Save the Wedgwood Museum

The Wedgwood Museum has been listed by UNESCO as one of world's top 20 cultural assets. In the Unesco register, the museum's archive now sits alongside objects such as the Bill of Rights, which is the closest document that Britain has to a written constitution as well as a copy of King Charles I's death warrant.

But the Museum is due to be broken up and sold off to pay £134m pension deficit after a high court judgment in December. As well as thousands of ceramics produced by Josiah Wedgwood, the museum, which opened in 2008, boasts an archive of more than 100,000 documents and manuscripts, and masterpieces by Stubbs, Romney and Reynolds. Such is the collection's historic significance that questions will be asked in parliament this month.

The high court ruled that the collection was an asset of Waterford Wedgwood Potteries, which went bust in 2009, and could therefore be sold to pay off their creditors, the largest of which is the Pension Protection Fund.

Members of the Wedgwood family wrote a letter to the Telegraph this weekend they write:

"....We will now have to raise money to buy the very pieces of history that our family, together with employees and museum supporters worldwide, donated with the intention that they would be on display for the nation…"

Last month John Caudwell, the billionaire founder of Phones4U, the mobile phone retailer, said he would act as a lender of last resort to the museum.
He warned the act would not be “pure philanthropy” and would have “strings”.

The case is being reviewed by Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General, who is expected to decide before the end of the month whether to seek leave to appeal in the case. Tristram Hunt, the television historian and a MP for Stoke, the home of the museum, is meeting with Mr Grieve this week to discuss the case.
Campaign to save the Museum is here

The Kyoto Costume Institute

The Kyoto Costume Institute has created a database of the items in its Collection called the KCI Digital Archives and this link  presents a taste of the content with image and text for approx. 200 objects from their collection, arranged in chronological order. The design of the timeline of costume from the 18th century to the present and the quality of the images are both superb. I've seen a lot of websites and a lot of image databases-this one is small but perfectly formed.

And if you can get to Kyoto and the Costume Institute there you would be able to view the complete digital archives  in the KCI Study Room under a fee-paying, reservation-only basis. Providing support for the work of designers and researchers, text and visuals are available for all 12,000 items (costume, underwear, accessories, etc.) in the collection.

The website also provides access to interesting full text journal articles written by curators at the Kyoto Costume Institute

Calling all Photographers

As part of their research for future issues, Source Photographic Review are organising a series of meetings across the UK to look at new photographic projects for consideration of publication. To tie in with the weekend of their Book Arts Fayre 6, Ffotogallery are hosting a day of meetings at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff on Sunday 26th February 2012 where you can have your work seen by Source editor John Duncan. 

Source will select photographers from initial emailed submissions - if you are interested apply directly to John Duncan at Source. Email up to 6 screen resolution jpegs (300k max per image), along with a 2 paragraph description of your work, or a link to a specific project on your website, to john@source.ie quoting 'Ffotogallery' in your email subject heading. Deadline for submissions Friday 10 February 2012.

You can read more about what happens on the day on the Source website

Road safety advert

I'm going through all the emails I received whilst I was away in the summer. I subscribe to the marvellous Kindling-the Do lectures newsletter which provides as they put it 'the best stuff from last week. The most inspiring articles, ideas, videos, talks etc. We edit them down. So you don’t have to'.

One of the items from the  newsletter in early July was this Youtube video . All material © 2010 Sarah Alexander/Daniel Cox/Sussex Safer Roads.
An exceptionally effective advertisement ,  it makes me want to put a seat belt on right now even though I'm stationary in a computer chair. It has been viewed over 14 million times-now that is a successful design product!

I've mentioned The Do lectures before. They provide a variety of inspirational talks, their strapline is  

Attending the Do Lectures is very costly, but they are available for free online.
This one is about doing things the long hard stupid way

Robots and machines that make music

Last year I enjoyed Paul Granjon’s show at Oriel Davies in Newtown Powys

'Humorous and fun, Granjon’s practice triggers serious reflection upon our relationship with technology. In Oriel Factory he capitalises on the abundance of technological waste and creates an open space for playing, making, learning, thinking and sharing in a way that firmly belongs to the 21st century.'

 Paul has spoken of his  apprehension when regarding the gradual infiltration of machines into human experience. The machines  made for this show are not unnerving rather they are funny and endearing. In the show and workshops that made up ‘Oriel Factory’ Paul and his assistants transformed old machine parts into various musical and locomotive machines.

A documentary by Chris Keenan about the process of Paul Granjon's 'Oriel Factory' from start to finish can be viewed  here. The video takes you from an initial studio visit, to installation at Oriel Davies Gallery and performance by Paul Granjon at the opening event with commentary from Paul Granjon and the 'Factory Workers'.

On a related note here are two musical scanners made by a Youtube contributor posted here to welcome in the New Year with a smile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-1fkQcntTU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht96HJ01SE4

Catch Gerhard Richter online or before the show finishes

Tate Online offers a range of videos about artists in the 'Tateshots' series. On the occasion of his major retrospective at Tate Modern a lovely video featuring Gerhard Richter talking to Nick Serota (Director of the Tate) has been  linked from the exhibition's webpage  here.

"Spanning nearly five decades, and coinciding with the artist’s 80th birthday, Gerhard Richter: Panorama is a major retrospective exhibition that groups together significant moments of his remarkable career.Since the 1960s, Gerhard Richter has immersed himself in a rich and varied exploration of painting. Gerhard Richter: Panorama highlights the full extent of the artist's work, which has encompassed a diverse range of techniques and ideas. It includes realist paintings based on photographs, colourful gestural abstractions such as the squeegee paintings, portraits, subtle landscapes and history paintings."  from Tate pages for 'Panorama'
Gerhard Richter: Panorama at Tate Modern 6 October 2011  –  8 January 2012

More Tateshots from the Tate Channel can be viewed from here

Steve Jobs- two different viewpoints

I am back after a  long absence but the blog will now be updated regularly as before-spread the word and keep reading!!

BBC 2 screened a documentary on 14th December entitled ' Steve Jobs: Million Dollar Hippy' "a long-haired college dropout with infinite ambition, and an inspirational perfectionist with a bully's temper. A man of contradictions, he fused a Californian counterculture attitude and a mastery of the art of hype with explosive advances in computer technology.
Insiders including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, the chairman who ousted Jobs from the company he founded, and Jobs' chief of software, tell extraordinary stories of the rise, fall and rise again of Apple with Steve Jobs at its helm.
With Stephen Fry, world wide web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee and branding guru Rita Clifton, Evan Davis decodes the formula that took Apple from suburban garage to global supremacy."

The arts desk an online arts reviews website has published a trenchant reaction to the programme by Jasper Rees in the wake of the BBC documentary.

Enjoy both and think about what Apple means to you (and the world).