Participatory Art

Peering over the balcony into the turbine hall at the Tate, at the Flying Fish art installation, you find yourself appearing to go down an escalator that doesn't exist.  Now try and make sense of what I tried to describe.  Its all an illusion!

Another bit of magic is that most of my sidebars have reappeared! (see lastThursday's post).

Looking Out

Following yesterday's post of looking down here is a view from the same spot on the viewing platform of the Tate but this time looking out.  The green in the foreground was the focus of yesterday's image.

Looking Down

"Looking Down" is the the first of the month theme for the City Daily Photography (CDP) community.  The Tate Modern has recently opened its new wing, a ten story addition that looks good from both the inside and the outside.  The viewing platform on the top floor enables 360 degrees of fabulous gazing up, out and down.  This particular view looks down on the south side.

Visit other CDP interpretations of Looking Down here.

Come in and Play

Pollock's toy museum really is a gem.  Housed in two historic buildings the collection of mostly Victorian toys, toy soldiers, dolls and teddybears, was started in the 1960's. The museum continues to be run by the grandson of the founderMarguerite Fawdry. 

Ahoy there.

I wonder what Sir Francis Drake would have made of this view.  A rather interesting perspective from on board the replica of his ship the Golden Hind.  This ship serves as a museum and entertainment venue, with regular jazz and folk evenings.  And for the kids sleepovers can be arranged.  How exciting if you want to play pirates.

Ancient Egypt

"Beyond Beauty transforming the body in ancient Egypt" is the title of the current exhibition at 2 Temple Place.  A unique opportunity to see exquisite Egyptian funerary.  Masks, painted coffins, beautiful jewellery, paintings and silk clothing.  

Two Temple Place is a small gallery, in one of London's magnificent town houses, that gathers together pieces from museums and collections throughout the country enabling the pieces to be seen together.

It's not just the pieces themselves that are interesting but also the stories of the obsessive Victorian collectors and archeologists who excavated and brought the pieces back with them.

In addition to the exhibition there is a program of cultural events that includes storytelling, lectures, traditional Egyptian music and craft workshops.

Beyond Beauty
2 Temple Place
30 January - 24 April 2016

Art and Medicine

Henry Welcome was an American who began his career as a travelling salesman and finished as an Englishman having created one of the worlds largest pharmaceutical companies with a heavy focus on research.  Under his will (in 1936) he requested his (not insubstantial) wealth be used to set up what is now the worlds largest independent charitable trust to fund research into human and animal health.

The Welcome Collection explores the connections between medicine, life and art in the past, present and future.  Among the collections "past collection" are items that Henry Welcome collected in his many travels.  With an immense library and resources, not to mention the innovative exhibitions, it's not just appealing to academics and health professionals, but to anyone who is curious by nature.

It's All About Food

Butterflies in a steamy room is not what I expected to find when visiting the new British Museum of Food but their role here is to tell us about the importance of pollination and that not only are bees under threat due but so are butterflies.

You are invited to lounge in a massage chair while watching a journey travel through your insides, weird but interesting.  Another room looks rather like a polling booth, only here you sample chocolate and then cast your vote.

A series of art adorns the walls that lead you upstairs and a small but interesting collection of menus from different periods are on display.

The concept is a great one but for a £5 entry fee there really ought to be a lot more exhibits and information.  Early days yet but great potential.

The Wishing Tree

A conceptual wishing tree greets you as you enter the Victoria and Albert Museum.  Kalpataru is an Indian mythical wish fulfilling tree.  This one was made in Delhi by a group of artists.  Inspiration for the piece comes from nature with trees and plants used in Indian rituals being represented, including the mayo tree, banana plant, champ flower, jack fruit and lotus plant.  The parrot and bright yellow and orange make me think of sunshine.

Museum Visit - Imperial War Museum

A grand building, a beautiful park and interesting exhibits. The Imperial War Museum has much to offer.  My visit was to see the exhibition "Lee Miller: A Woman's War".  A selection of photographs that document Miller's life from model to reporter for Vogue magazine in the early part of her career, and then war correspondent.   She became a reputable war photographer, one of the first women to bring back images from the war zones.

Many of the images in the exhibition are from the Lee Miller archives set up by her son Anthony Penrose following her death in 1977.   A fascinating life of an extraordinary woman.

The exhibition runs until April 2016.

Facts not Opinion

A museum where you get to break stuff.  Truly. Crush concrete, make a steel bar snap, turn a steel rope into frizzy threads, fun huh?  There are proper technical terms for all this fun and lots of numbers recorded as results that engineering types understand I'm sure.

A stroppy Scottish engineer is the reason this place exists.  David Kirkcaldie began his career in the 1840's designing steamships, engines and boilers.  In 1861 he left the foundry where he was working and spent the next couple of years studying and designing and building a unique testing machine.

This machine is the centre piece at the Kirkcaldie museum in Southwark where it has been for the past 130 years.  At 14.5 metres long and weighing 116 tons it's a pretty impressive piece of technology.  Back in those days testing was done on whole components of finished products hence the reason for such a massive machine.  Now days testing is done on small samples of finished products.

Kirkcaldie pioneered the concept of testing and creating standards for the construction industry.  Materials were sent from around the world to be tested at the Kirkcaldie Testing Station.  Most famously he was asked to test parts from the Tay Bridge following the disaster in 1879 where the bridge collapsed while a train was crossing over it, and there were no survivors.

