Priceless in the pavilion

Priceless video projected against the side of the Science Museum on Exhibition Road (asiansinmedia.org)

Went to the launch of motiroti's collaborative project Priceless last night and, after the obligatory glugging of free booze and listening to artists' names being mispronounced by suitably gushing speakers in the Serpentine Pavilion, was actually quite moved by the video projection that followed on the side of the Science Museum.

It had been put together from workshops with members of local communities and invited guests who had been asked what they considered priceless, using items nominated by institutions along Exhibition Road as starting points. These ranged (perhaps predictably) from the mundane to the profound, but were all poignantly woven around threads of 'bigger' stories of migration, adventure and belief.

Events run in various venues until 27 August...

This year's Serpentine Pavilion, designed by Rem Koolhaas and Cecil Balmond (serpentinegallery.org)

Goodbye to the Sultan's Elephant

The Sultan's Elephant making its way from Piccadilly to Horse Guards Parade

Just got back from seeing the last bits of the Sultan's Elephant on Pall Mall, The Mall and Horse Guards Parade.

It was quite surreal to see, among other things, the huge mechanical pachyderm saunter by the Crimean War Memorial while spraying the crowds with water from its trunk.

It all ended with the elephant seeing the Little Girl back into her rocket - it fired up and reopened to reveal her vanished into thin air...

The Verneans have landed

A mysterious rocket has landed on Waterloo Place...

Went along to Pall Mall and Waterloo Place yesterday after work to see part of the ongoing Sultan's Elephant performance, manifesting in sites around central London until tomorrow evening.

Nantes-based artists Royal de Luxe are using giant street puppetry to tell a fantastic tale inspired by the imaginings of Jules Verne.

They succeeded in creating a truly magical space in the capital yesterday, inspiring childlike enchantment from many of its more usually cynical inhabitants (a trait of ours to which the endlessly ludicrous and deeply pathetic David Blaine can attest).

A Guardian article today includes some of the more amusing responses from passers-by and spectators, while the BBC has a good in pictures feature.

Cleveland Street scandal

I found out about this late 19th century sensation for the first time from a knowledgeable friend in Edinburgh last weekend, and was intrigued as it all took place a short walk from my home.

As first reported in the North London Press in September 1889, the police uncovered a male brothel on Cleveland Street in the West End in which telegraph boys had been recruited to have sex for money with aristocrats and other well-connected men.

The then second in line to the throne, Prince Eddy, was among those implicated, and there were rumours (some confirmed in ensuing court cases) that certain individuals had been allowed to leave the country so as not to expose those higher up the Victorian pecking order.

It's considered to have been one of the factors behind the moral backlash that ultimately led to the conviction of Oscar Wilde for 'gross indecency' in 1895, at the height of the naughty nineties.

The Musical of Musicals

I'm glad I went to the press night of The Musical of Musicals at Sound Theatre last Friday. Despite definitely NOT being a fan of stage musicals, I thought I'd go to support my friend, the show's producer (think Max Bialystock crossed with a Scottish Kenneth Williams).

I was incredibly relieved not to have to pretend to have enjoyed myself, so often the burden of the comp ticket junkie, as the whole thing was terribly clever and absolutely hilarious.

I think I only got around half the references (it affectionately parodies 5 musical writers, including Rodgers & Hammerstein, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Sondheim) but it was so skillfully done it didn't seem to make a difference.

It's only on until April 22, so with unashamed bias I thoroughly recommend getting tickets as soon as possible!!