Columbia Road

After moving into our new house a few months back, I've led a very sheltered life in the borough of Hackney, trying not to venture down roads I don't know, afraid of the chance of being approached by a group of vertically challenged teenagers with hoods and a dirty potty mouth, I tend to stick to what I know. Last weekend I went with a friend to Columbia Road Flower Market, which was quite possibly the nicest Sunday I've had in forever. The back roads weaved onto a busy streets full of little vintage shops, buskers, antique stores and furniture shops. It was like we'd stepped into another city. It was amazing.

Miwa Matreyek

thanks Elliot.

To my beautiful Jess

This picture doesn't do you justice, and the more I stare at it, the more I think it doesn't look like you. Happy Birthday. Your my angel. My guardian. Thanks for being my number one fan.

Polytechnic

Went to a really nice exhibition the other day at Raven Row. The current exhibition Polytechnic is a collaboration of video, installation and slide works produced between the seventies and eighties by artists experimenting and trying to understand the different relationships of narrative. The works ranged from autobiographical accounts, TV, diaries, history, sexuality and murder. I found it a really interesting cinematic experience. Above are some stills that stood out more. Susan Hiller (2nd down) portrays 'monument' through an audio guide and a visual installation of victorian gravestones. Each slab gives a brief description of how they died, all of which died saving the lives of someone else. One slab read 'Strive to be your own hero'. I really liked this piece. The audio was captivating and I found myself sitting there for ages staring at the slabs in a trance. The other works below Hiller's are Catherine Elwes, Stuart Marshall and Ian Breakwell.

Chirs and Viv.

Sunday 10th October 2010- 3.17pm

Conversation with two homeless guys Chris and Viv sitting on the Church green.

Chirs I need to pee. where can I pee. I'm bushing it.

Cackles

you like bruce sprinstein? Neil Young? did you go to Glastonburry?

Chris come with me to pee and watch for me

Cheers mate. You know Tony Wilson was a wanker. Joy Division? Don't get me started on Joy division. I havnt had enough alcohol yet, people like us don't normally wake up till 6pm, well I don't anyway. Us hackney people talk differently to Camden people. Hackney's a shithole.

Where are you from? Essex?

Yeah how did you know?

Just a guess. Cackles. What about you? Scottish? You got any Scottish in you?

Yeah I have actually

Scotland. Multicultural city. English are more racist than the Scottish. Everyones got money in Hackney.

Hackneys a shithole. Id rather live in Manchester than hackney.

I think your an orphan.

Why?

You wear orphan colours. Do you not ever think that your parents arn't your real parents?

No I've seen photos of my dad and he looks exactly like me when I was a child.Yyou know you should be in mental health, we need people like you.

All mental patients are short. have you noticed that?

It fucks you up. The chemicals. The workers drug our food with chemicals. Make you kill. You hears in your ear chop chop chop. The workers chop off peoples fingers.

Do you play drums?

Yeah I used to.

Does your dad play drums? He plays drums doesn't he.

No hes not that exciting i'm afraid.

You should be in a band. Call it OutCast city.

Why?

When your in the city your an outcast. When your in the rural your cosmopolitan. No not cosmopolitan you political. Political.

Joe Strummer was a good friend of mine. They planted a tree for him in Glastonbury.

You got the face of a footballer. you play footballer? You look like Steven Gerard. I fancy Steven Gerard. He's my Idol.

Chicago Boys. Serpentine.

really cute.

"why cant you just rock down the street with your cheeseburger hat its fun and it makes you feel good so why doesn't everyone do it"

topcat

This cat sits on these torn newspapers everyday round the corner from my uni. I love it.

HomeKit*

We have just joined our Chosen Platforms and our week task was to create an archive of A6 sketches and photos of everything to do with our topic. Our group was cleaning. I analysed my flatmates cleaning habits and what they did as their everyday routine. These are a few pieces I did. Our next task is to create a HomeKit device that incorporates all different aspects of cleaning into a compressed device/installation.

Rebecca Horne

Rebecca Horne is an artist I have looked at with her links to performance through sculpture and spatial installations. In the first performances, the body-extensions (above), she shows the equilibrium between body and space. Her later pieces, she replaces the human body with kinetic sculptures which take on their own life. Her new works define and cut through spaces with reflections of mirrors, light and music.

NYC

One day I'll escape there. The cupcake reminded me of you.

Sam Sailisbury

Love. Pictures I took at the Marc Jancou Contemporary Gallery West 24th Street New York.

Hussein Chalayan at B-side

An exhibition I saw the other week was the work of Hussein Chalayan, his exhibition was somewhat very different to others I have been to, but in a good way. Chalayan has always been interested in presenting his work in a way where you single out moments where you might see as part of a catwalk but in the form of an exhibition where you can digest the work and think about the ideas behind it.

He exemplifies a particular way of thinking where his work crosses disciplines. He collaborates with scientists, engineers and biologists and manages to humanise technological tricks.

The B-side exhibition combines two different projects. The Anaesthetics video is based on 11 chapters about institutions and the violence behind institutions. The film itself is very disjointed, but themes that link within each scene. He remakes the props from the film into framed boxes where the audience can view them in more detail.

Inertia was a previous project Chalayan did, involving dresses frozen in movement. The exhibition it is a continuation of this, demonstrating a crash scene in mould making. They show negatives as well, the origins of where the dresses came from.

“I produce these ideas because I am excited and you share that with people. They can like it or hate it as long as there’s a response of some kind even if its dislike, I think that means something”

Drawings by Hugh Ferriss

The Delineator. I recently read in a magazine about this guy Ferriss. Creating perceptive drawing for buildings using charcoal and pencil, he has influenced popular culture such as Gotham city and Kerry Conran's Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. I really like the way he manipulates the light in his work, and I have been trying to draw similar urban landscapes which I think is why I am drawn to his work.

Dancing around London for the past week.

Drawing until my hand hurts.

and it feels weird putting my hands in someone else's pockets.

it doesn't even matter. just jump.

because when we open our heart we can explore a world of love and be pleasently suprised by the people already in our life.

Its like I've just stepped out of my worried shoes

The Modern Nature House

Something I have always been interested in is Eco-friendly housing. I read an article recently 'modern nature house' which I loved. Part of Australia's m3architecture group, this concept was created for a modern home design. Situated by surrounding dense vegetation and forest, it allows very little light to enter the area. The 'conceptual framework' evolved through 3 main spaces: a room in the garden, the main housing area and a connecting space. The design blends in with it's natural surroundings using mirrored effects through the ceiling and roofing, to allow as much light as possible to enter during the winter. One interesting feature that is included in the design, is the surfaces used in the garden room that multiplies the perception of the landscape, creating exposure but within a comfortable private living space.

Katie Sunshine

I'm looking after my cousin for the weekend. She's a very intelligent12 year old and has a really peculiar way of thinking, its weird I still see her as a little baby. I cringe that her middle name is 'sunshine' because the sun came out when she was born.

She wrote a poem that got published in a book when she was 10. Its simple but I like it.

Regret: It could be something you have said.

Or something you have done.

Even if it is only in your head.

Regret is in everyone.

Your regret may be big.

Or it may be small.

But you must move on and forgive.

Living in the past will not help you at all.

Everyone does something they are not happy with,

so don't worry and don't get upset.

As there is one feeling everyone experiences,

and that feeling is regret.

The shell with Shoes