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New find #restaurant in #Berlin beautiful space, fantastic #food, terrible #art : / (at Eins44)

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This is what a year in #Berlin looks and feels like. Words and more pics here: http://tiny.cc/qmdddx Remembered with much fun and love x (at Berlin)

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We're off!

                         Hello

We've made a leap to Wordpress. Same address - www.tropolis.me but we won't be posted here on Tumblr any more. Hope you can stay with us. Things have actually got considerably better.

We've got a whole edit of the London Design Festival, Open House, Berlin, London and Paris itineraries coming and the whole Autumn calendar mapped out.

Tess

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A Journey Through London Subculture: 1980s to Now

Set in the surprisingly raw Selfridges Hotel space, this exhibition explores a "perceived thread of creativity between the post-punk era and the present day - a legacy that underpins London's incredible creative potential in the present. A Journey Through London Subculture: 1980s to Now seeks to make connections between London’s creative past and the present day using photographs of members of ‘The House of Beauty and Culture’ mudlarking on the banks of the River Thames as a starting point. For example, was early YBA, in fact, an extension of 80s DIY culture? Is there a connection between Gilbert & George through the artist/poet David Robilliard to Trojan and Leigh Bowery and from there to Alexander McQueen? In design terms, does the salvage work of Andy The Furniture Maker connect to Martino Gamper’s reassembled chairs or the designs of Bethan Laura Wood? Can we extend the social influence of former nightclubs to artist collective LuckyPDF, or venues like Vogue Fabrics and Cafe OTO, or Iain R Webb’s styling for Blitz magazine to the collections of J W Anderson or Louise Gray?" 

"The timeline set by this project spans the moment when 80s counterculture would arguably enter the mainstream and the London underground scene, ravaged by AIDS, would eventually be co-opted by a rising tide of commercialisation. In illustrating the path taken by London’s alternative scene, the project explores counterculture today and what emerging artists have in common with their countercultural forebears." (Source: www.ica.org.uk)

Exhibitors and participants include: Gilbert & George, John Maybury, House of Beauty & Culture, Jeffrey Hinton, Bodymap, St John, Alexander McQueen, Martino Gamper, Julie Verhoeven, Giles Deacon, Charlie Porter, Chisenhale Gallery, Lucky PDF, Vogue Fabrics Nightclub, Sibling, J W Anderson, Bethan Laura Wood, Matthew Darbyshire and Louise Gray. 

Check out the talks which span How has London club culture developed over the past three decades, from the basements of Soho to the worlds of art, fashion and music? to Collecting art in the digital age - the many ways in which the digital world has impacted on the art market, from online auction houses to Internet art.

More information 13th September 2013 - 20th October 2013, The Old Selfridges Hotel, 1 Orchard Street, W1H 6JS. Free entry

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New Orleans

The V&A continues their great cities programme with a focus on New Orleans, albeit with a bit of a repositioning - its out with the name 'World Cities' and in with Style Cities. How much space this will leave for the inclusion of deep south Hoodoo will remain to be seen. "Explore the Big Easy, a city of spirit, mystique and music and a melting pot of culture and creativity. Discover how New Orleans grew and gave root to Jazz and Blues through musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton, cooked up home-grown Cajun and Creole cuisine and has been such an alluring and atmospheric location for movies such as Angel Heart and A Street Car Named Desire."

Style Cities at the V&A, SW7 Sat 28 September 2013 2-5pm, £10-£25

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THE REST IS NOISE

As London grinds back into life after the summer hols, the Southbank also gears up for the second half of its epic season of talks, concerts, films and other bits and bobs, all inspired by Alex Ross's exhaustive guide to 20th century music and the cultural, economic and political background it came out of.

The first six events covered the first half of the century up until WWII, and this second tranche kicks off with a weekend at the end of this month devoted to Benjamin Britten. If that sounds a bit dry, the rest covers the 60s, Politics and Spirituality, The Post War World and the New World Order.

Get your grey matter limbered up and go for a day, or immerse yourself with a weekend pass. You can flit from event to event as your mood takes you, from short talks to something more fun and interactive, or a heavy duty keynote talk or performance.

