The Engine

JOHN BALDESSARI AT THE TATE MODERN  This exhibition represents a retrospective of the work of Italian-American conceptual artist John Baldessari (1931- ). Baldessari was interested in a whole series of developments in his own work, including (in chronological order) pop art (yes and isn't that somehow tautological, a terminological incongruence, pop and art being mutually exclusive opposites. Perhaps another name for pop art is American Imperialism, offering the harsh pill Empire within the framework of something that is or seems to be easy, accessible, groovy, happening, with it.), abstract expressionism, graphics, design, photography, performance art, film (the artist lived close to Hollywood), photo montage.  Is Baldessari's work heartless avante-garde flummery ultimately emboldened by his successful leaps into culture: does he re-tread the wearying cliches of post-modernism just one more time, encountering and becoming a vast, empty cul de sac? Or are his structural...

Maharajah: The Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington  This is an unbelievably impressive exhibition maintaining the usual high standard of events at the V & A. India was overwhelmed by stronger neighbours, then by Western Imperialists, seeking a colony that fitted with their nostrums, that might be strategically advantageous. Even today the current war is based really on Indo-Pakistan relations representing the Islamification of east and west India (now Pakistan and Bangladesh) first brought about by the Moghuls. The Moghuls, a nation that originated in Persia but actual descendants of the Timurids, hence their homeland Moghulistan (Mongolistan). The Moghuls were essentially militaristic, even more militaristic than the native Rajputs, who seemed to have lived by a kind of Zealot ethic, preferring suicide to dishonour. They were clearly a very powerful presence until their influence waned and the British came to establish the Raj, but the words we have of 'Indian'...

Two films: The Orphanage and Let the Right One In at The Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London  Two films about abused youth, bizarre, empty canvasses filled with emotional blancmange, manipulative, bare and yet in some sense beguiling. The Orphanage (dir Juan Antonio Bayona, 2008) seems to me to be more of the usual politically correct tripe that Spain is capable of, mixing gore, sentiment, emotional manipulation, spurious anti-fascism and not a lot of blood in the manner of Guilermo Del Torros even though this film isn't quite up to his usual high standards (unsurprisingly he happens to be executive producer of The Orphanage ). The orphanage is a place where unloved children are placed, usually to be abused (who wrote this script?) and some of those children turn up later thanks to a passing expert on the paranormal. The Paranormal, Catholic Spain viewed through a modern day agnostic filter and lugubrious long shots of the gloomy orphanage, tripe about kids murdered in th...

Battersea Ironsides Sunday A versus Fawe Park CC, Sunday 14th June Hi, sorry about gestern. After the game on Sunday I stiffened up overnight, but I think the real problem is being overweight and putting too much pressure on the knee and ankle joints. Sunday was an amazing day, playing Fawe Park CC, a club at least 3 notches above us. They batted first and made 202 off 40 overs. Then we batted and made just 85. Five of the guys made ducks and I made just 4, a late cut boundary, typical openers shot, but stuck around for 5 or so overs with my partner, a Pakistani batsman called Walleed who made just 8. Eventually one popped up on me and bounced up off the splice then a good catch by one of their fielders. Then the captain Neil O'Brien made8, superbly caught as I was, but this time by the slip. An Australian batsman came in and made 43, he looked an aggressive hitter. The other opener made a duck (0) and 4 of the other guys, not showing enough determination to stick around e...

Havana Rumba, Riverside Studios, London Riverside Studios have brought over to London a group of Cuban dancers, musicians and singers but possibly at an inopportune moment given the backdrop of the economic crisis. Still this is a moment as well for the press since it was brought over too to the Riverside Studios en masse last night clearly to support this premiere. The production was a typical Riverside Studios effort, with aspects of competence unsupported crucially by the choreography, for instance, and then by unfortunate bleeps and blarts emitted by the PA system. Of course the production was corny, but it was meant to be and perhaps some of the more embarrassing moments, such as the knife throwing, might have been deleted. But overall this was a tremendous fun event and I don't wish to be too critical, since it was intense and enjoyable, well worth seeing, supporting and the performers deserve to be supported as well. Paul Murphy

ANDREA PALLADIO at the ROYAL ACADEMY  The new exhibition at the Royal Academy is a modern look at the work of Andrea Palladio (1508-1580).  I had heard that Palladio’s architectural concepts were musical in inspiration, but I didn't see much of that beyond his understanding of proportion, the rule of thirds, incredible symmetry, his understanding of the rules of classical perspective and the perspective used in Renaissance Italy, his contemporary world. Many of his drawings are haphazard sketches clearly made on the job, while some drawings are incredibly sophisticated, many drawn by his son, who clearly had a big hand in the advertising campaigns for new designs. Palladian buildings can be found in the UK, where they influenced the dramatist and architect Vanbrugh amongst many others.  There are also examples in Russia, in America.  In fact they have been imitated everywhere and are an important single basis for modern architecture.  The emphasis of the ...

MAGNIFENCE OF THE TSARS, VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, SOUTH KENSINGTON, LONDON The new exhibition at the V & A is 'Magnificence of the Tsars', an exhibition that glories in the opulence and decadence of the Tsars, with little mention of the rest. By 'the rest' I mean the rest of society including nobles, aristocrats, boyars, civil servants, merchants, lawyers, doctors, lecturers, teachers. None of them are mentioned in the exhibition, apart from exhibitions of the cloths of servants such as Heralds and Postillions. The Russian ruling elite was very narrow indeed compared to those in Western Europe, sharing few of their extensive luxuries and comforts, who would ultimately enact a chilling revenge but firstly replacing then deposing the Tsars in their year of destiny, 1917.  Most of the garments on show here were gathered from France and other Western European countries. Essentially Russia had a scarcity of nascent culture and cultural traditions, the Tsars we...

In history as in nature, decay is the laboratory of life. - Karl Marx

Hi Simon, I've got a remarkable dvd of Slavoj Zizek and one about Derrida too. Zizek is the less lionised figure and comes across as remarkably accessible human being. Often he appears in bed talking to camera and he's making a tent with his hand as he vigorously masturbates. He's telling us he's alive, both in dialectical terms and in terms of pouring spumes of semen into the atmosphere. By contrast Derrida is rarely so candid. Often he's seen cooking a scrambled egg that never constitutes anything but its own, mere derision. At other times he's treated like a god, a twentieth-century man god who happens to be in a film too. The film is never so innovative as it fancies itself to be, but the Zizek film is the more recommended: from lacan dot com http://www.lacan.com http://www.lacan.com/lacan1.htm Slavoj Zizek Beckett with Lacan - part 1 http://www.lacan.com/article/?page_id=78 The achievement of Joyce simultaneously signals his limit, the limi...