Tag: Festivals
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Day of the Dead
Local characters Day of the Dead is the Mexican holiday that brings people together to remember those that have passed away. Rather more celebratory and stylish in nature than our own Halloween, it is a firm fixture on San Francisco’s calendar; particularly in the southern Mission district, traditionally home to San Francisco’s Latino population.
A procession makes its way through the streets of the neighbourhood, and people go to great lengths to get dressed up, paint their faces and make elaborate shrines; either mobile or immobile. It’s a sight to behold: you can really see where Tim Burton gets his inspiration from for his animated films.
As I spend time in this city, it’s nice to discover local events that feel really ancient. This is a ‘new’ city with many transient residents, and it made me realise how much I miss the festivals or events that happen in Europe or Asia that have been happening since time immemorial; things like Guy Fawkes night, where it is not even a question if you participate – it’s woven into the fabric of the country.
I missed Day of the Dead when I was in Mexico by a few weeks, back in 2004, so I was really pleased to see it this time round. Next year I dress up!
Dancers perform at the four intersections of the route; Mayan culture fusing with western religion before your very eyes. 
Flamboyant dancers. 
An extraordinarily well art-directed event, without any art direction. 
Vantage points 
Some people slightly less entertained – but the event went off peacefully. 
Crowds of people with their own models followed behind. 
Local celebrities 
The destination on the route is in Garfield Park, with the Festival of Altars. People spend the day setting up little shrines to loved ones, family members, or even pets. -
New York New York
Taking advantage of the extended Memorial Day weekend, I tacked on an extra day and winged it away from the West Coast for a weekend in New York City. What a place; I had visited in my early twenties, but it makes a major difference when you have local friends to visit and, crucially, a credit card.
First impression: the people are far more friendly and polite than I realised. Ticket collectors forgave my mistakes on the trains, strangers waved me towards the correct subway stop, people held doors open for me and random acts of kindness and humour caught me off-guard. The combination of awe-inspiring vertical scale, surprisingly large horizontal distances needed to traverse the place and warped sense of horizon and perspective, combined with these little bits of humane magic, make for an addictive combination.
I managed to spend a solid chunk of time with some great people. Yes, people, I have New York friends; Mia and Brian of San Francisco fame, and then Matt Landman, who I know through Ken in Taiwan, and had only ever met once in an evening of insane metal and rock.
Highlights: getting caught on the ferry in the rain and walking up Manhattan using the freeways as shelter, an evening on top of ’30 Rock’ – The Rockefeller Center, and wandering through Brooklyn, fire hydrants opened up to drench the local kids with cooling water. Did I mention how hot the weather was?
Since New York is about half way back to London (insane, no?), I can imagine I will be back here soon.
View from Brian's apartment to the streets below 
Brian displaying his perma-Sartorialist.com abilities 
The sense of perspective in this space is wonderfully warped 
Standard issue taxi cab shot 
New York feels simultaneously more American, and European at the same time, compared to San Francisco 
V22 Osprey Tiltrotor Crazycopters were circling Manhattan for the whole time – I thought they had been decommissioned for safety reasons 
Modesty (Instagram) 
Sheltering from the rain (Instagram) 
Brunch at Freemans … and as it turns out the same chain as where I get my hair cut in SF 
The skyline – never anything less than amazing 
Williamsburg – hipster central. I swear I did not pose this shot. Ridiculous. 
5th Avenue 
I was obsessed with what people were wearing; so much more stylish than San Francisco or Taipei 
Public artwork more common than in California 
41 Cooper Square – by Thom Mayne 
Shadows of Train Tracks 
Catching up with Mr. Matt Landman 
Mia rocks the graf 
Delighted to see fire hydrants opened up everywhere in Brooklyn for impromptu street parties – I thought this only happened in the movies. I was expecting the Sesame Street cast to walk past at any moment. -
Thanksgiving on Stinson Beach
Given how diligently commercialised the rest of the holidays in America have become, it comes as a pleasant surprise just how innocent and positive Thanksgiving is. Gather with friends and family, eat a little too much, drink until tipsy, and in the case of about thirty other Californians, head to the beach to throw a ball around and enjoy the Autumn sunset.
In that spirit (forgive me if I am getting a little too Californian here), I could not be where I am right now without the love and support of some great family and friends. I am an extremely lucky guy!
Thankyou.
Little Miss Sunshine 
Reminds me of a summer with the Scottish guys in Lacaneux 
Watercolours 
Running home in time for dinner -
Würzburg
It’s been a while since I met Robbie, my flatmate and one of my best friends while at university in Glasgow. We actually managed to link up in Kyoto, while he was at a neuroscience conference (it’s not exactly brain surgery), but this was the first time I have managed to visit his grown-up home (not counting the family home in Göttingen).
Driving up from Konstanz to the northern tip of Bavaria, Wurzburg finds itself in the wine-growing region of the country. I can confirm this to be a fact, as each time we crossed the bridge from one side of the town to the other, we had a glass of wine. It was like some kind of adolescent fairy-tale.
