Monday 26 May 2014

Ai Weiwei Contemporary Art Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London

Unlike the original weekend plans, in the end I went alone to Lisson Gallery, because Alexa, just like me, has a very free personality and can make plans upside down in a second! I am like that too so I cannot be angry for this.

Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London Entrance
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London
Chinese conceptual artists: Ai Weiwei's name first hit me when he had tons of handmade sunflower seeds poured into the turbine hall of Tate Modern back in 2010. I was already astonished by the monumental scale of that project.
Then reading TimeOut's interview with him and meeting Alexa who started talking about his new exhibition that she was keen to go to, I decided to go there even on my own! Not that I have not done that in the past!
As the Ai Weiwei exhibition just opened a day before I went there, I expected masses of people, though when I entered there were only 3 people lurking around...I think the downpour did not help either....but in couple of minutes as the rain stopped more and more people arrived and I started to feel I should not have thought there were not many people, as now I was not able to take pictures on their own without people walking into them...
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Title
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London

This exhibition at Lisson Gallery showcased different installation with bikes, marble gasmasks, and armchairs, coathangers, handcuffs and toiletries.
Both according to TimeOut's interview and Lisson Gallery's print about the artists emphasised that these items are belonging of the artists personal background and life.

The bike installations have the name 'Forever' which remarks the early Chinese bicycle brand nevertheless when you look at the bikes, they look like neverending, forever. The way how the artist slid them into each other...or when you try to look through the installation with the bikes being parallel...it reminded me of 2 mirrors facing each other, creating a neverending resonance. (For a more monumental neverending bike installation go to Berlin to Martin Gropius Bau)
Additionally it also relates to the artists in a very personal way, using these types of bikes in his early years on a daily basis....which is now changing in China...more cars are on the road than bikes, this idea and identification was also executed in the 2nd room of this exhibition.

Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Main Room
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Main Room

15 bikes shape a hexagonal star, with other symbols created in the same time as they were slid into each other. 
First I did not want people on my pictures but I am happy I have them on the image as it is easier to see its grandiose measurement.
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Bikes on the Wall
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Forever

The bike frames that were used to create the bigger installations.
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - 2 bikes
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Forever

The Forever bikes that were sorted into 6 parallel lines of bikes, each comprising of 4 bikes. That is 24.
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London 6 times 4 bikes parallel
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Forever

Again I love that girl in the background....in the end of the echoes of the bicycles. Do you see what I meant with the facing mirrors?
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - 6 times 4 bikes parallel
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Forever

Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - 6 times 4 bikes parallel
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Forever

Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - 6 times 4 bikes parallel
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Forever

Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - 6 times 4 bikes parallel
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Forever

Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - 6 times 4 bikes parallel
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Forever

In the 2nd room of the gallery, as I mentioned above, the concept was carried on, though illustrated from a different angle. More cars less bikes would produce more toxic gases emitted to the air, thus pollution. We already know that the pollution in the Chinese capital is already quite dangerous, hence what you can see are marble gasmasks emerge from marble graves.
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London Marble Lantern in the front , Gasmasks in the background
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Marble Lantern

Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London Gasmask marble
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Mask

Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London Marble Gasmasks
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Mask

Have you ever thought of being close up in your own home? Being under control and governmental scrutiny? Ai Weiwei is not allowed to leave China...for long time he had cars waiting outside in front of his flat following all his movement and reporting it to the relevant bodies.
All that is nothing compared to his 81 days long secret detention in 2011, which is not so clandestine anymore.
I am telling all of this, because in the 3rd room of the gallery, I think those copies of everyday life personal items, like coathangers, toiletries and handcuffs, are related to the time in the detention, which is not so much of a secret anymore.
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London

Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London  - Wooden Handcuff
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Handcuff

Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London Stainless steel Coathangers
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Coathangers

Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London Wooden Coathanger
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Coathanger

Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London Cosmetics from jade
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Cosmetics

After this I went to the gallery's courtyard where another extremely personal item made out of marble was displayed.
The armchair of Ai Weiwei's father. Look at them! Don't they look just like the real ones? Amazing, that your conscious knows that it is made out of marble, such a strong, cold and solid material, whereas it really looks warm and cozy. You can even see all the crinkles of the leather.
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London Two marble armchairs
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Marble armchair

It could easily just be thought, that it is the other way round...it is actually a comfy armchair, made out of leather that was chemically treated to look like leather. It really looks a real furniture but let's stick with the true item which is marble.
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London Marble armchair
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Marble Armchair

The gallery seems so much smaller from the outside than its actual size....so now I went down the stairs to the basement rooms, where a photo series was featured on the walls. These are Ai Weiwei's earlier photo series, called: 'Study of Perspective' on which he waved the middle finger to landmarks!
These images as well shows how well travelled the artists is... and now he cannot leave China...(personally after all those experiences I would be hungry to see more and more of the world and maybe would even go crazy.)

