If, like me, you’re in need of some stimulation / inspiration or just an excuse to get out of the now-deserted summer office, get yourself along to the NG. This month the National Gallery invites you to “share spellbinding performances of mythical tales that have crossed generations and cultures, reminding adults of the simple wonder of being told a great story”

The performances are being given as Tuesday lunchtime talks (1 – 1:45) in August. What an excuse to try out the new BorisBikes.

This Tuesday August 3rd features “Tearful Transformations: Greek and Nigerian Myths”.  Jan Blake is the story teller who wil take us through the tales of Echo and Narcissus and Shango (Chango) and Oya, two stories of love taken for granted… with eternal consequences. Featuring Monet’s Narcissus and Eco as the backdrop (although annoyingly due to some DRM I can’t embed the image….)

Other talks include Homer’s Odyssey and the myth of Eros and Psyche.

What makes something  classic I hear you ask?

I particularly like Calvino’s definition:

The classics are the books of which we usually hear people say, “I am rereading . . . ” and never “I am reading . . . ”

(Italo Calvino “Why Read the Classics”, 2009)

NYC Graffiti on Portobello 2

Walking down Portobello last night I came across the opening party for an exhibition of graffiti art. So far, so west London.
Two things caught my eye:

1. This guy with his two-camera-rig filming the kids comprised of two mobile phones minted side-by-side on a hand held tripod thingy. I asked him what he was doing and he said it was for capturing 3D ’cause everyone’s doing 3D now…’ the bar for user generated content just got a little bit higheer…

3D mobile phone camera rig

2. The other thing was the format of the artwork: all the artists had used a New York Transit Authority subway map as the basis for their work and then painted, drawn and tagged over the top: personalised and geo- specific.

NYC Graffiti on Portobello

Last Saturday we wondered down to the Decode Exhibition at the V&A. Unbeknown to me it featured the work of Karsten Shmidt AKA Toxi, who I used to work with at Lateral, which was a nice treat. Like Karsten his work is thoughtful and gentle and fill of quiet surprises.

What all of the work shares is the ways in which the artists have taken data and by using different interfaces and designs they have given the data some meaning by making it understandable / attractive / interesting to an audience and / or letting them manipulate it themselves. If this is something we can do for audiences with the data of our clients we are a managing to provide a service for both the audience and the brand.

My only complaint is that its actually quite a small exhibition; given the prolific level of digital output I’d have thought that there was a lot more that could be displayed, if not in the gallery then linked to from the web site?