Me and London Town

 Since I have been back from Nairobi three weeks ago, I have been working so much and doing so much, I didn't have time to comment on London art scene, which is probably what made me so happy to come back in the British city (with the amazing friends, of course).


The thing is there is so much to say!


I cannot sum it up all now, but I can briefly tour the most exciting places I have been lucky enough to come accross in the September London experience... Here's an insight of what you can still catch... in October or next year. 


September is the new summer

I live North and work South and it just gives me what I think of as a priviledge to cross the city almost entirely every morning and every evening.


And what is the most striking part is when I arrive South of Waterloo, around Battersea...

And after a very mild and grey summer, as I was expecting it from my favourite month, September has been the sunniest and warmest it could have been... A perfect weather and light to explore the city.




Open House, yeah


The Mid-September weekend were taking place the Open House events. I went West toward Notting Hill and Holland Park to visit the future site of the New Design Museum.


It happens to be in the former building of the former Commonwealth Centre.

Then, thanks to friends I discovered the amazing Leighton House on Holland Road. An amazing house which belonged to the British painter Lord Frederic Leighton (1830-1896). It is now an incredible museum and art centre dedicated to arts from the Arab world.


It is unfortunately forbidden to take photographs, but here is a description from the Leighton House website:

'Built to designs by George Aitchison, it was extended and embellished over a period of 30 years to create a private palace of art. 

The Arab Hall is the centerpiece of the house. Designed to display Leighton's priceless collection of over a thousand Islamic tiles, mostly brought back from Damascus in Syria, the interior evokes a compelling vision of the Orient.'

I will definitely be back in this amazing place soon as it is holding the Nour Festival dedicated to the arab cultures, in October and November.




'Contested terrain': The Tate welcomes four African Artists


The next day I was lucky enough to be completely free and went to one of my London favourite locations. London Bridge, the Tate Modern, Millenium Bridge... This site, the view, the Thames, the Tate's building... The area always makes me want to live in London forever.


In the first room of the ground floor, this amazing art centre is currently displaying an never-seen-before exhibiting gathering the work of four African artists, coming from Algeria, South Africa, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. A tour of the continent...

Through painting, video, photography and the most contemporary sculptures, these artists "reveal that history is more than a straightforward succession of events and that the present remains contested terrain".

Names to remember: 


Kader Attia
Born 1970, Dugny, France
Lives and works in Berlin and Algiers

Sammy Baloji
Born 1978, Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo
Lives and works in Lubumbashi

Michael MacGarry
Born 1978, Durban, South Africa
Lives and works in Cape Town

Adolphus Opara
Born 1981, Imo State, Nigeria
Lives and works in Lagos

There would be so much more to say on this - free - exhibition... A first for the Tate. African contemporary artists exploring the weirdness of our postmodern life in between Europe and Africa, as well as the current postcolonial relations between the two continents... But there's not enough space here and not enought time today to add much more. All I can add is that I felt in the centre of the world, in between all the meaningful crossroads of my own life, in between Europe and Africa.


The V&A rocks my world


Then, there is my favourite place on Earth, the Victoria and Albert Museum... 

Go and see - absolutely - the 'Postmodernism' exhibition. I'll have more on this one soon.


Daring, unexpected, well documented, fun, surprising, full of lights and sounds, this exhibit is a must see, especially if you've got a crush on the 1980's...




Waterloo, centre of the world, my world

There would be so much more to say...

This month, I also went to pay a visit to the Whitechapel Gallery which displays an amazing red painting from Rothko in a remembrance little exhibition about its first exhibition in Britain.


I spent amazing moment in Spitalfields, Covent Garden, Hampstead, Old Street, and of course around Waterloo Station, my new centre...

My morning view on the platform from the train...

From Waterloo Bridge, the Thames at night on a lovely Indian Summer night...

I have to take the train here every morning and every evening and it opened a lot of news possibilities, unexpectedly.


But this will be for a next episode. Hope you liked my little London September tour.