In the middle of the room, 2 sets of 4,  removed glass taxi window handles were also exhibited. (I'll explain later)
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Glass window cranks in the front and photos in the background
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Window Cranks and Study Of Perspective Images

Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Glass window cranks in the front and photos in the background
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Window Cranks and Study Of Perspective Images

Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - 6 photos on the wall
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Study Of Perspective Images

Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London 6 photos on the wall
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Study Of Perspective Images

Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London 4 photos on the wall
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Study Of Perspective Images

Finally in the last room, a fairly long - 18 minutes - video explains the story of the glass Taxi Window Cranks....'Discard the old path of closed doors and rigidity and reject evil attempts to change the Party's banner - 2012'
The scene is...Ai Weiwei brings us into a taxi in Beijing in the time of the elections in 2012. Everything is filmed with a hidden camera, but we are able to hear the conversation.
When I joined it was the end of the film and just heard the government decided to have them cranks removed from the taxis...at that point, since upstairs the exhibition was focussing on the pollution in Beijing, I thought it was some kind of health and safety measure in the summer to prevent people inhaling the polluted air from the streets....What a bizarre, naive and false idea it was from me...
So I stayed and watched the full movie again, in which we were made it realised that the Chinese government ordered these cranks to be removed in order to prevent opposition spread anti-party flyers on the street from taxis.
I don't even really want to know what type of detention/punishment would be ordered to those taxi drivers, from whose cars anti-party leaflets were thrown out.
The driver also explains on the elections days how inaccessible Tiananmen Square will be. Taxis/cars would not be allowed to go through the area, so they would have either taken a detour, or rejected the customer. Rejecting the customer was allowed to the driver if the customer wanted to go Tiananmen Sq. Or if they took a passenger and the passenger insisted going to Tiananmen Sq then the driver was allowed to stop.
We were also explained that the windows of the buses were also sealed; fulfilling the same order.
Then the camera goes on the bus...we see the inside of the bus, then finding a seat next to one window...and after some time of taking out the screw...VICTORY...we can clearly see that a window was slid open a little.
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London Video
Ai Weiwei Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, London - Discard the old path of closed doors and rigidity and reject evil attempts to change the Party's banner

* Some of the information here was taken from TimeOut's interview with Ai Weiwei, From Lisson Gallery's own handouts and from the internet.

Friday 23 May 2014

Weekending! Weekend plans? Rastaurant, Café, Exhibitions, Travel, Bars

Alexa is here again from Berlin! :) She's staying at her best friend's place and we will meet up to have a nice time, chatting, drinking, eating, hopefully enjoying some sun and maybe even go to Canterbury.

Since because of my tooth problem I stuck here in the UK for this bank holiday, not going to Amsterdam as my original plans were. Plus I am free now! No more people staying at mine for some time! No more friends or cousins, so now there will be some 'me-time'. Nevertheless I would still want to do/create a busy weekend with Alexa and Mariann.

Well we can say the weekend started yesterday evening, when our big boss from the US invited us for a drink to Brew Wharf close to Borough market/London bridge! :)
Food at Brewer's Wharf/Cantina spingrolls, chips, lamb, guacamole, platters
Food at Brewer's Wharf/Cantina
Tonight, I will also be off at the Brew Wharf, since one of my colleague has decided to grab the one of a lifetime opportunity to be transferred to Sydney and live and work from there from now on! So let's have some fun at the leaving drinks!

Besides the usual weekender things in the morning....like doing my laundry and cleaning the flat, the PLAN is to meet Alexa and go to Banana Tree restaurant to have one of their delicious dishes (birthday dinner)! They offer tasty South East Asian food - Indochina - which we can enjoy using our Tastecards! It is valid for the starter, main and even dessert! Great! Oh hope to have their tasty Pulut Hitam (black rice pudding)

After we are full, it will be great to have a walk to Lisson Gallery (close to Edgware road) to see the new exhibition of Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei, that opened today. When I first read about it in TimeOut magazine on Tuesday, I was not that interested. However once I realised that he was the artist who created the installation involving tons of sunflower seeds at Tate Modern couple of years ago. These porcelain seeds were uniquely handmade and painted one by one.
So then when I met Alexa on Wednesday she started talking about him and his newest exhibition, thus  came the idea to visit the exhibition together.

Ai Weiwei - Sunflower seeds in Tate modern (Unilever Series) Couple sitting on the porcelain seeds
Ai Weiwei - Sunflower seeds in Tate modern (Unilever Series) from here.


Furthermore there is another exhibition I am interested in. Taxidermist artists Polly Morgan has one of her installation - The Box -, using a taxidermied crow and snake, exhibited in Pippy Houldsworth Gallery. This one is up until 31st of May so better go before it ends!

