Photographs of Chongqing, China

With the Olympics now over, China is slowly fading away from our sights.

Many cultural institutions held China-themed events over the summer (e.g. where I work) but these are coming to a close. I went to see what may be the last of these - City of Ambition, Ferit Kuyas's amazing photographs of Chongqing (at Photofusion).

Appropriately, the images are shrouded in haze - it's unclear whether this is early morning mist or pollution. Massive, ambitious constructions and buildings can be seen, but only their structures and only from a distance. Up-close detail is obscured.



With China supposedly revealing itself through the Olympics, this theme is interesting.

The landscapes are desolate, empty, almost eeries. For the most populated country in the world, there's a surprising absence of people in the photographs. In one image, however, a prominent person: a security guard standing to attention.

London 2012 Olympics site

As part of the Open House weekend, I went on a tour of the London 2012 Olympics site. Construction work has just begun on some parts of the site, with lots of activity going on.

The main thing that strikes you is the sheer quantities of rubble and material on the site - all this will either be cleared and re-used to create the Olympic park.

The skyline is cluttered and crowded with cranes.

Over 200km of electricity cables criss-cross the site at the moment. These will all be moved into two underground tunnels.

This is the beginning of the Olympic stadium. The piles in the bottom left are the first of 3,500 on which the stadium will stand. Its design is magnificent - it's changeable fabric curtain design gives it flexibility and democracy, enhancing its rather simple structure.

These hollows are for the foundations of Zaha Hadid's Aquatic Centre.

This canal was built to transport material to and from the site. The Olympic stadium will be on an island site, surrounded by water.

The island site, plus the iconic wave roof on the Aquatics Centre, and the ubiquitous Thames imagery used in so many London logo leads me to think that water should be a theme of these Olympics. The opening ceremony should emphasise water, movement, fluidity, change, from ancient to modern, from 1908 to 1948 to 2012.

On the tour, I discovered that a public walkway goes right through the park, so I will definitely be going back to keep up with the progress.

Films of the Olympics, 1900-1924

I went to the BFI last night to watch The Olympic Games on film, 1900-1924, a fascinating set of vintage films.

The films revealed much about the Olympics - sometimes bad, such as the frankly racist Anthropological Days which tried to show that white people were a physically superior race.

The best stories came from the marathons, such as, in St Louis in 1904, the chap who came second travelled some of the race in a truck, the fairly widespread use of strychnine as a performance enhancer, and Dorando Pietri's misadventures from London's 1908 Olympics.

My highlight came from the 1924 Paris Olympics with the images of the control station - the runners came in, sweating, panting, exhausted, and the French served up glasses of red and white wine. Brilliant.

Colours of Greece

Greece is glorious - sun, sea, sand, and almost everything is blue and white. The Greek flag has been blue and white for centuries, in a number of different designs. It's generally thought this refers to the Aegean sea surrounding Greece.

The Greeks certainly adopt the colours with a patriotic verve when designing their houses, boats, furniture, motorbikes and lots more.

But then, occasionally, you come across a house not painted blue and white, but green, or red, or purple. Are these Greek houses? Or maybe Italians, Turks, or Albanians live in them? And what do the Greek neighbours say?

Photographs of Jones Beach, New York State

I am going on a beach holiday to Greece tomorrow, so to get in the holiday mood, I went to see Joseph Szabo's photographs of New York State's Jones Beach (at the Michael Hoppen Gallery, until Sept 18).

The photographs are alive with a mass of bodies, with dancing girls, preening guys, sexuality, fun, enjoyment, nudity. The sun beats down, the sea cools - everyone is alive and glowing. Just the kind of thing you want to see before going to the beach!

By wonderful contrast, upstairs at the gallery, shimmering, dazzling, fabulous frozen landscapes of Greenland by Tiina Itkonen are on display. Not quite as appropriate for my holiday, but stunningly beautiful.

