TRAVEL TUESDAY 308 - ATOMIUM BRUSSELS

“Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong reasons.” - R. Buckminster Fuller

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The Atomium is a landmark building in Brussels, originally constructed for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (Expo 58). It is located on the Heysel Plateau, where the exhibition took place. It is now a museum. Designed by the engineer André Waterkeyn and architects André and Jean Polak, it stands 102 m tall.

Its nine 18 m diameter stainless steel-clad spheres are connected, so that the whole forms the shape of a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. Tubes of 3 m diameter connect the spheres along the 12 edges of the cube and all eight vertices to the centre. They enclose stairs, escalators and a lift (in the central, vertical tube) to allow access to the five habitable spheres, which contain exhibit halls and other public spaces. The top sphere includes a restaurant which has a panoramic view of Brussels.

In 2013, CNN named it Europe's most bizarre building. In the 1950s, faith in scientific progress was great, and a structure depicting atoms was chosen to embody this. The Atomium depicts nine iron atoms in the shape of the body-centred cubic unit cell of an iron crystal, magnified 165 billion times.

Though the Atomium depicts an iron unit cell, the balls were originally clad with aluminium. Following the 2004–2007 renovations, however, the aluminium was replaced with stainless steel, which is primarily iron. Likewise, while the subject of Atomium was chosen to depict the enthusiasm of the Atomic Age, iron is not and cannot be used as fuel in nuclear reactions.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 241 - ATHENS, GREECE

 

“In cities like Athens, poor houses lined narrow and tortuous streets in spite of luxurious public buildings.” - Stephen Gardiner

The Zappeion (Greek: Ζάππειον Μέγαρο, Záppeion Mégaro) is a building in the National Gardens of Athens in the heart of Athens, Greece. It is generally used for meetings, conferences and ceremonies, both official and private.

In 1869, the Greek Parliament allocated 80,000 square metres of public land between the Palace Gardens and the ancient Temple of Olympian Zeus, and also passed a law on 30 November 1869, “for the building works of the Olympic Games”, as the Zappeion was the first building to be erected specifically for the revival of the Olympic Games in the modern world.

The ancient Panathenian stadium was also refurbished as part of the works for the Olympic Games. Following some delay, on 20 January 1874, the cornerstone of the building was laid; this new building would be designed by Danish architect Theophil Hansen. Finally, on 20 October 1888, the Zappeion opened. Unfortunately for its benefactor, Evangelis Zappas, he did not live long enough to see the Zappeion built, and his cousin Konstantinos Zappas was nominated by Evangelos Zappas to complete the building. The Austrian Parliament Building was also designed by Hansen and followed the same theme in the exterior.

The Zappeion was used during the 1896 Summer Olympics as the main fencing hall. A decade later, at the 1906 Intercalated Games, it was used as the Olympic Village. It served as the first host for the organising committee (ATHOC) for the 2004 Games from 1998 to 1999 and served as the press centre during the 2004 games.

In 1938, the Athens Radio Station, the country's first national broadcaster, began operating in the premises. The building continued to house the National Radio Foundation until the inauguration of the House of Radio in 1970. A number of historical events have taken place at the Zappeion, including the signing of the documents formalising Greece’s accession to the European Community in May, 1979, which took place in the building’s marble-clad, peristyle main atrium. The head of Evangelos Zappas is buried underneath his statue which is located just outside the Zappeion.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 232 - BRIGHTON UK

“The highest form of bliss is living with a certain degree of folly.” ― Erasmus

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Brighton is a seaside resort on the south coast of England. It is part of the ceremonial county of East Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age, Roman The town’s importance grew in the Middle Ages as the Old Town developed, but it languished in the early modern period, affected by foreign attacks, storms, a suffering economy and a declining population. Brighton began to attract more visitors following improved road transport to London and becoming a boarding point for boats travelling to France. 

The town also developed in popularity as a health resort for sea bathing as a purported cure for illnesses. In the Georgian era, Brighton developed as a fashionable seaside resort, encouraged by the patronage of the Prince Regent, later King George IV, who spent much time in the town and constructed the Royal Pavilion in the Regency era. Brighton continued to grow as a major centre of tourism following the arrival of the railways in 1841, becoming a popular destination for day-trippers from London. 

The Royal Pavilion, also known as the Brighton Pavilion, is a former royal residence located in Brighton, England. Beginning in 1787, it was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George, Prince of Wales, who became the Prince Regent in 1811. It is built in the Indo-Saracenic style prevalent in India for most of the 19th century. The current appearance of the Pavilion, with its domes and minarets, is the work of architect John Nash, who extended the building starting in 1815. Between 1815 and 1822 the designer John Nash redesigned and greatly extended the Pavilion, and it is his work that is still visible today. 

