Reviews #4
Featuring a friend's exhibition and the hellmonsterManosphere.
16th - 22nd March. The most busy week of my life. It is a miracle if I have managed to publish this on time (I have not). I taught huge Pilates classes, worked at an Autonomous Vehicles summit, made invoices, tried to build a website, asked several people for jobs and made lamb stew. My throat threatened tonsillitis as I reached new, impressively high levels of stress.
But, I got to walk over Westminster bridge as Big Ben chimed that it was 7am and watch the sunrise over the Thames. I also got to realise that I am a bit more capable than I had thought I was a day, or a week, or a month before. I also got to realise that I will return to avoiding the corporate world with all my might, as I have done my whole life.
An announcement: I am going to be posting these reviews bi-weekly (every second week, not twice a week) going forward. It has been a delicious adrenaline rush getting them out weekly, but one that was starting to resemble homework. Writing has to remain inextricably linked to joy for me - otherwise I will not do it. Enjoy.
Contents:
Katie King Moon Witual
Mino Pottery Painting and Cafe
Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere
Moon Witual by Katie King
Category: exhibition. Rating: 10/10 (I am bias). Attended: Saturday afternoon. Attire: thrifted leather coat matching thrifted leather boots. Cost: free. Vibe: magical, cool, intimate. My mood: inspired, excited, increasingly tipsy. Where: Hackney, London.
When I first moved to London and was freshly inspired, I was at an after party in a sound-proofed recording studio in East London with a bunch of cool people. It was almost morning and one of the guys there said, “my God, you and my ex would get along so well, here’s her number”. I saw that her name was ‘Katie’ spelt exactly the same as my best friend in South Africa. So, I messaged her then and there to tell her that I had been told that we were to be friends and she responded in a friendly way and over the next four years - till this day - we have been friends.
When my laptop was stolen recently, with my un-backed-up book on it, Katie sold me hers for basically nothing and said, “write!” - so on here I now write. She is a woman artist who I have immense respect for and who I get very excited to creatively brainstorm with, whenever the chance arises. She cocks her head to one side, narrows her eyes and looks at life with witchy fascination. She is kind, funny, and doesn’t miss a beat. Years ago, we went to a documentary screening and heated embarrassment spread up my cheeks as Katie, my guest, typed on her phone next to me. After a moment I noticed that she wasn’t texting and scrolling - she was writing down notes and quotes. I felt proud to be her friend.
Perhaps my bias should get in the way of my doing this review, but it’s my world and I am living in it. Like with everything, my experience of the exhibition is different to King’s intention for it and is different to all the other viewer’s experiences of it and also the black and white spaniel who attended’s experience of it. King did the homework I set her and sent an explanation of the concepts going on behind this conceptual, sometimes interactive, mixed medium show and my favourite quote in these voice notes is when she pauses and then says sincerely, “cause you know, I often worry about the moon”. I found this as relatable as I did surprising.
The witual involved us each bringing a piece of white thread or ribbon to gift as an offering to the moon. I needed extra luck from the moon (financially) and so brought a special Japanese ribbon, hoping that She (the moon) might be seduced by my effort. Is the moon a capitalist? Probably. In the first room is a TV playing a film which incapsulates the meanings of the show, and a few artworks that showcase King’s classic materials, delicious silk and embroidery. After that, one enters the room one at a time, walking clockwise - they check in on a timesheet as if to work - pause to say hello to the moon, and then stop at a mesmerising thing. The instruction next to it says, “think of something bitter and cut or think of something sweet and make three stitches.”
What you glimpse as I pan the camera with my shaky left hand (I had placed my glass of free posh wine on the floor at least), is the explosion. The moon as a ticking time bomb to denote the major lunar standstills that have been simultaneous to world wars of the past. After stitching (with a million sweet things rushing through my mind), you meet the ladder where you hang your devotion. This felt intimate and private and important. I made wishes and prayers to the moon in the secret depths of my mind with one eye over my shoulder should anyone hear them.
Toward the end of the PV, someone had gone a’wandering through the artwork’s explosion, marching black footprints all over the place and even into the loo. This felt like a metaphor for man and their need to go a’wandering all over the moon with their music and all their rubbish. Call me a sicko but my favourite piece of the entire show is pictured below with a description that (like this entire review) does not do it justice. I highly recommend that you attend this show yourself so that you may give your offering to the moon before it is too late.
Mino Pottery Painting and Cafe
Category: pottery painting cafe and bar. Rating: 8/10. Attended: Friday afternoon. Attire: comfy clothes. Cost: £45. Vibe: calm, clean, incredibly catchy playlist. My mood: tired, content, relaxed. Where: Herne hill, London.
It was our three-year anniversary which is important because that is an incredibly long time, especially for someone like me, who thought she would end up the cool, single aunt with tiny hotel bottles of booze and leopard print heels. I can still be her and be loved! Anyway, a month before the anniverasary, I had gasped to my boyfriend, “ooooh babe, look!!! There’s a new pottery painting cafe in Herne hill! We HAVE to go!!” as we went past on the bus. He had grunted a response at the time, and now surprised me with a booking for it. I surprised him with a booking for a How To Power Tools workshop but that is another story.
We went on a Friday at 3pm which is a magical time in the world - it is the moment we would be released from the school gates and onto the weekend, a time when all the adults are still at work, a time that is crisp with possibility. The park on the way was empty except for hot moms and cute babies wrapped in sheep skin. Mino is new and smells of paint and popcorn, Bowie was singing from the speakers. The girls who work there were all about 20 years younger than us which would have been impossible considering they serve alcohol but - they were very young, very beautiful and very cool. We were explained the painting process by an exquisite 12 year old whose eyes might have been two different colours, she became shy probably because my boyfriend is so hot and then I became shy because I had been staring intensely into her eyes, trying to work out their shade. It was all rather confusing.
