#modernbabylon

[alsuinwonderland]

Royalty

Victoria and Albert Museum is a magical place where you turn from a peasant into royalty. All the halls remind you about the times when there were balls dedicated to VIPs. The museum has a great collection of different parts of the world. At the same time, there are three temporary exhibitions of more contemporary arts which perfectly fits into the content of the building.

The exhibition of Christion Dior is more like a show. Every hall has a theme like wedding dresses, dresses inspired by different countries while traveling and many others. Like, my friend Balqis said: “I will get a heart attack if I stay here longer”. It is just a “wow” time. 

Also, they have a Sackler Centre which has different activities running like children workshops, lectures and workshops for adults and special events related to temporary exhibitions. The shop at V&A has also royal prices, but I could not stand a shopper of CD for 25 pounds, silly me. 

[alsuinwonderland]

Modern Art

Tate Modern was a big dream, unachievable reality, another universe for me...till yesterday. Yaaaaay, I went to Tate yesterday. I was happy as a little kid! 

The museum is located in East London, so we took different lines of the subway. London subway is like a labyrinth, sometimes I think I would walk fewer miles if I just go on feet. 

The building of Tate looks like a former plant or parking zone. You are just surrounded by concrete. During 3 hours we have managed to visit only one temporary and one permanent exhibition. 

The exhibition “In real life” by Olafur Eliasson is the best exhibition I have ever seen. I admire the artists who can mash deep meaning and attractive visual content. The exhibition is mostly dedicated to the environmental issues about which UK citizens are really concerned. If a person does not really care about the Earth then he or she would definitely be attracted by bright colors, extraordinary performance and just a perfect place for a photo shoot.  

Talking about the concern, all the garbage in the UK is separated according to the material, origin, etc. People try to avoid using plastic by preferring cotton shoppers, iron tubes, recyclable materials. 

Tate merchandizing is truly interesting, and you literally want to buy everything before you see the prize. An ordinary t-shirt with Tate logo costs 25 pounds. 

At the end of the day, we dined in a very authentic Italian restaurant where everyone speaks Italian. This is where I tried real pasta, not just Stucciko with Russian macaroni.  

[alsuinwonderland]

Never too late to study or why food is not tasty

As most of my friends know I am a lifelong student. Even if I am not a student I try to find different online courses to gain more knowledge and be relevant. Recently I have graduated from Sunderland University and got my MBA. Right after I started a course and Yale and at edx.com. A person can work a lot, have a family, kids and random life stuff, but he or she should never stop learning and discovering new things in their life. I am not talking about reading a book, this should be in your daily routine. No matter where I am, how tired or busy I should always read at least 10 pages a day. The type of book is up to you, I personally prefer self-development books which can teach me something or inspire me to conquer the world (what I am doing right now).  Today was the first day of the program at the BM. I finally met all the people I talked to via email. All of them are very friendly and experienced. What I really like about British people is that they mostly have positive emotions, you do not feel any pressure or negativity during conversations.  Claire Messenger (ITP Manager) and the director of the museum Hartwig Fisher had the welcoming speech and gave lots of information about the program. Also, we had a lecture about networking. Claire taught us that we have to introduce ourselves and our job right at the moment we meet. People should remember us and who we are. The practical exercises we did were very useful for me and my career. The lunchtime was spent with the curatorial departments, mine is the Middle East. I had a very interesting conversation with Vesta and Zeyna who happen to visit my home country so we had lots to discuss.  Talking about the food, I still have not eaten anything to be impressed. I had “English breakfast” for breakfast which was disgusting (sorry, it is my personal taste and opinion), tasteless sandwiches and fruit for lunch, and Actimel for dinner (my dad said to me that I got fat)

[alsuinwonderland]

My new ITP family

I was invited to join the group of approximately 10 people who were going to the National Gallery. The gallery is not far away from the Schafer House, just 2 km, but on the way to it, you will constantly be stopping to stare at various theatres, parks, monuments, and just architecture of the city. By the time we reached Trafalgar Square, we were exhausted by the long walk.  The heart of London is breathtaking, you cannot believe that these huge buildings demonstrating perfection and power, were constructed centuries ago.  During the lunchtime, we ate at a very lovely Italian restaurant. I ordered a lemon Sicilian lemonade and spicy pizza with smoky meat. It was big and tasty (still eating the last piece a day after).  Talking about the ITP participants, the majority of them are very friendly though some of them are introverts (I thought that I was a sociopath). So I got acquainted with African and Arab speaking countries. And yeah, eventually we did not go to the National Gallery but managed to visit different parks and monument

[tallisphoto]

Some amazing archive images in this new documentary by the legendary Julien Temple which I saw last night. It's on at Greenwich Picturehouse now so get yourselves along there for a visual and auditory feast and get acquainted with London's radical history.