bit like lampshades on entry to the exhibition. BH was very taken with it, particularly when she found that she could encourage mobility - shades sliding up and down - by waving her arms about. The snap above does not really give the idea - but does serve as an aide-memoire if you have already seen it.

While this rather Heath-Robinson contraption, put together on a scaffold, would have worked better for me if it had moved a bit faster. As it was you had to stand there for a while to detect any action.

This one was put together by Tara Donovan of New York with lots of discs of mylar, a metallic polyester film, cunningly folded. She must have spent a bit on materials; probably beyond the reach of an infant class. I associated to the days when enterprising infant teachers used to visit milk bottling plants to get supplies of the metallic ribbons out of which milk bottle tops had been cut. Plenty more to be seen at reference 4 - from which I learn that the present effort is more than 10 years old. I wonder how much it costs to move it about? Does she supervise all moves personally, on first class travel and accommodation?

Some smaller pieces. And somewhere along the way, Phyllida Barlow got a a look in, the prequel to Dame Trace. See reference 6 for an earlier notice.

Plus a glimpse of a fine concrete pump in the distance. Later on, we looked up the Oxo Tower to find that it had had an interesting history. Including the fact that the brick effect 'Oxo' was a dodge to get around the rule banning big signs on the tops of big buildings. The work of the Liebig Extract of Meat Company. See reference 7.

The last exhibit was made of fabric tubes filled with yoga balls and finished off with various loudspeakers for sound effects. BH couldn't stand the noise, while I thought the whole thing was rather fun. Complete with a young lady assistant who was happy to chat about it.

Only marred by the artist - I think a lady - not bothering to avoid the creases in the tubes where they were strung up on cords. Continuous curves would have been better than discontinuous ones.

All in all, good fun, if not exactly high art. But presumably there are enough people about with room enough to show and money enough to pay to keep all the artists in business.

It was raining quite hard at this point, but eased off after a bit and we took a look around the concrete outside.

And so to the Green Room (next to the National Theatre) for a late lunch, at which time the place was not very busy at all. Unlike early evening when we have been turned away more than once.

Having noted on a previous occasion (see reference 8) that they were a bit mean with the bread with the hummus, I asked for extra bread - and was surprised to get a very good helping. More than double rations. Which was good, as it irritates me when restaurants are mean with stuff like bread. Particularly since we usually more than pay our way in the beverages department. 

Same wine as last time, that is to say a 'Azevedo - Vinho Verde - Loureiro Alvarinho - 2022'. Entirely satisfactory.

Not the same pizza this time, as I like my pizza to involve both tomato and cheese. BH looks to have had her usual chicken salad. Both entirely satisfactory.

Interesting H-beams made of rather low grade timber - but one supposes quite good enough. They have been there for a while now. 

And out to be reminded what a big building Waterloo Station is. If it was all built in one go, it must have been quite impressive when it was new. Or a perhaps blot on the landscape!

Another good day.

References

Reference 1: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/venues/hayward-gallery.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/02/piano-80.html.

Reference 3: https://msf.org.uk/. Médecins Sans Frontières.

Reference 4: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/02/hagens.html.

Reference 5: Tara Donovan, a Sculptor Who Finds Beauty in the Mundane: A new book looks back on two decades of the artist’s installations, which use man-made materials to explore the natural world - Lauren Christensen, New York Times - 2018.

Reference 6: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2014/04/an-older-trace.html.

Reference 7: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxo_Tower.

Reference 8: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/06/lunacy.html.