Late night games at the V&A

I heart the V&A. Every last Friday of the month they throw open their doors until 10pm for fun free stuff.

Friday night's "Playgrounds" theme included a game called An Expedition with Mr Mirrors. It promised riddles and puzzles in a treasure hunt through the galleries.

Unfortunately I didn't participate. By the time we'd reached the place to sign up, all 300 spots had gone. Boo. I'd spent a crucial half hour queuing at the bar on arrival (I'm northern, it's ingrained) when I should have been queuing there. Oh well. The Silent Relay game looked fun too (people in comedy moustaches sleuthing round the place for clues) but we didn't have the patience to line up for another 45 minutes.

We did get to pass the giant parcel in the entrance hall though. It looked like a huge egg.

I didn't see what the parcel contained as it was unwrapped in stages during the evening. By complete coincidence I met someone  who works at the V&A (the lovely Celine) at a party on Saturday night who revealed that there were hundreds of origami shapes inside. How sweet.

There's something very special about galleries and museums at night. So even though we didn't manage to play many games (just as well for my friend who admitted "I'm not a joiner" half way through the evening), we enjoyed wandering through rooms like the new Medieval & Renaissance galleries.

Digital design exhibition Decode is also on at the moment (until 11 April). Some wicked interactive design was scattered round the V&A such as the movement sensitive mirrors (pictured second from above) and these:

Up close they look like mini tower blocks of light, about 40cm high, floating on the water in the garden. The beauty of them is that they each have a movement sensitive camera which briefly displays a pixelated black and white image of you on its front, like this one of my friend:

 

Way cool. Yes the V&A Lates are a thing of joy and well worth queuing for.

Stitched Up is the V&A's next late Friday on 30th April which will explore British craft traditions to celebrate the Quilts exhibition.

Other highly recommended monthly (free) lates I like are:

Late at Tate Britain - first Friday of every month. Next one is Shards of Utopia on 9th April.
Science Museum Lates - last Wednesday of every month. Next one is Experiment Earth on 31st March.

There must be more I don't know about, so do let me know.

How to cure Blogitis

I visited the Blog Doctor with a troubling affliction yesterday.

"Doctor, I think I have blogitis. I haven't blogged in three weeks. And, ahem, what's worse....I haven't felt the need to."

The Blog Doctor looked shocked. "Well, Miss Tart, you know as well as I do that if you don't blog consistently, your readers will forget about you and go somewhere else for their cultural signposts and opinions."

"But that's the problem Doctor. I don't think I have any readers. There's no one to blog for."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, my stat counters for one, my lack of regular comments for another."

"Hmm. Are you tweeting regularly?"

"Yes."

"And interacting with other bloggers regularly?"

"Sometimes."

"Sometimes? Let me put it another way Miss Tart. Are you taking an interest in other people's blogs and commenting on them?"

"Not exactly. I read them (and really enjoy reading them) but I rarely comment on them."

"Hmm." Long pause. Chapel of fingers raised in front of face. "And I don't suppose you're posting any photos you've taken to Flickr? Or have joined any similar interest groups? Or created a Facebook group?"

"I've created an FB group. But...no sign of the others."

"It's very clear to me what the problem is Miss Tart. A lack of interactivity. You should aim for at least five portions a day."

"Ok. Also Doctor....there's something else."

Sigh....."Yes? Go on."

"I, well, erm, I, ah...I'm embarrassed by my basic Blogger template. And I think that's the real reason why I haven't been promoting it."

"But didn't you say during your last visit that your blog was somewhere for you to write about your interests - art, photography, music, events, film, TV etc. So the design is secondary?"

"Well, yes that's partly true. I'm a journalist so it's important the writing works. But I don't want an old-fashioned looking, constrictive blog. My HTML isn't up to designing it myself and I'm worried I'll lose my archive if I move to WordPress."

"Ah, I see." Lots of scribbling. "Take this to the pharmacist Miss Tart, and make a follow up appointment to see me in a month's time."

"Thank you Doctor."

Diagnosis: Chronic blogging constipation.

Prescription: to blog at least twice a week; to find a better Blogger template or work out how to move (seamlessly) to WordPress; to read how-to-promote-your-blog articles like this one from Green Buzz Agency; to connect with, and comment on, other arts and culture blogs.

www.twitter.com/poptartlondon
www.facebook.com/poptartLDN

Has the Doctor forgotten a vital medicine?  Let me know!

Ronzo does a Banksy

On the day of the official release of Banksy's new film Exit Through the Gift Shop, a London street artist has posted a short film about his new exploits in the city, called Pity of London.


Ronzo's Pity of London - Part 1

The artist Ronzo's vimeo site says: "The 'City of London' statue is a dragon sculpture marking the boundaries of London's financial district since centuries. The 'Pity of London' statue is a sculpture of 'Crunchy - The Credit Crunch Monster' munching on a pound coin. It marks the home of the credit crunch." Really neat idea. See more pictures of the Credit Crunch Monster here.  Seems Ronzo made them to celebrate the end of the recession here. Let's hope so. I've never even noticed the City of London dragons before either.

Maybe this little film will start a new craze for street artists to document their work before the councils and whoever else get rid (I've just been on a filming course if anyone needs a hand...).

As for Exit Through the Gift Shop. See it as soon as you can. It's the hilarious true tale of how Banksy and other established street artists unwittingly helped create a Frankenstein/ Dr Evil type street artist with very little talent or imagination. Or filming skills for that matter.

I was lucky enough to go to a preview screening off Leake Street (where the Cans festivals were) under Waterloo this week. Best cinema ever with crumbling walls, old fashioned red velvet seats on tiers so everyone had a perfect view, the tube rumbling underneath, booze and popcorn sold from an icecream van and original Banksy artwork all round. Plus the opportunity to graffitti the walls on your way out. Very cool.

*thanks to LDN and Londonist who tweeted about Ronzo's film.