Blog archive December 2007
<< November 2007 / January 2008 >>
22.12.07 / 01 / new labyrinth stuff
1: sendsecret is a spin-off from the Peace Labyrinth running this weekend in Christchurch NZ.
well done to pete and joyce majendie and all their collaborators - i'm looking forward to the photos. it amazes me, to see that logo in use so far away and nearly eight years later.
2: speaking of which, there is a new site at labyrinth.org.uk. i had neglected it horribly once the tours were over in 2002 - the weeds grew around it - but then the proost relaunch this year broke all the merchandise links and i had to do something. same content, but a whole lot smarter, deframed and deflashed, with the online labyrinth incorporated.
[the splashpage of the original site was a way of dealing with the fact that it was three sites all hosted and run separately. the forum closed after the cathedral tours, the online labo was on yfc uk's servers, and the explanatory site on ukonline had become inaccessible to me - a dead site. the new one is all on yfc's server, to whom thanks]
and i've subtly updated the logo. the black line is now the *path* rather than the boundaries [ie the tape] - so it's the inverse of the original. should've thought of that at the beginning - the old one's tattooed on me now. damn ;)
21.12.07 / 01 / banksy tour guide
as predicted a couple of years ago
i kind of think banksy jumped the shark with the fake exhibits in museums, but the publication of 'wall and piece', however nice a book, finally did for him. the little black paperbacks, which were initially hard to get, still maintained the sense of secret, but 'wall and piece' was the coffee table book last christmas - the big hit compilation album that signals the end of a career. he needs to give up for a decade, or only stencil rats in places that almost no-one will find.
17.12.07 / 01 / transfer of affection
my new flat is only 5 minutes walk from the old one, which made it possible to move by stages over a week or so. but this gradual process also revealed the degrees by which i transferred my sense of 'home' from one place to another.
on the first day i moved three-quarters of my possessions to the new flat, leaving pictures, fragile items, and clothes behind. and the old place was still home. the next day i moved most of the rest, leaving only items for disposal and cleaning things. and the old flat was still home, even when empty [which surprised me a bit]. i went back a couple of times during the week to clean, and it was still home. the new place was nicer, but like a hotel to me. i was among boxes, still cleaning after the previous inhabitants. in someone else's home. the next weekend i cleared the old flat completely and finished cleaning it for handover. it was still home, still a pang to leave for the last time, even though it was not a good place. it had its qualities, which made me take it in the first place - the tall windows and shutters, the balcony, the afternoon light, the birds in the yew tree outside. which sometimes held their own against the shabbiness and encroaching dirt.
on saturday i went back to collect stray post, looked up at the balcony, outdoor furniture, shuttered windows and thought "mine". and then on sunday i changed the lightbulbs and lampshades in the new flat, and now it was home. and the old place is not home any more. inhabitation's a gradual process, but for me it seems to be changing the lights, more than any other single action, that takes possession of a place.
11.12.07 / 01 / peace labyrinth promo video
the straw-bales christmas labyrinth created by side door returns to christchurch this year - check out the promo video - it'll make you smile! great use of the stick people.
03.12.07 / 01 / moving in
back online in my new flat after two exhausting days. still some cleaning and shifting to do but a livable environment is appearing from the chaos. then i have to clean up the old place before handing it over.
Comments:
I say give the guy a break and let him enjoy his success. It's us who prefer the mystique... why don't we go out and look for someone 'new' and 'exciting'?
kester brewin
but kester, the fleetingness and nose thumbed at authority are part of the meaning of the works, as well as the key formal constraint. they operate as an urban 'wink', which a tour guide undermines. if they were purely pictorial or graphic this transition would be less damaging [might even be good for them]. i think the one place where his work retains its full force is on the palestine wall.
steve