The testing station continued to be operated by the Kirkcaldie family until 1965.  During the 1970's the building and machinery were listed for preservation, and today's museum finally opened in 1983.

Currently the museum is open the first Sunday of each month.  They are always seeking volunteers with engineering skills to help maintain and operate the machinery.


David Kirkcaldie was not an easy man to get along with  by all accounts and he didn't suffer fools gladly.  His motto was "Facts not Opinions" which was on every certificate issued by the company as well as being imbedded in the lintel above the entrance way.

Tomorrow a look at testing in the 21st century.

Divorce and Other Quirks of Life

Money Laundering, Microbreak, Divorce, The Dream, these are just some of the games you can play at the Novelty-Automation arcade.  Quirky and fun, each machine is hand made by enthusiasts who probably spent way to long in the penny arcades of their childhood.  Not a single computer here!

Entry to the arcade is free, then you purchase your tokens and start playing.  I had a fit of the giggles as I rode the micro break machine.  Something like a 1950's virtual reality machine.  You sit in an old fashioned armchair that sways and rocks as you fly into the air, then land and transfer to mini van that will drive you to your remote tropical island.  The dream is more of a nightmare and the divorce? Well you can see the outcome of that one.

Open Wednesday to Saturday every week from 11am to 6pm.
1a Princeton St Wc1R 4AX
(just a hop and step away from Holborn underground station) 

The Operation

As promised here is the kit for the operation.

The operation itself.  Although there were more illustrations of people being held done by several people as the surgeons prepared for the operation, which seemed to me vital if the surgeon was going to get past the first incision.

Then of course the bandages.  They had to be reused hence the use for this bandage rolling machine.

The Old Operating Theatre

The NHS doesn't seem nearly so bad after a visit to the old operating theatre museum.

Part of the Old St Thomas hospital that dates back to the 13th century and also home to Florence Nightingales nursing school.  The operating theatre (Europe's oldest) was originally the herb garrett that was transformed into this theatre in 1822.

Many learned surgical skills either by partaking or being part of the audience watching the gruesome operations.  Think amputation with no anaesthetic.  The theatre was blocked up and hidden for nearly 100 years only being discovered during renovations of the hospital in 1956.  In 1962 it reopened as a museum.

As a special treat tomorrow I will post an image of some of the surgical instruments.  Bet you can't wait.
Details for a visit can be found here.

Housing a Royal Collection

A painter to royalty, a Frenchman, a Swiss friend and a Polish king are all part of the history and creation of the Dulwich Picture Gallery.

Francis Bourgeios British born of Swiss ancestry was a court painter to King George III.  Not only did he paint but was also a great collector and dealer of art.  Bourgeios and his friend Noel Desenfans (a French writer who came to Britian in 1769) were commissioned by King Augustus of Poland to create a royal collection of art from scratch.  Following the King's abdication the pair were left with the collection.  Among those they tried selling the work to, were the Tsar of Russia and the British government.   It became clear that they were not going to be able to sell the collection in its entirety, so the pair determined the work should be bequeathed to an organisation that would ensure the collection remained intact.  The British Museum was the prime candidate, but Bourgeios found them too difficult to work with.

It was important to the two men that the collection be available for viewing by the general public.  Desenfans died in 1807 leaving the collection to Bourgeios, who in turn bequeathed the collection along with £10,000 to the Dulwich College to build a public gallery.

Light & Colour

It was more than the exhibits inside the museum that caught my eye. The colour and the light reflecting on the external walls drew me outside.

Museum Visit- London Museum

Often overlooked by tourists, the London Museum is one of the city's real treasures.  Currently showing is the cauldron from the 2012 Olympics.  Seeing it up close it really is spectacular.  And HUGE.

Guns and Roses

Enjoying the sun in the park like grounds of the Imperial War Museum.  Inside you may like to take a look at the new first world war galleries.

7 years and 007

Seven today.  Yup it's the 7th anniversary of aglimpseoflondon today.

So how to celebrate.....how about a trip in this classic rolls driven by agent 007 in Goldfinger.

The real agent 007 was John Dee (1527-1608), English mathematician, philosopher, astrologer,  advisor and spy to Queen Elizabeth.  He used the code 00 when corresponding with the Queen to indicate "for her eyes only".  The two circles were protected by a sign that was somewhere between the square root sign and an elongated numeral seven.  For Dee the number seven was lucky and he believed it had magical properties.  Thus 007 would let the Queen know this was a secret message from Dee that only she should read.

Now this is the real car used in the Bond movie, no copies on this blog, especially on such an auspicious day.    To take a glimpse of this and many other original vehicles from the Bond movies over the decades take a trip to the London Film Museum in Covent Garden.

Museum Visit - Walsh Trainers

Do you have any of these trainers sitting in your closet? I bet some of you do.

British made Walsh Trainers is an exhibition currently showing at the Fashion and Textile Museum.  The inspiring story of Norman Walsh who began his career making shoes at age fourteen back in 1945 with photographs, correspondence and brochures, plus an extensive collection of vintage shoes are on display.  In 1948 he fitted out the Olympic team with one pair of Walsh's shoes earning their wearer a gold medal.

Exhibition runs until 17 May