Chinese construction sites

Zhou Jun's photography (on display at Mayfair gallery RossiRossi until August 29) shows the massive construction happening in China.

The black and white photographs show landmarks such as the new Olympics Bird's Nest Stadium, the Forbidden city and CCTV tower.

Swathes of red streak through the photos too - highlighting scaffolding or barriers or coverings. Red is a Chinese colour, not only suggesting communism, revolution and power, but also celebration and occasion.

The red lifts the photographs beyond a mere record of construction, giving an idea of how politically, culturally and socially important these landmarks are.

Olympic posters at the V&A museum

The V&A Museum of Childhood currently have an exhibition of A Century of Olympic Posters (until Sept 7).

For me, the posters that work best are those that use Olympic symbols, and mix them with sporting icons, and add visual elements of the host nation or city.

There was a definite trend - earlier posters were quite illustrative, realistic and detailed, with the lines becoming clearer and more minimal as time went on.


My three favourites were:


Mexico 1968 Olympic poster: Starting with Mexico 68, this adds more parallel lines to give the impression of race track lines and Mayan designs. Overall, an eye-catching and dynamic poster, and very in keeping with the symmetrical OpArt trends of the 60s.


Moscow 1980 Olympics poster: Another simple design but one which is really effective: the lines look like track lines and are a visual link to the Kremlin's architecture.




Montreal 1976 Olympic poster: again, this uses a simple design but really gives an impression of movement which is so part of the Olympics and sport.
London's 2012 logo was featured in the exhibition, and I have to say that, of recent efforts, I think it is the best (certainly beating Beijing and Athens), but doesn't seem to have any element of sport in it which is a shame.

A French poster also caught my eye . If you think the sporno trend of homoerotic sportsman is new - check out these boys from the 1924 Paris Olympics.

Kylie Minogue X2008 tour

Kylie's X2008 tour was on 4Music last night. I loved it - my favourite bits were:

• Opening song Speakerphone was ace, despite only a little dancing. I imagine this song is about listening to music on a bus, so she could have had a Routemaster on stage too.
• Kylie saying to the audience, "you're all looking so wow!"
• Kylie perched atop a sparkling metal skull, for Like A Drug, looking ferocious.
• Playing the ace Fischerspooner remix of Come into my World
• The symphonic reinvention of I Believe in You (but what were those shoes about?)
• Kylie's diva-like face pout to the synthy beats in Your Disco Needs You
• Frogmarch dancing during Your Disco Needs You
• Step Back In Time was totally retro - 40s/50s girlgroup singing to begin, 70s disco dancing, 80s fluoro-styling. Brilliant. (See below)
• In My Arms was the definite shot of technicolour disco the show needed.
• Kylie sans dancers for the final 4 songs proved that she is very much the attraction. She radiated!

One thing did niggle me, however. Why were the male dancers' heads covered for practically every song? They wore robot heads, football helmets, gas masks, Japanese helmets, Keith Haring-style head stockings and 80s retro BMX helmets.

But that's just a small thing - overall, it was a top show. Here's the retrotastic Step Back In Time

Carry On Peckham

I was in Peckham the other day. These two streets across the road from each other made me giggle. Barbara Windsor would have a field day.

(And somehow I've made Peckham look like Miami - which is no mean feat!)

As In Rebecca Maria - live review

Last night, I went to see As In Rebekka Maria. Her real name is Rebekka Maria, so I'm not sure what the 'As In' is about. Maybe it's because she's Scandinavian. As in from Sweden or Denmark (I'm not quite sure where).

She's following trailblazers Robyn, Lykke Li and others with her very own crazy dark electropop. She's at her best when she sticks to the Scandinavian music plan: catchy vocal melodies over repetitive squilchy, squelchy, twisty, wooshy, fizzy, whizzy, beepy, tweety electropop beats.

She slinked fabulously on stage with a purple scarf draped over her head which was subsequently draped over her shoulders and arms. Halfway through, it was discarded and never bothered with again.

