Project Space Leeds

PSL [Project Space Leeds] is an independent, artist-led contemporary art space. Based in the city centre, PSL stages exhibitions of modern and contemporary art across all art forms, and shows work by artists from the UK and abroad.

Associated events such as talks, seminars and education workshops sit alongside the exhibitions programme, engaging diverse audiences and aiming to grow awareness of the contemporary visual arts in the city. By working with curators from outside Leeds, PSL aims not only to bring established artists to the city and to provide opportunities for native talent, but also to position Leeds on the national and international radar.

The lastest exhibition 'Licht auf Licht' looks like it could be interesting, showing Hans Peter Kuhn’s installations from around the world, transforming urban landscapes and industrial architecture, beautifully captured by Kassner into photographic artworks in their own right.

www.projectspaceleeds.org.uk

Excel London, The Docklands.

During my work placement year I organised my company's exhibition stand for the Think Exhibition in Excel London. When I visited the site the day before and also during the Grand Designs exhibition I was particularly struck by the feeling of isolation in the area. Although the pictures above and the Excel website attempt to make it seem exciting, when on the site and travelling to it you feel like you are on the edge of the world, especially looking back up the river and seeing the Dome and Canary Wharf in the distance.
Although my comments sounds negative its quite a fascinating place to be, if you look across the river from Excel there are huge abandoned warehouses and overgrown empty spaces, you can really feel the isolation in this area that used to be the central point for London, recieving goods from all over the world and housing and employing so many people.

Sicily

During a recent visit to Sicily I found the Architecture and Urban landscaping really interesting.
Although Sicily is actually a part of Italy it combines alot of different styles, from Typical European to Byzantine and Moorish influence. The pictures above show the variation between these styles and it was intriguing to see an affluent Catholic Church alongside Arabic looking Cathedrals and paintings.
A lot of the towns in Sicily were designed in the Baroque Architectural style, with sophistication, power and wealth as major influences, my favourite part of this style is the town planning - how every road and piazza is planned as a visual delight often with views towards the sea or the focus buildings of the town.

Richard Rogers + Architects

Richard Rogers, one of Britain's most influential architects, had a recent exhibition at The Design Museum. I'm not a great fan of the Museum, as I haven't seen much there before to be excited by but I really enjoyed this display.
Richard Rogers Architects are responsible for the Pompidou Centre in Paris and The Millennium Dome, amongst many other buildings, the exhibition was in a huge room which held architects models from alot of their major projects.
As a designer I loved the models themselves, tiny to scale examples I can imagine would be great to show to a client and describe the work you plan to do. As you went around the room it was also interesting to see Rogers distinct style developing, much of his work seems to be 'inside-out' the structure of the building isnt hidden behind facades and the pieces seem quite honest.

Apparently this style has been called 'Bowellism'!

'Based on the rationale that the greatest amount of floor space possible should be allowed for the interior so as to maximize space to appreciate the exhibitions, everything from the lifts to the sewage pipes were made visible on the outside of the structure. This inside-out style was termed 'Bowellism'.

Grand Designs

This summer I visited the Grand Designs exhibition at The Excel in London, although I love the program I wasn't that impressed with it! Unlike the program this seemed to be basically a fair for companies to sell their products and standard housing products at that. I'm not sure if I was expecting too much but most of it felt like I was walking around Homebase!
The best bits was the furniture design section and I saw a really interesting lecture and debate on progressing Modern Architecture, but excluding that I wouldn't recommend it unless you are a housewife seeking a day out!

MOMA

Whilst in New York I made a bee-line for the MOMA- took a while to find as the location is a bit secluded but it was definitely worth the trouble!

As it is so huge I was only able to visit two floors, one of my favourite exhibitions was Bernd and Hilla Becher: Landscape/Typology. Bernd and Hilla are best known for their "typologies"—grids of black-and-white photographs of examples of a single type of industrial structure. To create these works, the artists traveled to large mines and steel mills, and systematically photographed the major structures, such as the winding towers that haul coal and iron ore to the surface and the blast furnaces that transform the ore into metal.

The typologies portray the clarity of engineer's drawings, while the landscapes make the viewer experience a particular place, all the studies are in B&W and showcase industrialisation at its most impersonal and dominating.

Architecture in the Apple.

It was very difficult to decide which pictures to put up from my trip to New York! As everyone knows the architecture is amazing and your neck gets alot of use in this vertical city. I loved the huge variation of architecture between the different districts, it was so much more extreme than London, from the cast iron structure covering everything in Soho to the skyscrapers and use of glass in the financial district. Also found it interesting that alot of advertising was painted directly onto the building facade - which meant you were influenced by the building and its material as well as the advert.

New York is a very inward facing city. Everything focuses towards the centre (ie central park) which seemed very weird to me, the last picture is an example of what most of the water front looks like, I assumed they would of taken advantage of being surrounded by water but instead the city seems to turn its back on it! After being used to the UK and its love for anything facing water I suppose it just confused my eurocentric mind....

Situation Leeds

Situation Leeds is an independent contemporary visual art festival, bringing together artists and arts organisations to explore art in public places through installations, events, debates, video and publications.
I came across this installation when walking into the city centre and just thought it was a great way to use the city scape in an exciting way and make a derelict area a place of interest and conversation. The two artists had to re-do this nearly every morning as in the evenings it was often damaged by drunks, thats dedication!