Coinciding with Halloween, we went to one of Robbie’s PHD student’s party, and won second prize for dressing up as a pair of spectacles; photos on the way!
Wine routine 
Crossing the bridge was always enjoyable! 
… others agree. 
Sky, reflected 
A very pretty Roman university town; much like Cambridge I suppose. 
The tower in the castle, where they would throw prisoners in the top, they would fall to the bottom, and if they were lucky they had the opportunity to moan and scream, warning others to avoid their misdemeanours.. 
It's amazing how much mess a single tree can make. 
Robbie preparing his costume. -
Lipstick on a Pig – Taipei Floral Expo 2011
I had deep reservations with the Taipei Flora Expo, even before getting the tickets.
China gets the Olympics; Taiwan gets the Deaflympics and World Games. Shanghai gets the World Expo; Taipei makes a ‘Flora Expo’ for itself. I don’t see anything more than a cynical distraction from real issues, and a vote-grabbing exercise; ‘lipstick on a pig’. Rather than actually fixing the environmental, architectural and pollution problems of Taipei, just put on a 400 million US$ flower show. And then tell the people in Taiwan it’s an ‘international’ event.
Despite the claims of corruption and environmental destruction, vast queues have regularly formed both inside and outside the event for the last few months. So, instead of just sitting in my apartment all cynical, I popped along with Yuyin to check it out.
Welcome, one and all!
The exterior of the Future Pavilion
… the outside, formed from recycled plastics, is likely to stick around after the event.
Yuyin, and the best colour of leather ever.
The Taiwan Pavilion (joking, joking!) … although wouldn’t it be cool if it was; I think the government takes itself too seriously for that to ever happen.
Roof detail of the Taiwan pavilion. Made from basket-like materials, for some reason.
Some level of coherence in the public building structures …
… reflected in the details of the drainage. Rather nice, I thought.
Different varieties of plants on display.
I think I actually want to make a clock, after seeing these fake clocks made from security mirrors
I think it’s great that Taiwan is making an effort to become progressive, innovative and ‘green’, but I think there are more authentic, effective ways than this. Let’s hope there is at least some legacy.
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HK NYE 2011
A bit late in the writing, but who cares – this year was another HK mission to seek out the new year in style. Flying back from the UK, I popped my head round the door for about 18 hours, before heading back to Taiwan. Lots of fun!
We chose the rather amazing Magnolia as our scene for pre-NYE eating and drinking … BYOB. Cajun food. Great company, insane amounts of food.
Watching the chefs prepare the meal from our ring-side seats.
Insane amounts of meat.
Delicious … but it didn’t stop coming. This mac and cheese probably would have fed us all on its own.
Edgar doing his very best Budda impression.
Obligatory photos of HK neon.
At the Bloomberg studios to watch the fireworks from between the HSBC and China Bank buildings. The prime vantage point … or so we thought.
Pretty cool Bloomberg kit everywhere.
Screens all blank.
My camera lens chose an excellent time to fail … but frankly we couldn’t see anything, since we were actually INSIDE the fireworks display; it was all off the buildings essentially above us.
T-plus five minutes, four seconds … looks rather like the beamer from Tron, don’t you think?
… and if you want to watch the fireworks from Kowloon … we are in the building with the rainbows on it, on the right side!
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Taipei Biennial 2010
Misgivings about the limited arts scene in Taiwan always evaporate when the Biennial sets up shop; the curators are clearly highly adept at collecting a thought-provoking selection of work. This year’s, while seemingly smaller than in the past, none-the-less tackled some spicy political subjects, not least directly criticising the Flora Expo being held on its doorstep. It didn’t pull any punches in illustrating the number of trees killed as a result of the construction work outside. Anyway, some quick images:
Building site for the Flora Expo next to the Art Museum.
Preparation for the Flora expo proceeding as planned.
Aggressive wall murals at the Biennial
Map of the damaged or destroyed trees that made way for the Floral Expo.
When I walked past this on the way in, I just thought it was a Bali-style bust of a religious figure. Coming out of the exhibition, I was pleasantly surprised to see a stack of Yellow Pages! It’s these little surprises that I appreciate, even if they are slightly gimmicky.
This room had a set of rotating discs, and alternated having lights on or off, creating shadows and glowing … impossible to sum up in a photo. Anyway.
I was extremely taken with this infinite picture frame.
Double hat. Tres chic.
Hanging at an angle.
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Zhouzhuang – Water Town
After several years of trying (admittedly, probably not trying hard enough), I finally made it to one of the ‘Water Towns’ in the Jiangsu province, near to Shanghai. The whole country had come to a stop to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, which I understand indirectly commemorates overthrow of Mongol rule (although I have never quite understood the full background of the story).
Zhouzhuang is proudly titled ‘Venice of the East’, though it should be noted that along with nearby Tongli, Wuzhen and Zhujiajiao, seventeen places also make the same claim. According to Wikipedia, seven places also call themselves Paris of the East, but since Casablanca is actually further west, I don’t think these claims hold much water.
