After a day of reading and writing, reflection.
So good to be working in Live's lovely new building, using those writers' rooms to grow great new work.
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Monday, 18 February 2008
Rock and roll
A soft sun this February morning, frost on the grass between the flats and the houses, giving it a lovely pale jade colour. And fog on the Tyne. We've had a succession of days starting like this, sugared stillness first thing, burning off the mist by midday. Today the announcement - Northern Rock to be nationalised. There's something slightly ludicrous here - a bank - the sort of thing that might happen in an Ealing film with Ian Carmichael in it - but also momentous - things getting serious, the point of no return. Yesterday, at Baltic seeing art, a little boy was wearing the Toon away strip - grey/blue shirt with the name of the sponsors. Newcastle FC now the official state team?! (not just Tony's favourite...)
We'd gone to Baltic after a shortish bike ride, on which we discovered a large-ish section of the Keelman's Way (?) cycle route still closed due to 'contaminated land'. It seems like work is going on but possibly laboriously and when we rode on a section beyond the closed bit, it had a sulphurous odour.
At Baltic, I most enjoyed Barthelemy Toguo's work Heart Beat. The blocked out newsheet 'wallpaper' showing only the pictures was really effective, a clamourous backdrop to his gorgeous paintings. The way each organism bloomed into shape on the paper was beautiful - the pain and beauty of living.
Today, the NR pink cerise seemed everywhere. It's often struck me as an odd choice, for them. But maybe the logic went - pink as in 'in the pink', a rosy glow, but not too soft or infantile; a strong colour and not predictably 'rock-like' - not dark (like coal) or a boring grey (like granite?). Rumour has it, the company might be re-named British Rock. The new chairman exec purportedly will earn £90,000 a month.
What consequences there'll be for the many employees, savers, house-owners and arts orgs up here, remain very much to be seen. Martin Jacques claims in The Guardian that we (i.e.Britiain, the west, but most of all the US) are at 'the beginning of the biggest geopolitical shift since the dawn of the industrial era'. Blimey.
We'd gone to Baltic after a shortish bike ride, on which we discovered a large-ish section of the Keelman's Way (?) cycle route still closed due to 'contaminated land'. It seems like work is going on but possibly laboriously and when we rode on a section beyond the closed bit, it had a sulphurous odour.
At Baltic, I most enjoyed Barthelemy Toguo's work Heart Beat. The blocked out newsheet 'wallpaper' showing only the pictures was really effective, a clamourous backdrop to his gorgeous paintings. The way each organism bloomed into shape on the paper was beautiful - the pain and beauty of living.
Today, the NR pink cerise seemed everywhere. It's often struck me as an odd choice, for them. But maybe the logic went - pink as in 'in the pink', a rosy glow, but not too soft or infantile; a strong colour and not predictably 'rock-like' - not dark (like coal) or a boring grey (like granite?). Rumour has it, the company might be re-named British Rock. The new chairman exec purportedly will earn £90,000 a month.
What consequences there'll be for the many employees, savers, house-owners and arts orgs up here, remain very much to be seen. Martin Jacques claims in The Guardian that we (i.e.Britiain, the west, but most of all the US) are at 'the beginning of the biggest geopolitical shift since the dawn of the industrial era'. Blimey.
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