Painting The Town Red

Today, we crossed the Thames River to visit the other side. Our hotel is steps from the river. To the right is Big Ben and West Minster Abbey, to the left is London Bridge. One of the things in between is the Tate Modern gallery. We went there for more abstract art.

Inside the Tate, I came across a film that introduced the viewer to Conceptual Art - art based on an idea or concept. For example, the toilet is usually an undesirable object associated with dirty human waste. But what if you cast a toilet using translucent bright colour so that the object seems light and worthy of being a religious icon? What if you take a common soup can, put it on a pedestal and glorified it? That's Andy Warhol.

In reaction to conceptual art, a group of artists created art based on no ideas. I can't remember what that movement is called. The artist interviewed said in a quiet drunken way something like...There is an equation in the creative process. You start with nothing, at zero. If you have an idea for your art, your equation is zero plus one. But if you remove the idea, you are at zero plus one minus one. That how I arrive back at zero. But in the process, something happened. That's your creation.

Aaargh.

What did this artist create? He stacked rows and rows of bricks on a floor. There is a whole room in the Tate Modern devoted to his work. Good thing admission to art galleries in London are free.

After, we walked to Shakespeare's open-air Globe theatre. The theatre is in fact not on the original site. There is another building on that site. But when space became available next to the original site, they built a replica of the theatre there. Their performance season was sold out as soon as they announced it so we weren't able to get tickets for a play during our stay in London. Still, you can imagine what it was like in Shakespeare's time for people to wander down to the river, pay a small fee, and watch a play.

At the London Bridge, everything is commercial. You can buy a "London Bridge Experience." I think it's a ride-like attraction. You can also buy a "Clink Experience". The Clink was England's first prison. That's why we refer to jails as the clink these days. The Clink Experience is a walk through the old jail, now a prison museum. I didn't want these experiences.

I did walk through Borough Market. Many meat and vegetable vendors that retain their 100+ year-old look and now sell high-end organic, free-trade products. Today was a bank holiday in England and the market was closed. I like walking through a busy place when it is closed. It gives me a sense of what the place is really like and where things are. I would have liked to come back when the market is open and thronged with people.

I met my friend Nye in the afternoon. It was so great to see her in London. We are like internationals friends and see each other only when we pass through each other's city. We walked through London's Chinatown. There are no cars in these Chinatown streets. Then we met her boyfriend and his friend from Manchester for dim sum. I felt like we were on a double date, it was so much fun.

After, they dropped me off in front of the St. Martin-In-The-Field church. I rode in their mini Cooper on the left side of the road. It was weird. I tried not to scream when they made a right turn into the middle of the intersection.

I met my gang at the church beside Trafalgar Square. We had tickets for a Mozart-Vivaldi-Pachebel-Telemann-Bach concert. There is nothing like listening to live music inside a church! At the St. Martin-In-The-Field at that. The chamber ensemble, the London Concertante, was fantastic. I loved how all the musicians played with flourish. They played their instruments with their face and body, they made eye contact with each other and were physically in tune with each to get their timing and tempo right. Even the boys, who prefer to be in the mosh pit at rock concerts, applauded enthusiastically and thought it was fantastic. They thanked me for bringing them to this concert.