Two songs stood out for me:

• Yours Truly has a skittering synthy beat which rattles along nicely overlaid with a montage of laidback, melodic vocals
• Army of Foxy with an ace beat which gets darker as the song goes on, and a catchy playground taunt: "We're the army of foxy little ladies... we're the oh oh ohs, we're the ho ho hos, we're the no no nos, we're the joe joe joes"

Check her out: Rebekka Maria on Myspace // Rebekka Maria homepage

Olympics: Togo's first ever medal

I'm thoroughly enjoying the Olympics so far. While the Chinese, Australians, Koreans and Americans are winning medals all around them, I love to hear about the achievements of smaller countries.

The two countries I follow - Ireland and Austria - have had some success. Austria has a silver (in judo) and a bronze (in swimming) - not bad for a landlocked country! Ireland came very close today with canoeist Eoin Rheinisch coming 4th in the men's kayaking. So close - but I'm cheered to hear he was beaten to the bronze by Benjamin Boukpeti who has won Togo its first ever Olympic medal. Full story here

So let's be upstanding for the Togolese national anthem - as national anthems are always entertaining.

Queen of the Gypsies in London

I found out today that the Queen of the Gypsies, Esma Redzepova, will be playing a concert in London on September 8.

· details here

Sadly, I can't be there as I'm on holidays, but I thoroughly recommend. Esma is an amazing performer, her voice soars but has wonderful nuances expressing joy and pain, laughter and love.

She may be best known in the UK for her song from the Borat soundtrack, Chaje Shukarije (...although wikipedia says that the track was used without her permission). Esma's singing career has spanned 4 decades - here's the song in two versions, one much older and one more recent.

I prefer the more modern version - look at her go, a spinning vision in mint green!

· Esma Redzepova website

Eiffel Tower fashion

Looking through a scrapbook today, I was reminded of this fantastic photograph. Erwin Blumenfeld, a Vogue photographer, took this gravity-defying shot of his model hanging from the Eiffel Tower. It's amazing.

7 songs of spring-summer

My blog tends to live in its own little world, so I'm pleasantly surprised when linked by another blog. Boz recently challenged me to a meme.

I like the word meme - it's all about me(me), and also the French for same (même), so finding our similarities.

The task is: "List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs."

So. Click to hear a muxtape of these seven songs, and read on.

Infernal - Self Control
A cover of the Laura Brannigan song, but with added europop-ness. I've just finished my PhD thesis. When I was studying, I listened to this lots. Firstly, the song themes are similar to my research... what people think of themselves and others when out drinking and socialising. And secondly, I was able to bop along to it in my library seat.

Kylie Minogue - Your Disco Needs You
For the past few weeks, my office has become obsessed with this - we play it whenever we need excitement or a little motivation. I recently found out it was written with Robbie Williams, and there are versions where Kylie does 'the French bit' in German and Spanish. I've included the German one here, for novelty.

Ani Lorak - Shady Lady
My absolute favourite from this year's Eurovision - I listen, and I strut. A little camp, very strong, very diva - and the most enthralling performance. It's just a shame it didn't win! I've included the Russian version.

Bodies without Organs - Last flight to San Francisco
My favourite song from their last album. I love a song with a placename in it, and any song that evokes travel wins with me.

Hannes Schöner - Nun sag schon adieu
I'm soon going to start learning German, so I've been listening to German songs to get used to the language. This song comes from a German eurovision preselection in the 80s... and led to one of those moments when my boyfriend recognises a song from his childhood that I'm thoroughly enjoying.

Katri Helena - Äiti kuin äidinäiti
When I first listened to this, I thought "what the heck is Katri Helena doing in the second verse? What's that noise?" I asked a Finish friend, and happily now I know. But - what do you think? Answers in comments please. Ones that tickle me will win some prize or other.