Our pick of the final six would probably be either Post War World or the Superpower weekend in November, dissecting the influence of America in the decades since the 60s: you can have a breakfast analysis of Phillip Glass's Music in 12 Parts, talks on the birth of hip-hop, acid house, Watergate, Warhol, AIDS, No Wave, the birth of minimal and more. A keynote talk from US minimal master Steve Reich is accompanied by performances of his own work, as well as pieces by heavyweights such as John Cage and Philip Glass. 

The Rest Is Noise, at the Southbank Centre, various weekends from 28th September. Ticket prices from £12 for day passes to £25 for weekend, but check listings as each weekend may vary in price. Concerts bookable separately.

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What's missing in your life? Mermaids.

Spotting Mermaids: from William Clift to Sir Henry Wellcome and beyond 
with Ross MacFarlane - at the Royal College of Surgeon's Hunterian Museum. "With over fifty years’ connection with the collections of John Hunter, naturalist William Clift (1775–1849) is one of the most important figures in the history of the Hunterian Museum. This talk will focus on one aspect of Clift’s career - his analysis in 1822 of a mermaid on display in a Coffee House in London - and from there chart a journey from the shows of P T Barnum to the collections of Sir Henry Wellcome, in a search for these mysterious creatures."

It's interesting to learn of these early coffee shops alone, without sea monsters creeping into the mix. Cropping up in the 1700s across the City, these coffee shops were gathering points for the learned gentlemen of London to share radical ideas, trade, use as a poste restante, try new goods from around the globe and enjoy coffees from Turkey, the Levant and beyond. 

I had a rather curious and confusing conversation with someone at a market in Berlin recently. I was asking about Lovage and the trader said, "yes, this is the stuff that you Brits love - its in mermaid." Really, I didn't know we were so keen on mermaid...and what is mermaid? Well, he'd managed to confuse Marmite with mermaid. What a lovely mistake.

More information, tickets £4, Tuesday 24 September, 1pm
. 35-43 Lincolns Inn Fields, London WC2. Book on 020 7869 6568. 

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OMG: The Congress for Curious People coming to London this weekend

The Congress for Curious People – an offshoot of the Coney Island gathering. Kicking off this Friday. For anyone who prefers life tinged a touch dark, this is for you.

It kicks off on Friday with Spectacular Pathologies at Barts Pathology Museum. On Saturday the whole set up debunks north to Blackpool, playing homage to Coney Island. Over the course of the week you’ll be sent on a true trip via characters such as occultist Aleister Crowley, lectures in C19th seance-based entertainment, esoteric photography and anthropomorphic taxidermy.

The ‘congress’ concludes on 7th - 8th September with ‘Reclaiming Spectacle: a two-day symposium’ – a bargain £20 for both days. "Generally, the word spectacle refers to an event that is memorable for the appearance it creates. In nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholarship, spectacle has been frequently described as simultaneously enticing, deceptive and superficial, but above all as the domination of mass media, consumption and surveillance, which reduces citizens to spectators by political neutralisation. From this elitist view the audiences for spectacles have been described as passive consumers while the agency of those creating content is rarely addressed. We want to exactly challenge the very opposition between viewing (or writing about) and acting. How one can actively translate and interpret scientific spectacles and how can the boundaries between looking and doing be blurred: What can we learn from an encounter with performers, objects and spaces that create spectacles? Can counter-spaces and interventionist critiques be created?"

The symposium will feature life affirming subject matter such as the history of fireworks, performing fleas, Tessa Farmer’s uncanny skeletal fairies, The Blob, Tarantism - Possession and Exorcism in Southern Italy…

More information here. 30th August – 8th September. Multiple venues across the city. Symposium held at the Horse Hospital, Colonnade, Bloomsbury, WC1.

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The Wasp Factory at the Royal Opera House

Iain Banks' legacy lives on in the forthcoming opera production of The Wasp Factory. "It recounts the disturbing acts of a troubled teenager on a remote Scottish island. The Sacrifice Poles, Boiling Pool, Ice Chamber and Volt Room are names Frank has given to places in his world – an isolated environment, where he is left to his own devices by his reclusive father. Frank invents his own warrior cult and, using a homemade device called the Wasp Factory, develops a brutal way of predicting the future. Director and composer Frost creates three-dimensional sonic structures that envelop an audience in extremes of volume and texture. Mirella Weingarten’s set designs evoke a bleak, natural landscape. With lighting by Lucy Carter,The Wasp Factory promises to be as chilling as it is powerful." (Source ROH).

