London Arts & Letters
Wallinger's Horse in the Running for Angel of the South
Contenders for the Angel of the South sculpture commission this week
presented models of their ideas, with Mark Wallinger tipped to be the most
likely artist to win. Mr. Wallinger is famous for his recreation of the
anti-war protest outside the houses of Parliament, which was shown at Tate Britain, and for winning the Turner prize for loping around in a bear suit on video.
Voyeurism as Theater: 'Contains Violence'
"Contains Violence," at the Lyric Hammersmith, is a prime example of a
piece of theater that strives so hard to be fresh that it ends up being
not much at all. That said, it is worth going for the zany format alone.
The audience sits outside on a terrace (we were lucky; the weather was
warm and clear), and the show begins after sunset. Last night this was 9
p.m. On your way in, you are handed a pair of beefy headphones and a
Vomit-Free Zone: New Mayor To Ban Boozing on Tube
Weekend nights in London are about to change forever: The new mayor, Boris Johnson, is banning booze on Tubes and buses from June 1. Clusters of bellowing sports fans swigging cans of Stella, dressed-up girls en route to a club clutching open bottles of bad fizz, and, of course, the classier types necking vodka and Coke from Evian bottles will have to find new ways to get in the mood.
Banksy Gets Festive Underground
Banksy has just sent an even greater-than-usual shock of electricity through London. This time he's taken over a portion of unloved railway tunnel near Waterloo Station in a grim area of south-central London. Leake Street, a dank shortcut for taxis, has been filled with an awesome parade of images either by Banksy or orchestrated by him.
Veganism Hits London, to Puzzlement of Brits
It took a while, but veganism has finally made it onto the culinary radar here, at least enough so that the idea of a purely vegan restaurant isn't instantly dismissed as ridiculous. And so London's first up-market vegan outpost, called Saf (the chef, Chad Sarno, is American), has opened in the trendy Shoreditch area.
Now in Aisle Four: Body-Image Consulting
Supermarkets in the U.K. have long sold cooking equipment, insurance, electronics, and clothing. But now, a new kind of service will be available at the checkout. For a limited time, Tesco, Britain's largest chain, will be providing complimentary body-image advice to women, an operation designed to help them “hang up their body hang-ups.” Fronted by the TV presenter Gok Wan (of “How To Look Good Naked” fame), the “S-Team” will advise on dressing for their body type and looking good while exercising.
On the Town With Americans Abroad for Hillary
I had my first taste of American politics abroad last night, at a small Hillary Clinton fund-raiser held at Janet’s Bar in South Kensington. Friends of mine, who’d been partying at Janet’s last week, had befriended the glamorous expat Janet and, simply out of curiosity, decided we'd have to attend.
Hoi Polloi Clog British Library; Literary Elite Get Vapors
It’s got all the elements of the perfect British outcry. History. The intelligentsia. Public funding and academia. (The introduction of top-up fees, which require students to pay for university, was among the most hotly debated issues of the last five years.) Above all, at the core of this tussle are those long, British queues and, with them, acute consumer frustration.
Tightfisted Arts Council Sitting on Pile of Cash
For the third time in as many months, the Arts Council is in deep water. It emerged today that the funding body is sitting on £150 million ($298 million) in lottery money, after slicing funds for approximately 200 arts organizations just last month. The lotto cash is marked out for projects that need financial help, only exacerbating the question of how the council can justify such a substantial surplus when it killed off so many grants this year.