Polly Morgan - The Box Snake curled around a branch with a crow
Polly Morgan - The Box


After the Ai Weiwei exhibition at Lisson Gallery I think I will grab Alexa and will travel to the other end of town to Shoreditch and visit a Café that I discovered recently. Paper & Cup where besides the nice hot drinks and ahhh lovely almond bakewell I had last time...we can read and browse among the thousands of books they offer for reading or for buying for a small amount of money that is then will be donated to charities.
Paper and Cup Cafe in Shoreditch, Mocha, bakewell with water
Paper and Cup Cafe in Shoreditch

Lastly it would also be great to check John Lewis' roof top terrace and its see what the hype is about over there. I think there might be some sort of exhibition of its past 150 years on the market. Hopefully we can also have a glass of vino up there! :)

On Sunday, another roof top terrace should be visited by me and Mariann, maybe her husband would join us as well. Sushisamba is not new anymore, though I have been among the first peeps knowing about it and going up there for a cocktail. The cocktail menu is quite small, and according to cocktail experts, sacrificing their life to the precious drinks and secret mixing techniques, they are not even that good, yet pricey. But hey where would you have that view over London? Yeah maybe from the London Eye or from the Shard, but this is for free, in a surrounding reminding me of Carrie Bradshaw & co. and Sex and the City...

So that's it for this weekend! I am not sure if I'll be able to post something new, but I'll try!

Do you have any plans for the weekend? Or rather: What plans do you have for the weekend? Is it going to be busy?

Thursday 22 May 2014

Wildflower Cafe, Chepstow Rd in Notting Hill is worth to go!

Today I brought here to share one of my favourite cafe where I have been many times alone or with friends! :) It is just good for anything!

Its name is nothing else than; Wildflower Cafe 

It looks pretty and charming with all the wildflowers in and out! I love that there is no 2 days in a row when the flowers are the same! Either the flowers themselves or their arrangement changes!

The staff is very friendly and happy! :) You will always get a big smile from all of them :D

And they usually have a (welcoming?) quote of the day written on a blackboard!

And the food....well is heavenly! :)
I had brunch and cakes here together with smoothies or hot choc...and I must say everything tasted amazing! :) And though it name suggests its a Cafe, by evening/night time it transforms to a proper restaurant.

This place is a place I was long looking for...a place where I could go and kind of feel home a bit whether I am alone or with friends. As the place sometimes is a bit empty, it is also pretty nice to just read a book here besides an amazing - I call it - posh hot chocolate! :)

Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill 

Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill Flowers in the Front
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill 

Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill Flowers in the Front
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill 

Quote of the day, actually the Chef's thought of the day on the blackboard at Wildflower Cafe:

"Don't crave to be somewhere else. If you look carefully, 
you'll find you are already there. Here and now"
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill Message board
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill 

Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill Inside
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill 

Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill Inside at the Window
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill 

Hmmm yummy cakes! Cappuccino or some sort of coffee cake, almond, carrot cake, posh chocolate cake, Victoria sponge, plum tart, muffins etc...
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill Cakes in front of the Window
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill 

Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill inside
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill 

Loving the little flowers on the tables...and they are usually all different ones! :)
And yes this is the aforementioned 'posh hot choc' I call it posh...because when you have a sip of it...you feel the richness of the cocoabeans...it is not some sort of general bigger brand's hot chocolate...I don't know but it must be something very smooth and bitter but sweet in the same time! I am absolutely fond of it with the little heart on the top! :) L.O.V.E.
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill Hot chocolate in mug
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill 
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill Hot chocolate in mug, heart in the froth and flower next to it
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill 

In the backside of this small Cafe you can find a massive table (below picture) which is great for bigger groups of friends and also to lay down in a nicely order, many magazines, and daily papers for the people, like to know what's happening elsewhere :)
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill Big Table
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill 
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill Waiter next to the chalkboard
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill 
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill Flowers in front of the Messageboard
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill 

Oh yes another thing I love here is the smoothie! They not only say but they really do use fresh ingredients and make their own drinks and food there and then! It was so tasty and refreshing!
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill Smoothies
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill 

When you go through the brunch pictures....have you noticed the little flower in each?
Is not it a lovely idea to put a beautiful little fragile and edible flower on each dish they serve? It looks cute and gives a special edge to them, because where else would you be able to eat flowers if not in the Wildflower Cafe?
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill - sour dough bread with beans
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill - sour dough with beans
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill - Eggs Benedict with edible flower
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill - Eggs Benedict
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill - Kedgeree
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill - Kedgeree
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill - Plum and pinenuts cake
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill - Plum and pinenuts cake
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill - Victoria Sponge
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill - Victoria Sponge

I say Good night dear readers with this lovely evening pic from the Wildflower cafe! :)
Next time I really should have the dinner now!
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill Inside
Wildflower Cafe Notting Hill - ready for dinner
Come here Dear Sentimentals and we might meet while I am writing up some notes or doodling in my notebook.

What's more!
Since yesterday Wildflower Cafe also offers flower arranging courses :) where you can enjoy a coffee with a cake while learning the ins and outs of cutting and decorating flowers to form a lovely bouquet, that you can take home :)

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