OCD - Olympic Clamp Down - pictured- were commanding the Montague stage on Sunday 22nd October at a benefit for a local legend. They have a lead singer who is a talented doppelganger for Peter Frampton in an alternative universe and at their best, some of the songs were attention grabbing and well crafted.
ART - 180 Strand -Everything At Once with Lisson Gallery / Vinyl Factory - Until Dec 10
Free to enter this soon to be offices space, the current show features Al Weiwei, Julian Opie and Anish Kapoor. There are many other contributors but these are my top 3, Al Weiwei has manufactured a wondrous wallpaper which must be seen to be believed. The detail and playful content is a riff on Homers Odyssey , mixing JCBs with Roman centurions, and much else. His other piece, a gold tree branch was not so arresting or interesting. Julien Opie has contributed two pieces on the theme of driving on motorways. A revolving animation on a tv screen of a continuous road is accompanied by a solid figure of eight model on the floor in front. Hmm. I prefer the portraits Julien.
My favourite piece was Anish Kapoors huge bell shaped installation on the first floor. It just about fits into the alotted space, suspended in mid air with the outer edges at bell's bottom close to the four walls. You cant really see how the object is secured above, but you can walk under its dome and look up. Tricks are played on your eyesight; you look into a void, the dimensions you have understood from outside are no longer discernible. No light is permitted to exist by whatever material coats the inside of the bell, so your senses are sent spinning. It has a similarly strange effect on your hearing, so your ears are confused by the unworldly audio effect the structure imposes. Remarkably clever and superbly installed, this piece cements Kapoors reputation at the top of the world art scene tree.
Needless to say there is much tedium to be encountered on your trip around this peculiar space, not least when you reach the roof terrace and the series of films on blaxploitation and oppression in the hut entitled Love is the Message, the Message is Death, by Arthur Jafa , in collaboration with Serpentine Galleries.. People have queued for up to an hour to gain entry apparently, perhaps due to some very OTT reviews. Take it from me, its a boring diatribe on a worthy subject, and its certainly nothing you have not seen before. More worthwhile is Ryoji Ikeda’s newly commissioned A/V artwork test pattern [N°12], requiring visitors to remove their footwear before stepping onto the illuminating floor.
Fugitives - South American Crime drama - is this a first ? Fabulous action sequences, aerial shots and nasty, double crossing cops, this oozes pure tension as we roll up and down Chile and neighboring states.
Electric Dreams New season of half hour films allegedly based on PK Dick stories, quality has been patchy to say the least. The first two episodes were uninvolving, the third with Timothy Spall as a grandad dealing roughly with a teenager in the house was woeful. What annoyed me most was not the crumby, lame idea of people getting off a train in the middle of nowhere, only its where a station used to be before the war. The time travelling aspect has no basis or explanation - it just happens . When Spall ends up sitting on a bench and is transported back to happier times, the schmaltz was degrading to behold. What was worse, PK Dick never did corny sentimentalism. Phil would be revolving in his grave at a fair rate if he knew about this travesty, which is apparently cashing in on the release of the new sequel to Bladerunner, surely the greatest film adaptation of a Dick short story. I feel faintly nauseous contemplating this TV debacle, goodness knows what Phil would have made of it.
Snowfall - The latest TV import from USA - Snowfall - has John "Boyz in the Hood" Singleton's fingers in every part of the production pie. A youngster from the wrong side of the tracks has found his way into a bohemian, moneyed world of porn, pool parties and coke. He starts to deal kilos on consignment to a vicious lady kingpin in her club. When he returns to do a second deal, two kilos are apparently put on the table and tasted in front of all and sundry to witness. So when he comes to grief as he saunters off with thousands of dollars in his backpack, the only surprise is we are meant to believe anyone would be stupid enough to do such a thing in the first place. Like so many of these crime dramas - Dr Foster, Tin Star, etc , we have to ignore the most far fetched coincidences, accidents and daft behaviour for the plot to work. I will go along with this, knowing its based on a ludicrous coke deal, conducted in full view of a nightclubs' patrons. Only the stupidest in this universe survive, apparently.