The palace is striking in the middle of Brighton, as its Indo-Islamic exterior is unique. The fanciful interior design, primarily by Frederick Crace and the little-known decorative painter Robert Jones, was heavily influenced by both Chinese and Indian fashion (with Mughal and Islamic architectural elements). It is a prime example of the exoticism that was an alternative to more classicising mainstream taste in the Regency style.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY #24 - TIJUANA, MEXICO

“Mexico is a safe, as well as a beautiful and warmly gracious, place to visit.” - Margaret Chan

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel!

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The Tijuana Cultural Centre (CECUT) is a cultural centre in the Zona Río district of Tijuana, Mexico. The centre opened 20 October 1982, and accommodates more than a million visitors per year. A major feature of the complex is an OMNIMAX cinema designed by architects Pedro Ramirez Vazques and Manuel Rossen Morrison. It is the only IMAX cinema in Tijuana, and has come to be popularly known as La Bola (“The Ball”). The cinema, which uses a 360-degree projector to surround viewers with a panoramic image, has 308 seats. The OMNIMAX cinema has been part of the cultural centre since the complex first opened in 1982. In October of that year, it premiered the film “El pueblo del sol”, which was made especially for the cinema’s opening. The film presents images from the most representative regions of Mexico, and got very good reviews. It was the cinema's only film for 13 years. Today, the centre offers a daily selection of films; it premieres about four films per year.

The centre encompasses a large esplanade that accommodates up to 6,000 people. The esplanade is a venue for performances, festivals, and expos. There is also permanent exhibition, called “Museo de las Californias”, which stores over 200 pieces and is a walk through the history of the Baja Peninsula and the state of California from the prehistoric period until the first half of the 20th century. Also a pre-Hispanic garden, called “Jardin Caracol” (Snail Garden), that contains sculptures from the different regions of the mesoamerican cultures that inhabited south Mexico before the arrival of the Spanish Army. Visitors can have the experience of going through the exhibition while enjoying a coffee since there is a little coffee shop in the garden.

There is also a scenic theatre, which has a room for around a thousand visitors and it is mostly used for private concerts and plays. There are also lecture rooms, video room, café, and a bookshop. There are several spaces for temporary small exhibits. In September 2008, on the eve of its 26th anniversary, CECUT opened its doors to a brand new building called “El Cubo” (The Cube), so named because of the contrast between the nickname of the OMNIMAX cinema “The Ball”. This represented the very important opportunity for CECUT to start receiving International Exhibitions, and since then it has been the home for exhibitions that have traveled from other countries including Buda Guanyin, Gabriel Figueroa, Alice Rahon, Venus en Tijuana, Proyecto Civico, and Animated Painting among others.

Nowadays this important institution has different programs for all ages, since classes for early stimulation for kids around 2 months and 2 years, plastic arts and artisan workshops for children from 5 to 15 years and concerts, conferences, movies, documentaries, exhibitions, and all kind of services for the whole family to enjoy the day and spend a nice time learning. CECUT is a short distance from the Mexico–United States border at San Ysidro, San Diego.

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ART SUNDAY - WARHOL

“Everything popular is wrong.” - Oscar Wilde

Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was born in Pittsburg (né Andrej Varchola, Jr). His parents were working-class Rusyn emigrants from Mikó (now called Miková), located in today’s northeastern Slovakia, part of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Warhol’s father immigrated to the United States in 1914, and his mother joined him in 1921, after the death of Warhol’s grandparents. Their family name was anglicised to “Warhola”. Warhol’s father worked in a coal mine. Andy Warhol had two older brothers — Pavol (Paul), the oldest, was born in Slovakia; Ján was born in Pittsburgh. Pavol’s son, James Warhola, became a successful children’s book illustrator.

Andy Warhol showed his talent for art at a young age, so it was not difficult for him to choose a career in commercial art, studying pictorial design at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, which is presently Carnegie Mellon University. After graduating Warhol moved to New York City and worked as an illustrator for various popular magazines such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and The New Yorker. In 1949, the pop icon shortened his name to Warhol after a credit in Glamour magazine mistakenly read “Drawings by Warhol.”

In 1952, Warhol had his first individual show with the exhibit “Fifteen Drawings Based on the Writings of Truman Capote”. His first group show was at The Museum of Modern Art in 1956. During the 1960s, Warhol truly made a name for himself, with iconic works such as “Campbell's Soup Cans”, “Disasters” and “Marilyns”. He also shot several 16mm films, including Chelsea Girls, Empire and Blow Job.

