toby raves: on questions that can't be answered, what is art? what is the future of journalism?

Favourite story of the Week: Blair's back

Everybody’s favourite progressive politician, Tony Blair is being recalled to the Iraq Inquiry in January to give further evidence.

Blair gave evidence to the inquiry earlier in the year in what many saw as the unofficial trial of Blair and his decision to go to war with Iraq. He was extremely well prepared and therefore many thought that he got away with being pressed.

This time round will there be the same level of anticipation. This reporter thinks not.

Opinion of the Week: The future of the noble profession

Wikileaks – the whistle blowing website has produced the biggest leak in the history of history with exposure of the murky world of world diplomacy. Some are for and some against the disclosure of this information, but for Wikileaks at least, it seems that the knives are definitely are out.

The consensus also seems to be suggesting that the Guardian, New York Times, Der Speigel and El Pais, the papers that put in print what Wikileaks had on their USB stick, did something wrong but don’t have a case to answer to; in the words of Simon Jenkins, “the job of journalist is not to avoid embarrassing governments.” So what then is their role, what should have they have done?

In the good days of trench coats, hats and shorthand the role of a journalist was to find the story and bring it to people – to go out in to their world and use their nouse, their ingenuity to find what was out there, but that isn’t what has happened here. The Guardian and the other news agencies have this story put right in to their laps.

Is this how it is going to be in the future – others doing the spade work whilst the well known journo is just at the top of the pile taking all the glory/revenue? Well probably not, newspapers are struggling to make any money that’s worth shouting about and the world of amateur journalism, as this blog demonstrates, can only go so far. The internet revolution means that there is no going back, whilst we haven’t quite arrived at the brave new world of quality, multi-platform journalism that is cost –effective.  

There are a huge number of questions surrounding the future of this noble profession. I don’t have the answers for you now, but rest assures it is something that I am working on... 

Music of the Week: Winter Nights


Winter is by far my least favourite season, your hands can't be exposed for too long, your nose feels as if it is about to fall off, everyone is heading aiming to get indoors in the quickest possible time and the landscape, although briefly able to be a sight of stunning crispness, is invariably at this time of year a scene of extreme bleakness.

The music, on the other hand is a another story. Full sounds recreate bleak landscapes in the mind, or can be a great soundtrack. From the folksy sound of Laura Marling, to the heavy screeching sound of Edinburgh outfit Muersault this week's selection is all about music which fits a winter's night. Be it chilled and mellow or heavy and thumping these songs all have a winter element to them.
track listing:
Laura Marling - Goodbye England (covered in snow)
Jeniferever - Alvik
Thom Yorke - Harrowdown Hill
Meursault - For Martin Kippenberger
Bleak Output  - Sunday Morning
 Laura Marling - Goodbye England (Covered In Snow) by Ragged Words 


 Jeniferever - Alvik by soundscreen 


 08 Harrowdown Hill by devinbeth 


 meursault - for martin kippenberger by TobyBakare 


 Bleak Output - Sunday morining by bleak-output 

Pictures of the Week :

This week, courtesy of Ray Tang, we are taking another look at the Singapore, focussing specifically on the architecture and skyline. Enjoy.

Video of the Week: Turner, then and now


Is it art? Now is not the time or place for such a debate, but the fact remains that Susan Philippz soundscape, currently installed under a bridge in Edinburgh was the winner of 2010 Turner - So the most important art award in the country went to something that can't be seen. Make of that what you will.

The second video is an excerpt from her installation; by way of contrast, the first is from Steve McQueen (of Hunger fame, and soon to be of Fela fame), who won the turner Prize in 1998.

Enjoy watching the videos... till next week then...

toby raves: on students, outdoor art and the perfect song title

Story of the week:

Has to be those pesky students (one of which I used to be). They just don't know when they are beat. Here they are protesting (again). Good luck to them. I didn't join them because I like to have the happiness beat out me through the mundaneness of everyday life rather than at the hands of policemen with truncheons.

 

Opinion: can the home of art ever be outdoors?

Students of history are taught, from quite early on, of the power that a museum has on shaping your opinion of an event. Setting for example, the holocaust or slavery at the very lowest depths of an exhibition space and then going on to set related events such as the foundation of the state of Israel or the inauguration of President Obama at the pinnacle of an exhibition and bathed in light the audience will give out quite clear messages about what an audience should take away. Some may be sceptical of that kind of a leading argument from a museum, but at least it is a starting point. Anyone with initiative can then go away and challenge that story; unfortunately most don’t, but that is another issue.

In an art gallery it is no doubt the same. Every picture is put next to another for some sort of reason, some semblance of cohesion so that the punter can make sense of what is an awful lot to absorb in a short space of time. Taking art into the audience gives no narrative and can be seen as just being for the sake of it. If you are aware of it you can work hard to in your own mind to counter it (should you wish to).

So it was with a fair bit of trepidation that I paid a visit to to Kensington Gardens to see “Turning the World Upside Down” a range of sculptures from Anish Kapoor which had been dotted around the park in a seemingly random fashion. The sculptures themselves one could not really argue against; they were clearly accomplished works. But why were they outdoors?  

The apparent intention of the works is “to call in to question the viewers’ relationship to both the work and the surrounding environment,” this sounds very lofty and noble and indeed exciting. What you actually get is a sense that the objects have been placed at random in this open space. Considering they are made of highly reflective steel they are fairly static and the fact that they are so out of place in the natural environment, a feature which could  made them intriguing, only makes you realise that pieces belong in an art gallery and not in a park.

I was left so bewildered by the installation/exhibits that I wondered if any art can work outside. Gaudi who is as synonymous with Barcelona as Lionel Messi ,is one artist who did take art in to the streets with huge success. His organic structures had a real meaning to them in the age of futurist modernist architecture with its stiff, regimented lines.

Banksy, is another one who as taken art out in to the street. His messages are no nonsense “down with the system” ones (I’ll leave it to you to decide whether he’s being ironic or not) and they add to urban landscape, something that we already had lots of, graffiti and something that we have little of in the streets, Art. Hence the controversy he evokes ( He recently visited my neck of the woods to much hype and clamour.http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/8682588.Southampton____Graffiti____is_a___20_000_Banksy_original_mural/ )

Gaudi had functionality, Banksy with his graffiti was more urban than concrete. These are artist who make their art relevant to the outdoor space – graffiti doesn’t work as well indoors and architecture’s home is the outdoors. You walk past a Banksy or a Gaudi it has some relevance or purpose for being where it is; but when you just plant it for the sake of it gets lost because it has no use. Galleries and museums are there for a reason.

Pictures of the Week: National Museum Singapore

The Pictures for this week come from the recent exhibitions at the National Museum in Singapore. The freaky triangles are toby’s  favourite.

Photos courtesy Ray Tang