Hayward Gallery London. Punk Graphics until 4 November

'Some day all the adults will die' Punk Graphics 1971-1984

'This exhibition provides a comprehensive overview of punk graphic design, surveying imagery produced before, during and after the punk years, and drawing upon previously unseen public and private archives and collections.

Punk and post-punk graphic design is illuminated by examples of homemade cassettes, 'zines, posters, handbills, records and clothing.

Highlights include original artworks by Gee Vaucher, Linder Sterling, Jamie Reid, Gary Panter, John Holmstrom, Raymond Pettibon and Penny Rimbaud alongside numerous anonymous artists.' (Hayward Gallery website,http://ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/hayward-gallery-and-visual-arts/tickets/someday-all-the-adults-will-die-1000314, accessed 30.09.12) 

http://ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/hayward-gallery-and-visual-arts/tickets/someday-all-the-adults-will-die-1000314

Ballgowns exhibition at the V & A.

'From spring 2012 the V&A celebrates the opening of the newly renovated Fashion Galleries with an exhibition of beautiful ballgowns, red carpet evening dresses and catwalk showstoppers.  Displayed over two floors,Ballgowns: British Glamour Since 1950 will feature more than sixty designs for social events such as private parties, royal balls, state occasions and opening nights.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/ballgowns/ballgowns-british-glamour-since-1950/

The exhibition will cover over sixty years of a strong British design tradition that continues to flourish. Eveningwear from the V&A’s vast collection, by designers including Victor Stiebel, Zandra Rhodes, Jonathan Saunders and Hussein Chalayan, will be on show alongside dresses fresh from the catwalk shows of Alexander McQueen, Giles Deacon, Erdem and Jenny Packham.' (Website of the V & A www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/ballgowns, accessed 30.09.12)

Victoria and Albert Museum (V & A)

The 'V & A' claims to be 'The World's Greatest Museum of Art and Design' and this claim is probably correct. It is a 'must see' for all art and design students.  It has historical collections of artefacts and images (prints and photographs) but the museum also collects plenty of contemporary work.  The museum puts on important temporary exhibitions and you will find direct links to some of these in the next post.  The museum is huge, so be selective when you visit for the first time and start with the sections that are relevant to your discipline.  There are galleries of furniture, metalwork, jewellery, ceramics, architecture, sculpture, theatre design, graphic design, advertising, photography, drawings, fashion, glass, paintings.  There are also galleries dedicated to specific countries or religions like Chinese, Indian, Japanese and Islamic design and period rooms such as medieval, baroque, surrealism and contemporary.

The museum also has 'The National Art Library' which is a brilliant library of art and design, accessible to anyone.  You can register as a reader on your first visit, or online.  You can search the catalogue on line.

The picture shows the John Madejski Garden in the interior courtyard of the museum, designed by Kim Wilkie and opened in 2005.  In the summer you can buy food and drink from the small cafe in the courtyard.

Serpentine Pavilion

Time is running out to visit this year's Serpentine Pavilion outside the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park, London.   I have been meaning to go all summer, partly because I am a great admirer of the artist Ai Wei Wei, who has collaborated in the design of the pavilion with the architects Herzog & de Meuron - designers of the Tate Modern conversion.  They also collaborated on the design for the 'Bird's Nest' stadium at the Bejing Olympics.  I will try to get there before it closes on 14th October.

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012 
Designed by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei 
1 June - 14 October 2012

The design team responsible for the celebrated Beijing National Stadium, which was built for the 2008 Olympic Games and won the prestigious RIBA Lubetkin Prize, will come together again in London in 2012 in a special development of the Serpentine's acclaimed annual commission. Open from June to October 2012, the Pavilion will be presented as part of the London 2012 Festival, the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad. The Pavilion will be Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei's first collaborative built structure in the UK.

100% Design Exhibition at Earls Court

Last Friday, I jumped on the train after a meeting and headed up to London to the Earls Court Exhibition Centre to see the 100% Design exhibition.  For those who don't know about this annual exhibition, it is a mainly a showcase of architecture, interior design and furniture featuring companies and individuals from around the world.  But every year, some designers of textiles, surfaces, product and even jewellery take a stand.  This year, Chinese design featured quite strongly, but I found the stands from South America the most interesting - Argentinian and Chilean designers particularly were producing some innovative work.  I was most interested though in the Design Activism stand and was delighted to see that socially responsible design, localism and even anti-design was being promoted by young designers.  See www.community21.org/about/.  One stand displayed hundreds of broken electrical items and visitors were invited to bring their broken household electrics and other items for repair, or re-use.  Designers were turning their creative skills to finding new uses for old or defunct goods and, at the same time, training unemployed people in new skills.

Whitechapel Art Gallery- Aspen Magazine 1965-1971

If you like Pop Art and design, this is the exhibition for you.   And its free!  The exhibition closes on 3 March 2013

Level 4 students - you could choose a front page or an inside spread for analysis.

Here is a description of the exhibition from the Whitechapel Gallery website:

The cult 1960s magazine Aspen featured contributions by prolific artists, musicians and writers including Peter Blake, William S.Burroughs, John Cage, Ossie Clark, Marcel Duchamp, David Hockney, John Lennon, Lou Reed and Yoko Ono. 

Few magazines remain and on display are all ten complete sets of the rarely seen publication. Issued in a box, Aspen was one of the first multi -media magazines and became a time capsule of the period. It was conceived by Phyllis Johnson, a former editor for Women’s Wear Daily and Advertising Age, and inspired by Aspen, Colorado, a popular ski resort at the time. Each distinctive issue had a different editor and designer who took complete control of the magazine.

On show is Andy Warhol and David Dalton’s Pop Art issue including a detergent box cover, and a special British issue with British Knickers, a sewing pattern by fashion designer Ossie Clark, souvenirs found by Peter Blake and The Lennon Diary 1969, a diary of the future written by the Beatles musician. Other highlights include films by Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Morris, recordings by Yoko Ono, John Lennon, William S. Burroughs and Marcel Duchamp, essays by Roland Barthesand Susan Sontag, and a psychedelic issue edited by AngusMacLise, the original drummer from the Velvet Underground.

Whitechapel Gallery Website, http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/aspen-magazine-1965-1971, accessed 7 September 2012

Venice Architecture Biennale until 25th November

Unless you have time and spare cash, you will not be able to get to Venice to see this, the world's largest exhibition of architectural design.  But for those of you who want an insight into the climate of contemporary architecture, look up reviews of this exhibition in the press.  This huge space, which has been curated by the architect David Chipperfield, is called 'Common Ground' to reflect a shift of tone in architecture today from the glittering, superstar 'starchitect' (look it up) to the socially and environmentally responsible approach of many architects today.  However, it looks to me as if the 'Starchitect' element in contemporary architecture is still very visible in the exhibition.

See for example the following reviews in the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/sep/02/venice-architecture-biennale-2012-review

If you find an architect whose work you admire, try to find one of their buildings that you can visit.  To write effectively about buildings and interior spaces, it is essential to experience them in real time and space.