Warhol started publishing Interview magazine in the early 1970s and once again, returned to painting. These later works included “Maos”, “Skulls”, “Hammer and Sickles” and “Torsos and Shadows”. In the latter part of his career, Warhol devoted much of his time to rounding up new, rich patrons for portrait commissions. By the 1980s, Warhol was being criticised for becoming merely a “business artist”.

Warhol's publication, “POPism: The Warhol 60s”, and his exhibitions “Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century” and “Retrospectives and Reversal Series” kicked off his 1980s work. He appeared on TV screen with his self-created cable shows, “Andy Warhol’s TV” and “Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes”, for MTV. In the years leading to his death, Warhol's paintings included “The Last Suppers”, “Rorschachs” and “Ads”, which is considered to be his return to Pop.

Nearly 20 years before Warhol died, he was shot in his studio, which was known as the Factory. In 1968, Valerie Solanis, the founder and sole member of SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men) shot and nearly killed the artist. Warhol died February 22, 1987 after a routine gall bladder surgery. 

In 1994, the Andy Warhol Museum opened in his hometown of Pittsburgh. Warhol combined his early experiences and influences into an art form that would be called American Pop Art. His canvases have become icons of twentieth century modern art and have been much imitated, to the extent of bathos (presuming they started higher than that – if you are not admirer of Warhol’s art). The painting illustrated above is in the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart (Museum for Contemporary Art) in Berlin. Andy Warhol’s large “Mao” (1973) is one of the iconic trademarks of the museum.

A DAY AT MONTSALVAT

“There is no surer method of evading the world than by following Art, and no surer method of linking oneself to it than by Art.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

We had a wonderful Autumn day today with bright sunshine and a crisp morning that matured into a warm afternoon. We made the most of the last day of the Easter holidays by driving to Eltham and visiting “Montsalvat”, a wonderful place we hadn’t been to for quite some years. The place is still beautiful and there have been some renovations and refurbishments, however, it was good to see s few artists still in residence. Nevertheless, one can see that it is now more of a function centre and has several formal exhibition spaces where art is shown regularly rather than a true artists’ colony.

Montsalvat was originally established as a true artists’ colony in over 12 acres situated in Eltham, an outer suburb of Melbourne Australia. It was founded by architect and artist Justus Jörgensen (1893-1975) in 1934. It is home to a small hamlet of various buildings, houses and halls set amongst extensive established gardens. The colony of Montsalvat reflects very much the life of Justus Jörgensen and his friends and family. Its buildings and gardens are now very much a part of the history, art and culture of Melbourne. Architecturally, Montsalvat has much in common with a simple French village in Provence revealing a mix of rustic architectural styles.

The name Montsalvat is met with in both German and English mythology. In the German opera “Parsifal”, by Richard Wagner, Montsalvat is the castle, built by Titurel, where the Holy Grail is protected. In the English legend of “King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table”, Montsalvat is mentioned as the home of the Holy Grail. Jörgensen obviously drew on this lore and legend for his inspiration and his grandiose plans are nowhere more apparent than in his “Grand Hall” and adjoining buildings. This is built in the style of a mediaeval manor, and by all accounts Jörgensen ran Montsalvat as a feudal estate in which he ruled as an autocrat. This caused a few of the artists that were initially attracted there to leave forthwith.

All of the buildings on the site were designed and built by residents with locally available materials, such as stone, timber and brick, from various sources. The Great Hall offers an extensive range of spaces from extravagant halls and vast exhibition spaces, to small corridors, little rooms, secret alcoves, mezzanine floors and tiny balconies overlooking the gardens. The grounds and buildings of Montsalvat are now mostly used for exhibitions, performances, conferences, seminars, weddings and receptions. However, a handful of craftspeople and artists (such as Luthiers, Jewellers, Painters, Sculptors and a Writer) continue to reside in Montsalvat. Several classes on various disciplines of art are offered year round by the resident artists. There are small shops that sell the works of these artists and there is also a small gallery housing an exhibition of the work of resident artists.

We had a wonderful day, wandering through the grounds, gardens, buildings and chapel. We admired the paintings in several exhibitions, saw some of the craftspeople and artists at work, conversed with some of the residents and generally enjoyed the atmosphere and the milieu. Montsalvat is certainly one of the jewels in Melbourne’s touristic crown, but most of the people we met there were in fact locals. Whatever the case may be, Australia is still very far away from everywhere and hence off the beaten tourist path.

See more of my photographs of Montsalvat here.

ART SUNDAY - WORLD MUSEUM DAY

“Shouldn't a great museum foster serious seeing before all else?” - Mark Stevens

International Museum Day is celebrated every year around the world on the 18th of May. Quite apt today for Art Sunday! International Museum Day has been celebrated since 1977. Each year, a theme is decided on by the Advisory Committee. This year the theme is "Museums as agents of social change and development". The celebration provides the opportunity for museum professionals to meet the public and alert them to the challenges that museums face if they are to be (as in the International Council of Museums definition of a museum) "an institution in the service of society and of its development".

