Dan Perjovschi in the Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm

Perjovschi’s international reputation was made when he represented Romania at the 1999 Venice Biennale, chalking over the floor with drawings depicting post-Communist life which visitors erased with their feet as they explored them. As Perchovsky puts it, “We all live in a drawing, and sometimes this drawing is erased.”

In Stockholm, he had drawn all over the museum’s entrance foyer: witty, sharp comments on culture, International and Swedish politics and the museum world. His work raised interesting questions for me regards the status of graffiti art in modern culture. It appears from what I can see Perjovschi operates exclusively within the confines of the modern art establishment. Banksy does too, occasionally, of course, but usually on his own initiative and without requiring an invitation from the Tate, British Museum, or Metropolitan Museum of Art, for example. And while it is not impossible to contemplate, I don’t somehow see Banksy being invited to represent the UK at the Venice Biennale anytime soon.

Zippy and the Big Foot

I first started taking Zippy around with me on my travels in the late 1990s – Paris, Athens, Rome, New York. However, my long-term companion violently disapproved of any Zippy action and Zippy led a half-life, hidden in closets and luggage, waiting for a few stolen moments in hotel rooms, never seeing the outside world.

Since we’ve gone our separate ways, however, Zippy has come out loud and proud. He is looking forward to seeing the world.

And he's off on his next adventure.

Quote London

"London is not romantic, no, London has the violence of a bolt of lightning . . . London is a city where only the fittest survive, the pulse rises fast and plummets as quickly, things get done and undone in a split second. London is a harsh place for many, where the idle rich can ignore the value of money, but where great ideas are born every day. London is a capital that dares."

Agnès Catherine Poirier, Touché: A French Woman’s Take on the English. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006

You know you spend too much time on the internet when . . .

. . . you find out about the latest terrorist outrage on someone else's blog rather than from the mainstream media. Hoo boy. Great catch, as they say on flickr, for the police. It's surprising how much cycnicism there is about this out in the blogosphere - my intuition is that this time it's real. (And this is a high vote of confidence from me: I doubted the Stockwell shooting from the moment I heard of it). Although it is notable our beloved Home Secretary came out of this smelling of roses for his 'firm' handling of the crisis: Tony away on holiday, Gordon up in Scotland on paternal leave, and Prescott deftly sidelined. Excellent timing indeed. Chaos unfolding in Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc etc etc. Charming year we are having.

My other issue is that the security forces have been pushing this plastic bag idea at airport security all year, and now it's come into its own. I'm devastated, as I travel with bottles of water (to stave off thrombosis) and all my precious gizmos - powerbook, digital SLR and iPod. What will I do now? I'm definitely not putting the powerbook in the hold. I suppose the Nikon will have to be packed hyper-carefully, because I can't not take it. And if I can't listen to the iPod on the plane, that cuts out 50% of the point of taking it in the first place. Damn those pesky fundamentalists.

I am flying out to Sweden later this week (I think - must check!!) to meet up with my family for a weekend in Stockholm. My first visit to Sweden, so I'm quite excited. The relatives left today - or at least, I hope they did: I haven't yet heard otherwise from them.

I wanted to post this earlier, but lo and behold everytime I tried getting into Blogger it was taking a rest or checking its tubes or something. It has not escaped me that other people have been posting as normal, so I am revising my previous theory, and am coming over all paranoid - Blogger is out to get me! Arrgh!

August is here

Well, charming. My first post in weeks and Blogger decides to blow up and lose everything! Aaaaaaaargh!!!! Where was I? –

Starting again (this time on my laptop and then and copying and pasting into Blogger).

I have been neglectful. It appears to be a pattern that I fall off later in the month – I must improve! This month will be different, I promise.

What have I been up to? Flickr-ing mostly – it’s totally addictive. It seems to be motivating me to get back into photography and to try to improve my skills, which is great. Oh, and yoga. This week I collapsed in class (wimp) – my teacher blamed it on my ongoing and escalating family crisis. Could be – the headaches, the headaches! – Oh, and India is still the no. 1 choice on my iPod. Thank heavens for that.

Well, I haven’t even managed to keep up with reading all my favourite blogs, let alone writing anything myself. But two of my favourites have been really excellent just lately: Diva has been doing his annual survey and cross-comparison of chart hits through the decades; this is terrific fun and educational too. It ends today so hurry and vote. And if anyone hasn’t yet seen seen Joe’s videocast, then scoot over NOW.

Yesterday afternoon Jenny came round for tea and gossip. We tried out Macaron on The Pavement by the Common. It’s a trés chic patisserie which opened this summer. Mixed reviews – my Grand neighbour dissed it; Princess Satine raved (she’s back on carbs as her fitness regime just burns everything away the moment she swallows) – but the window displays alone justified a visit.

We had five cakes between us – oh, the shame. I can fully recommend the hazlenut cream choux ring and the fresh cherry tartlets. Going back for more, for sure.

Yes, I wonder. Back in the early 90s, the art director of the company I worked for banned me from entering the art department as he was convinced my aura crashed his macs. I wonder if my superpowers have grown and morphed and now I am crashing blogger? Ha ha! World domination is within my grasp!

Macaron
22 The Pavement
London SW4 0HY
tel: 020 7498 2636