This blog is my preparation to see the retrospective exhibition on the work of Marina Abramović at the Royal Academy (the first held there on a female artist) in London on 22nd November. I prepared by reading the gallery’s catalogue and re-viewing an art video: Andrea Tarsia, Svetlana Racanović, Karen Archey & Devin Zuber (with Peter Sawbridge & Associates) [2023] ‘Marina Abramović’.

October 29, 2023

This blog is my preparation to see the retrospective exhibition on the work of Marina Abramović at the Royal Academy (the first held there on a female artist) in London on 22nd November. I prepared by reading the gallery’s catalogue and re-viewing an art video: Andrea Tarsia, Svetlana Racanović, Karen Archey & Devin Zuber (with … More This blog is my preparation to see the retrospective exhibition on the work of Marina Abramović at the Royal Academy (the first held there on a female artist) in London on 22nd November. I prepared by reading the gallery’s catalogue and re-viewing an art video: Andrea Tarsia, Svetlana Racanović, Karen Archey & Devin Zuber (with Peter Sawbridge & Associates) [2023] ‘Marina Abramović’.

The dilemma for socialists in a world where capitalism has, successfully it seems for the times we live in currently, convinced those who maintain its power structures that it is the solution for our long term survival as a species. Some reflection on the effect of the thinking of Romain Felli on me.

October 27, 2023

This blog could appeal only to those who identify in some way with the view that only what Romain Felli calls ‘environmentalist, democratic socialism’ is the ‘best hope for reducing climate catastrophe and maintaining freedom within a nature – irreducibly both biophysical and social  – which is complex and divided’, and even then perhaps it … More The dilemma for socialists in a world where capitalism has, successfully it seems for the times we live in currently, convinced those who maintain its power structures that it is the solution for our long term survival as a species. Some reflection on the effect of the thinking of Romain Felli on me.

The art of eating.

October 26, 2023

What food would you say is your specialty? The interesting thing about today’s  question is I suppose what is meant by specialty. The word has a kind of professional air to it, so that a working chef would talk of a specialism that they could say they were expert in. It might be a food … More The art of eating.

The ‘major’ events in history will turn out to be the ones we only half-understood at the time and were little publicised.

October 25, 2023

Today it was reported widely that the Israeli government has called for the resignation of the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) for saying that, though the attacks on Israeli land and people killing an estimated 1400 were ‘appalling’ (as of course they were and more) they were not an event that happened in … More The ‘major’ events in history will turn out to be the ones we only half-understood at the time and were little publicised.

My birthday visit to The Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle: An exhibition of automata. 24th October 2023 and 69 today

October 24, 2023

It was a dreary start. Rain and gloom and a memory that 69 is one year off 70, but hubby Geoff had gone to some trouble to get me a range of little birthday gifts and greetings for Joanne, Linda, Mike and Ian helped cheer the old man up. And then we remembered that the … More My birthday visit to The Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle: An exhibition of automata. 24th October 2023 and 69 today

Preparing for a visit to the delayed exhibition of the work of Philip Guston at Tate Modern on 21st November 2023. A blog based on reading Harry Cooper, Mark Godfrey, Alison de Lima Greene & Kate Nesin (eds.) (2020) ‘Philip Guston’.

October 24, 2023

Preparing for a visit to the delayed exhibition of the work of Philip Guston at Tate Modern on 21st November 2023. A blog based on reading Harry Cooper, Mark Godfrey, Alison de Lima Greene & Kate Nesin (eds.) (2020) Philip Guston Washington, USA, Publishing Office, National Gallery of Art, Washington. Philip Guston is a force … More Preparing for a visit to the delayed exhibition of the work of Philip Guston at Tate Modern on 21st November 2023. A blog based on reading Harry Cooper, Mark Godfrey, Alison de Lima Greene & Kate Nesin (eds.) (2020) ‘Philip Guston’.

‘I placed my ear on his abdomen and listened to the low gurgle under his skin. The system beneath it  seemed larger and more powerful than the belly of a boy. … I shut my eyes. It was a dark and endless canyon. The deep deep sea, outer outer space’. This is a blog on Nicola Dinan (2023) ‘Bellies’.

October 23, 2023

‘I placed my ear on his abdomen and listened to the low gurgle under his skin. The system beneath it  seemed larger and more powerful than the belly of a boy. … I shut my eyes. It was a dark and endless canyon. The deep deep sea, outer outer space’.[1] In the interplay of exchange … More ‘I placed my ear on his abdomen and listened to the low gurgle under his skin. The system beneath it  seemed larger and more powerful than the belly of a boy. … I shut my eyes. It was a dark and endless canyon. The deep deep sea, outer outer space’. This is a blog on Nicola Dinan (2023) ‘Bellies’.

The end of failure and the beginning of ‘working at’ or ‘working towards’. Just what are you ‘playing at’.

October 22, 2023

Words are terribly significant and phrases are  perhaps more so. Context is probably all important in interpreting them however. To be asked what I am ‘working at’ feels a case in point. How, for instance, does the phrase contrast with a phrase using a different preposition, as in this question, such as: ‘What are you … More The end of failure and the beginning of ‘working at’ or ‘working towards’. Just what are you ‘playing at’.

Rest is a dream yet to happen, even though ‘… others in Elysian valleys dwell, / Resting weary limbs at last on beds of asphodel’.

October 20, 2023

When Tennyson imagined ‘lazy days’ he turned to a myth of a kind of rest that felt like giving up on what till now has seemed your allotted mission in life. He chose, as often, to retell a story about Ulysses from Homer’s The Odyssey to imagine both a man with a mission – for … More Rest is a dream yet to happen, even though ‘… others in Elysian valleys dwell, / Resting weary limbs at last on beds of asphodel’.