TH 2058 - Dominique Gonzales-Foerster

The current Tate Turbine Hall exhibit may not be as immediately engaging as some past ones, but it does improve on acquaintance.

TH.2058 looks 50 years into the future to a London of incessant rain and sculptures kept from growing like weeds. The installation itself lets you wander through, discovering as you go, you can read the full story here.

In addition, you can write a story and be part of it. You've got up to the 1st February. Some of the entries aren't bad.

Every Picture Tells a Story

Just goes to show - I've been passing by this for three years without taking any notice. The hoardings behind the Tate Modern are covered with what looks like old press cuttings about the local borough, Southwark - I just thought it was done by the local history society or something and I didn't take much notice. I stopped and had a look, and started to realise that not all the cuttings are genuine. My curiosity piqued I found myself absorbed for quite a while while the border between fact, fiction and history blurred before my eyes.

Turns out it is an artwork by Elsebeth Jørgensen and Pia Rönicke titled Unofficial Deposited Records (2005). An overview is here.

Aren't Birds Brilliant?

What do you think of my flock of Peregrine Falcons? I think I might be becoming ace at bird photography - rather like the wonderful birds blog of Abraham Lincoln.

Now, I'm a bit late but I'm about to tell you about one of the more fantastic things you can do for free in London - at least for the next couple of days. Outside the Tate Modern, the RSPB have set up a stand with telescopes and binoculars for people to observe the Peregrine Falcons that are nesting in the chimney of the Tate. The telescopes will even allow you to attach a camera, unfortunately the real ones weren't in evidence while I was there. They're quite happy in London because there are quite a few pigeons for them to eat. "Aren't Birds Brilliant?" is the RSPB project to bring people closer to birds across the UK.

Temporary Eyesore

This is a view of a Work Of Art outside the Tate Modern. I know it's a Work Of Art because it says so on a Bit Of Paper. For a change, most of the words - the text on the Bit Of Paper and my short commentary - are on My Other Stuff. And if you think these colours are a little bit too vibrant to be real, you are right. I tried to make this an eyesore, too. I thought that might be Art.

Grafitti Goes Mainstream

Friday night is the start of the Tate Modern's Long Weekend with lots going on, marking the start of the Street Art exhibition. They are using the entire façade as display space, see the perspective of this image here. I also bumped into the video producer RomanyWG making a time lapse video of the artists. I rather like some of his stuff, like this one on a Banksy piece.