...and the best bit? Its 1 hr 25 mins long - so no need to fear being bound in for 4 hours.

More information, 3 - 8th October, Royal Opera House, WC2.

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Talks, walks, trips and flicks all about The Smoke

From 18 September to 2 October the Barbican presents Urban Wandering – Film and the London Landscape, "a season of contemporary and archive feature films and documentaries including talks and panel discussions, an aural installation in Barbican Conservatory by Iain Sinclair and Chris Petit and an exhibition by artist and Hackney resident Karen Russo."

"The season focuses on "ideas related to a heightened awareness of the city environment, something often encapsulated in the concept of ‘psychogeography’ by writers, artists and filmmakers including Iain Sinclair, Will Self, Stephen Poliakoff, Owen Hatherley, Will Raban, Manu Luksch, Emily Richardson and Patrick Keiller, who all feature in this season that considers how war-time bombings, migration and economic growth have brought changes to the city."

There are untold screenings and events listed on the site so check in and book up. 18th September to 2nd October, Barbican EC2

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Hackney Wicked at le weekend

Hackney Wicked reverts to type - condensed back into a weekend festival. After spreading itself around over the Olympic year in 2012 you can take a short sharp hit of art, open studios, music and laid back fun in E9 once again. Highly recommended. 

Full programme here.

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Let the Right One In - an anti-panto

Black Watch director John Tiffany brings this exquisite Swedish film "an enchanting, brutal vampire myth and coming-of-age love story" to the stage at the Royal Court this winter. 

Oskar is a bullied lonely teenage boy living with his mother on a housing estate at the edge of town, when a spate of sinister killings rock the neighbourhood.

Eli is the young girl who has just moved in next door. She doesn’t go to school and never leaves the flat by day.  Sensing in each other a kindred spirit, the two become devoted friends. What Oskar doesn’t know is that Eli has been a teenager for a very long time…

Tickets and more information, 29th Nov - 21st Dec

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More from The Knife

The Knife have just announced more Shaking The Habitual tour dates across Europe this October. Tickets for the headline shows in Brighton, Frankfurt and Luxembourg will go on sale on Wednesday 7th August at 10am BST / 11am CEST

25th Oct Manchester, UK – The Knife Curate The Warehouse Project Tickets 26th Oct Brighton, UK  28th Oct Frankfurt, Germany  29th Oct Luxembourg 31st Oct Paris, France - Pitchfork Festival 

More information and tickets here.

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Miss Marion in Arles - Rencontres d’Arles Photo Festival

After watching non-stop live performance in France’s Avignon Theatre Festival for a few days, I travelled further south to Arles to catch the best of photography now.

Because Avignon festival was dedicated to Africa this year, I thought ARLES IN BLACK was also paying it’s own homage to this culturally emerging continent. My mistake! It’s simply related to photography: the 44th Rencontres d’Arles Photo Festival offers a radically black and white experience and explores whether black-and-white photography is still valid in today's digital world. Director François Hébel explains « Deciding to focus on black and white photography this year gave us an opportunity to show real treasures: discoveries, of course, but also previously unexhibited work by established artists, and riches from the past ».

HOLLYWOOD GOLDEN ERA

Riches from the past include Raynal Pellicer’s collection of pre-Photoshop-era Hollywood studio pictures A Fonds Perdus (Faded Out). This collection brings together more than 100 press photos published between 1910 and 1970 by American dailies such as The Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun or The Boston Herald… Gelatin-silver prints retouched with gouache and ink, by brush and airbrush, bearing reframing marks, handwritten technical notes and marks in soft lead pencil - making it easy to count precisely how many hairs are needed to draw the perfect Marlene Dietrich’s eyebrow. Inspired by the same era, British artist John Stezaker shows a large selection of his ongoing collage series including Mask, Marriage, Muse and Film Still Collage, as well as the collections of image fragments (The Third Person Series). These simple collages create new images, relationships, characters that slightly disturb you. Fascinating.

MASTERS

If I enjoyed watching Magnum photographer Sergio Larrain‘s pictures of Chile (his home country), Roma and Paris - he certainly had a distinct way of framing – I am less sure about Guy Bourdin’s ‘unknown’ early pictures. I loooove Guy Bourdin but why show pictures he deliberately hid whilst alive? Are they really worth it? And why show Jacques Henri Lartigues’ intimate pictures of his wife in a lovely church, if it’s to line them up on the wall in such an expected way? Chilean Photographer Alfredo Jaar did a much better job in his church église des Frères-prêcheurs. More than an exhibition, he’s put together an immersive installation that shakes up our certitudes on the truth of the image, the good intentions of the press, and the Western perspective on events.