Many events are organised on this day in more than 45 countries around the world, in the spirit of the motto: “Museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, co-operation and peace among peoples”. Museums, by definition, exist to serve society & its development. Museums can stay open 24 hours a day, offer free entry, and create new areas for social gatherings and events with community organisations and associations in light of this year’s theme for an all night debate on social change & development. For example, see what France is doing this year.

Most people think of a museum as a building in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited. The word in English was used from the early 17th century, and taken directly from the Greek where the word was used to denote a university building, specifically one erected at Alexandria by Ptolemy Soter. In Greek, “Μουσείον” (mouseion = ‘seat of the Muses),’ based on “Μούσα” (mousa = ‘muse’). The most famous museums around the world are to be found here. Here is a site with links to many famous museums in the USA. If you desire an even more inclusive list of world museums, go to his link.

Here in Melbourne, we are lucky as there are several museums and galleries, a couple of them world class! There is the Museum of Victoria, the Immigration Museum, the Ian Potter Centre, the Heide Museum of Modern Art, and the jewel in the crown the National Gallery of Victoria. As well as that we have several more and many small galleries and art spaces, justifying Melbourne’s pre-eminent position as the cultural capital of Australia.
Enjoy your Museum Day!

ILLUMINATED FLORAL MANUSCRIPTS

“I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.” - Emma Goldman

It is Autumn in Melbourne and we are experiencing some wild weather, alternating with calm mild, sunny days. Yesterday we had high winds, reaching speeds of 130 km/hr and in the evening welcome rain. However, there were three casualties yesterday that the wild weather claimed. Three people lost their lives. A woman buried under a collapsing wall in a laneway, a man killed in a building site, and tragically an electric company linesman who was electrocuted while trying to restore electricity by repairing damaged lines.

Today it was cool but sunny. The leaves have started to shed from the trees and the chrysanthemums have started to bloom. Autumn is a beautiful season although it is usually more agreeable and milder. Climate change is an indisputable reality and the unpredictable nature of the weather is something we are beginning to get used to. I dare say things will get worse as the years go by. At my new job we have a “Greening the Campus” committee and we are looking at more and more ways of becoming more energy efficient, promoting recycling, cutting down waste, using environmentally-friendly products and inculcating into the staff and students a green culture and modified behaviour that is environmentally aware. Many little things carried out by many individuals add up to a lot on a worldwide scale.

Autumn is also the time of the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. This is a world-renowned event that is held in one of our oldest and most beautiful parks in the middle of the city, the Carlton Gardens and the adjacent, elaborately ornate Victorian landmark, the Royal Exhibition Building. The Flower is show is rated to be amongst the 5 best such events in the world and runs between the 2nd and 6th of April.

The show features floral displays both native and exotic, cut flowers and potted specimens, garden ideas, new products, award-winning landscape design, water-saving ideas, and numerous exhibitors from the garden and floristry industries. This event is always popular, despite the progressively rising admission prices. I walked by there today on my way to an appointment at St Vincent’s Hospital and I overheard two pensioners talking to each other outside the show, complaining bitterly about the high price (even though they were paying a concessional rate).

Another show that I am even more keen about is the exhibition of illuminated manuscripts at our State Library. This is another very fine Victorian Building situated on one of the main thoroughfares of our city with a magnificent dome and impressive façade. It has recently been renovated and is simply stunning. Definitely a place to visit if you are planning to stop by Melbourne in your travels. The State Library houses a fine collection of books, but also has several exhibition areas in which are housed both permanent and temporary exhibitions.

The free exhibition is called “The Medieval Imagination” and features illuminated manuscripts from Cambridge (UK), Australia and New Zealand. It runs from the 28th of March until the 15th June 2008. If you are a Melbournite you have no excuse for not seeing this magnificent exhibition and if you are planning to visit our City soon, put it in your travel diary.

Which brings me to the word of the day:

manuscript |ˈmanyəˌskript| noun
A book, document, or piece of music written by hand rather than typed or printed: An illuminated manuscript.
• An author's text that has not yet been published: Preparing the final manuscript | Her autobiography remained in manuscript.
ORIGIN late 16th century: from medieval Latin manuscriptus, from manu ‘by hand’ + scriptus ‘written’ (past participle of scribere).

Incidentally, did you know that if you interest yourself actively in cultural activities, your immune response is raised significantly? Going to exhibitions and museums means you get sick less often, how’s that?