I can't believe we've been back a week
- it's wonderful to get away and see people working in a different context and everyone gave us such a good time.
Lausanne is a very hilly city on lots of different levels and the exhibition was in Abstract, a gallery in a newly developing area of old warehouses.
It was a wonderfully bizarre event as the 115 books were returned to their artists, or rather randomly distributed, via a machine that operated for 5 minutes every quarter of an hour. You put your token in a slot and various things happened, a photo was taken , a megaphoned voice announced which book was 'disappearing' and a barrier came down and had a good shot at decapitating any unwary bystander and a book emerged out of a slit. It also gave out the new book of the event, 'Kit Mode de Vie demontage'; meanwhile Peter signed his posters in the hallway for those lucky enough to be patrons and receive one - there was almost a riot when others were turned away; and when each 5 minutes was up and the queues had to wait. Much was drunk and it all took quite a long time - plenty of time to actually see some of the books whose titles I had used as my text and meet their artists or new owners,and exercise my execrable french.
setting up....
getting busy....
our work with the other 6 pieces for this exhibition
For lots more pictures and details go to
Art&Fiction and look on their facebook page...there are loads of photos of this event and the previous ones...and they will probably be on their blog at some point....
We also managed trips to Berne to see the new Paul Klee Centrum - a really visionary building built into the hills just on the edge of the city, with an exhibition space, concert hall ,and beautiful children's art workshops where their work is exhibited and taken really seriously.
It was hard to get into a good position to take a good picture of the front and get it all in.
We also saw the bears, now able to roam on the hillside above the river and not confined to their famous bear-pits where I took my children to see them 25 years ago.
(Any other Mary Plain devotees out there? all that lovely picture writing....)
We also got to Fribourg twice, a beautiful old city, a promontary town like Berne with the river again doing a hairpin bend round it ; most of the town very high up with stone walls but a picturesque lower town below, lovely little puppet museum, and a Tinguely and Nikki de St Phalle Museum in an old tram depot, wonderfully crazy; and an interesting Beaux Arts; AND a Gutenburg Museum. The second time we went on the Art & Fiction works outing for the St Nicholas festival - patron saint of the town and cathedral is St Nicholas and on this feast day the best student of the year dresses up and rides through the town on a donkey throwing goodies to the children and makes a speech from the balcony above the cathedral door ( a pretty political one on this occasion); and we visited another print workshop and another amazing soiree after the festivities.
Lausanne has of course the excellent Musee D'Art Brut - always a good visit. The Christmas market was in full swing and there was plenty of vin chaud in the streets. We were very sorry to leave .
This is the view from our wonderful backpacker hotel which overlooks the station - excellent for early get aways on the brilliant trains. Sadly there are rumours it is goiung to be demolished as part of a grand plan to construct a new large City Art Gallery in this part of town - we will miss it.
We had time in Geneva before we left and enjoyed the Beaux Arts and the Carouge particularly. Artists had been invited to decorate the trees in the old town.
There was a marvellous antiquarian bookshop in the old town
and here is the magic disappearing market in the Carouge
and Peter had a wonderful encounter with a headless lady...
Also to the lady at the Robert Walser Centrum in Berne which we visited and who spent a lot of time patently translating and explaining things to us. We DID get the postcard you sent us! thank you so much ( amazing as it was addressed only with our names and our town, England - just as we signed in the book - well done Post Office here too!)...it is very heartening that booklovers and artists are still appreciated, she will know what we mean....
Two days later I was off to Stoke to see my first concrete panel for The Keep; bit of a change of mood but also really exciting. It was fascinating seeing the processes and the workshops where the concrete was poured. The panel was hoisted up on a crane to the elevation it will be on the finished building and the weather obliged with a slide show of rain showers , cloud and sunshine in rapid succession so that we could get an idea of how the images will change according to light, time of day, weather and the position the viewer is in. I think we were all pretty relieved that it looks quite promising and exciting. Many thanks to all at Thorp's for looking after us so well and being so generous with time and discussions.
Pictures of The Keep panels and the day in Stoke will go up soon....
and here they are; thanks to Wendy who took much better quality photos than I did...
first the mould....
and then the panel at projected eye height....