THE POLITICS OF IMAGES

Pictures can be more powerful than words, and they can haunt. South African photographer Kevin Carter committed suicide one year after shooting a starving Sudanese toddler stalked by a vulture in 1993. Although the picture won him a Pulitzer Prize these struggling children haunted him. Straightforward and uncomplaisant, Alfredo Jaar’s installation ‘The Sound of Silence’ gives us keys to understand the mechanics of an image. Another clever installation pays homage to the 1 million victims of the Rwandan Genocide « Je me souviens de son regard » or to « Tree women » fighting for human rights and education in their countries: Ela Bhatt in India, Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma and Gracia Machel in Mozambique. For sure the best of site-specific exhibitions of the festival.

It’s also worth visiting Erik Kessels' playful installation of anonymous photo albums pages in Palais de L’Archevéché.

There are 50 different exhibitions sites either in the city center or gathered in les Ateliers, SNCF former train sheds. Not to be missed - the enigmatic Wolgang Tillmans massive prints and Gordon Parks’ pictures. As a civil right activist and very committed to the black American community, he shot artist Duke Ellington and Mohammed Ali but also historical moments such as the Civil Rights March on Washington (1963), the Black Panthers or the Black Muslims in the late seventies. Helpful notes on the wall explain his way of thinking. Take a rest and watch his first Hollywood movie Shaft.

WE’RE ALL BLACK

A hundred years after the first law founding apartheid in South Africa, les Rencontres and Johannesburg’s market photo workshop commissioned 12 photographers to track down the social traces the country’s history has left in the landscape. In this project, Black and White is no longer the form but the subject itself. Prints are casually printed and stuck on the wall on a blue back paper, therefore reinforcing the idea of work in progress.

‘There’s a place in Hell for me and my friend’ is a personal project by Pieter Hugo that combines digital and black & white photography. This is a series of identical portraits of his friends living in South Africa. He took colour digital images and convert them to black and while, emphasising the melamine of the skin so that even a white person looks black. A world with no more racial differences…

44th Rencontres d’Arles Photo Festival, July 1st to September 22nd

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Float Your Boat with a Film

Arts organisation UP Projects’ Floating Cinema kicks-off its public screenings tomorrow with a commission by artist Tim Bromage, inspired by the site of Regent’s Canal and explores the facts and folklore of the London waterways. Using costume, text, and song, the unreal boat tour is an exploration and celebration of a life upon the water.

The kino barge was designed by Duggan Morris Architects and made its debut at the White Building and Crate, Hackney Wick. It will and showcase a ‘variety of intimate on board screenings’ as well as ‘large scale outdoor films for bank side audiences’ over 10-week programme which will cruise around East London’s canals.

Tim Bromage’s It Could Only Happen Here: Jim Dahl’s Unreal Boat Tour

Saturday 3 August 2013, 17.30-18.30 and 20.00-21.00

Prince Albert Road, Regent's Canal, Cumberland Basin, NW1 7SS

Developed in collaboration with Live Art Development Agency.

Tickets: £12 / £10 concs

Next Wednesday’s programme looks well worth scrambling for a ticket: London Lost, an archaeology-led discovery of what lies beneath the surface of London's waterways. Join an archaeological expert in human skeletal remains and London’s burial grounds, including a behind the scenes tour of MOLA’s (Museum of London Archaeology) headquarters to see the archaeological specialists at work (not normally open to the public). I have been in here and can vouch that this will be a good un.

Friday 9 August kicks off with the The Horror Weekender.

Further listings and details of booking.

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Summer Recess tours of Westminster

August is nigh, MPs can now rightly check out from their busy schedules of juggling expenses claims and lobbying for private enterprises. And we the public can have a good old root about Westminster to learn all kinds of interesting etymology such as the origin of 'toe the line': those two red lines you see above? Two sword lengths apart, and you better not cross that red line. You can of course do this by private arrangement through your local MP but this is so much easier. Whatever you think of current politics, you can't blame a beautiful bit of architecture. From now until 2nd September. 

Tickets here.

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