last month we went to a weird but wonderful night of odd ball magicians, artists and musicians at the bacon street project. the place was packed and the performances happened where you least expected it - with the intention of turning something ordinary into something more. we followed the performance around the small but perfectly formed space, moving outside at some points to the surprise of passers by. a good but surreal night had by all!

'my sky is full of office windows

your sky of snow clouds

i will draw peaceful aeroplanes

on yours

if you will draw the curtains

across mine'

author unknown

one of the best exhibitions i've seen in a long time was cildo miereles at the tate modern. actually bought tickets to see rothko but although good, there is way too much media hype and miereles was distinctively more impressive. his play on space and emotions and his unrelenting grasp of powerful political subjects make for a unique experience. my favourite by far was Mission/Missions (How to Build Cathedrals) 1987, an installation as shown above which plays with the connection of three elements: material power, spiritual power, and tragedy. the religious symbolism of communion wafers connecting bones with copper coins make for a powerful and sombre message.


the most successful points of the exhibition was the user interaction with each piece, making the whole exhibition accessible to all. from walking across shards of broken glass to getting lost amongst a room of tape measures, miereles uses deep subject matter to challenge all of your perceptions. great for all you architecture students out there.

walking up brick lane this sunday afternoon we stumbled upon the usual crowd that had gathered around lewis floyd henry - this one man band act is genius. comparable to a raw 21st century hendrix, henry has got the sunday afternoon vibes down to a treat. playing a mixture of his own songs and some of the best covers i've heard in a long time, he always puts a smile on my face.

a little shop with no name has opened up down the road (temple street). it has pretty blue lights and the little sign outside tells me it sells vintage comme des garcons and vivian westwood - this is a bit too enticing, must check it out tomorrow.



speaking of comme des garcons (or 'like the boys' in english!), i explored the new collection at h&m on regent street. a note - the men's jumpers make brilliant grungey jumper dresses. i found a quality long line soft grey/silver studded one which would look great with thick black tights, ankle biker boots and a fat black beanie.

the design of the comme des garcons signage in the shop is stark but quirky like rei kawakubo herself. her designs are pretty austere everything was originally dark grey, black and white until the late 80s - right up my street. from what i've read, it sounds like rei is a reclusive character but i think her innovative designs speak for themselves. would really like to see the design of her tokyo 'guerilla' store at some point, hopefully this year!

my name is ruth and i like pottering around art galleries and markets, thinking fondly of newcastle, living in east london, cups of tea, trying to do charitable deeds, dreaming of travelling, and all things weird and wonderful and creative and unpretentious (hard to come by these days!).

here are a few of my thoughts..........