The massive expanses of coastal plain around Kunshan and Shanghai are perfect for mega-scale manufacturing sites, but you can forget escaping it with the same ease that one can in Hong Kong or Taipei; places like this are normally bulldozed to make way for factories, well, making parts for computers. So, while the weather was suffering as a result of a Typhoon hitting Taiwan, and there were a couple too many tour groups led by leaders with loudhailers and flags, it made for a thoroughly pleasant break from the grind of factory visits and sitting in offices waiting for parts to be spat out of a machine.
A girl poses beside one of the bridges.
While the towns are increasingly pure tourist centres, some people are evidently still going about their daily business, and there are still signs that people still live there.
One of several temples in the town – the number of temples and religious establishments here are dramatically less than in Taiwan; indeed, one Chinese person quipped to me ‘Taiwan has too much religion. And too many dogs.”
Falling in line with my Rules of Graphics Design: there is no logo that cannot be improved with lightening bolts.
Mirror evidence I think of some subtle Fengshui at work.
Boats on the river ply their trade (of tourists).
Hide-out.
Back garden.
My obsession with shooting windows and doors continues.
Toys on display on the street.
Modification of the roofs for modern conveniences.
Super shapes.
Laid out bare.
I watched for a while this mysterious hand sell traditional toys on the street.
This shop, as far as I can tell, sells round things.
I got a serious earful from the lady on the left before, during and after taking this photo.
Ladies wot lunch.
Monkeying around.
Portraits of eminent leaders … but can you spot some of the others in the background? …
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Expo Shanghai
“China, meet World. World, meet China.”
It’s statement is pretty clear.
World Fairs and Expositions are a chance for the nations of the world to trade ideas and peddle their cultural and industrial wares. This year’s show, held in an emergent and increasingly confident Shanghai, seems to be less for the benefit of the global community, and rather a chance for the people of China to experience the world they are set to inherit.
If the future is reflected between the pavilions and edifices, it is one full of Chinese people. Over 52 million people have visited the fair thus far, and even though I chose a quiet Tuesday evening to attend, queues stretched around the (futurist) block. After seeing the line-up for the British pavilion stretch past the two-hour marker, and similarly long lines for the other ‘blue chip’ countries, I decided not to enter any pavilions at all. Nope – if someone asks me which countries I visited, I am not about to say ‘Belgium and The Philippines’; I would simply prefer to spend more time walking around and taking it all in.
So, starting roughly in the middle with Europe (America is comically marginalised at the absolute extreme far end of the site), I began my international stroll. The British pavilion, designed by Thomas Heatherwick, was a triumph; and possibly even more dramatic than the huge, Blade Runner-esque Chinese building. People gawped (me included) at the explosion of rods, seemly frozen in time and hanging in mid-air, as if smoke. Rounding it a couple of times, it was interesting to compare it to some of the adjacent sites which were lighter on drama and heavier on content. Italy and Spain both seemed to be far more full of actual things to look at and do, and others were at least packed with restaurants; most of the Norway site was filled with its Salmon restaurant, and Belgium even featured a chip van parked out the front (I do admit to stopping their for a refuel).
Rule Britannia … one thing I like about the design, is that it seems to accidentally mimic the Union flag. What can I say – I guess it felt good to see the flag flying in front.
Amorphous shape.
On the fence.
What must they think?
Subtle commercial activities.
Other blatant political messages dotted the site. The aforementioned Taiwanese pavilion, themed like a sky lantern, was placed within arms reach of China, only slightly further away than Macao and Hong Kong. And much like America, Japan was placed at the absolute far end of the site, keeping Kazakhstan and Vietnam company. Meanwhile, Koreas North and South were separated by the major walkway linking the site together. Laying out the plots must have been akin to organising a wedding banquet.
Click to see who is on China’s Christmas card list this year.
Plenty of eco-ness pervaded the event, but you can’t help but wonder about the amount of energy used to transform the site, and ferry the legions of people in. While pavilions such as New Zealand made proud boasts about the amount of energy they were using, others (notably Taiwan) seemed to take it upon themselves to fuel those solar panels through the night with an wanton display of LED-showmanship. 2010 is clearly the coming-out party for the humble LED as an architectural element.
And just as my feet were beginning to get tired, it suddenly struck me what the whole thing felt like. It was like visiting a showroom for domestic and international airports, all clustered together in one site. Without the airplanes, of course, but still with the faint feeling that you were just about to pick up your luggage.
I actually attended the Hanover Expo, ten years previously, and I think I was left with the same impression; numbness. Disney without the rides. Airports without planes. Experience, but without the understanding.
Yep – even the UN gets their own pavilion.
Spain’s was huge, and covered in door mats.
People really enjoyed the fashion show outside Germany’s building.
The Greek pavilion.
Some areas of the world made more effort than others.
The show, of course, was not really for international visitors; it was for the legions of Chinese, coming in from other cities and towns; it was amazing to see the variety of faces, and equally humbling to think about the reactions that they would be having to some of the more ‘challenging’ pavilions (like the UK), when they probably would have been perfectly happy with a fake castle.
A light show from Taiwan… looking up to big brother on the other side of the walkway.
Let’s hope your next project isn’t, well, Taiwan.