An Pierle - Il Est Cinq Heures Paris S'Eveille
A vintage chanson given a modern touch - I love the energy of this. I play this when I need to think of life and be inspired. I listen to this and think that living in a city is a fantastic stimulating rollercoaster ride.

Now I'll pick some folk to meme. So: Chig, ItinerantLondoner, Karinski & GayPop, Poplicious! and Fabtastic!

Home Sweet Home installation

I've been creating a home - at Home Sweet Home, part of the London Festival of Architecture. Home Sweet Home is a large city plan on the floor. Those taking part are given plots, houses and a blank canvas structure. Houses are created with paints, glitter, pipe cleaners, stickers, feathers and lots more.

Mainly, it's great fun, and touches on issues of housing, what makes a home, what works in cities, how cities work, democracy and community.

Our house was number 47, and we recreated a little bit of Austria in London, and then invited the neighbours around for delicious Austrian cakes.

London's 1908 Olympics walking tour

I've been on a walking tour around west London, taking in the sites and stories of London's 1908 Olympics. Held in a stadium at White City, which was demolished in the 80s (the BBC are on the site now), memories of the Olympics remain, such as this mural and this street.

The street is named after Italian Dorando Pietri who finished the marathon first, but didn't win. Starting at Windsor Castle, the marathon wound through north and west London. Princess Mary at Windsor Castle asked that it start at the east wing - 'so the children could watch'. Meanwhile, Queen Alexandra requested that the finish line be in front of White City's Royal Box.

Both actions added several hundred yards to the race.

By the end, Pietri (also a Soho ice-cream seller) was in first place. Entering the stadium, he ran the wrong way and collapsed. Two officials - being sporting British chaps - helped him to the finish line. And he was disqualified! But, next day, Queen Alexandria presented him with a special silver cup, and he's now immortalised.

See here & here for more Olympic tales. Or go on this tour - there's another in August.

Place Quote: USA's cinema landscapes

The geography of movie America, the reason for all those celluloid dreams, rolled across the picture windows like a festival of film, freed from individual stories and script, but including all of them, making them necessary, inevitable. The genres had sped by. The industrial landscapes of Pittsburgh and Chicago, the railyards, the smoking factory chimneys, all spoke of fast urban tales of people doing their best and worst to make a living in the thundering black-and-white world.

• Jenny Diski, Stranger on a Train

Place Quote: USA & trains

It's all cargo - people, containers, pig iron - but there ain't no profit in people... Who's going to use the trains? Just old guys like us with no particular place to go and all the time in the world to go to it, and a few holiday-makers. It's a crying shame when you think of the history of the railroads. Hell, railroads made this country. Railroads forged a way east and west. Opened up the whole damn landmass. Now they just let the weeds grow if a route isn't profitable. People died in their hundreds, in their thousands, making the railroads, blasting their way through the mountains. They don't care.

• Jenny Diski, Stranger on a Train, p. 162-163

Well, I never - aussie bum

Posters advertising ubergay underwear brand AussieBum have begun appearing all over my local London areas, Kennington and Vauxhall (2 particularly gay London areas).

Underwear ads are nothing new - Freddie Ljungberg on a poster, David Beckham's crotch on the side of a bus, and that eye-popping Dolce & Gabbana chap.

But this one caught my eye - oh my, he's got his bum out. Goodness.

Country name chooser

Look to the right, and you'll see a country name picker, a new acediscovery feature. Click the button and a country name is chosen for you.

This will undoubtedly provide hours of fun.

• Don't know who to support in World Cup 2010 qualifying? Click!
  
  
• Unsure where to go on your next holiday? Click!
  
  
• Playing a 'where in the world' style game and stuck for inspiration? Click!
  
  
• Want to move away and start a new life? Click!

So I'm now supporting Qatar, off to Brazil on holidays (woohoo), have Chad written on a post-it stuck to my head, and will be emigrating to Macedonia.

What did I say? Hours of fun!