The Front
' hiqhfive
The barnomadics directors, Chris Langan, Calum Lawrie and Jason Scott, put their heads together and prepare for the festive fallout with their five best hangover cures.
1 Hair of the Dog The infamous Prairie Oyster. Often talked about yet very rarely put to the test. A concoction of cognac. vinegar. Worcestershire. Tabasco. and Angostura served in a cocktail glass with an egg yolk dropped in for good measure.
2 H20 Don‘t underestimate the medicinal power of plenty of good old tap water. Doubled with a couple of Nurofen, you’re on the road to recovery.
3 lrn Bru Caffeine. sugar. and more sugar. and a couple of E numbers thrown in for added nutritional value. If this doesn‘t kick start the heart. then you're probably dead from alcohol poisoning.
4 Dean Martin Avoid hangovers. Stay drunk. Guaranteed to be effective in the short term, but I wouldn’t advise if.
5 Sleep If all else fails. Sleep. And lots of it. Rest your abused carcass and hope to hell you feel a bucket load better when you wake up.
SITE OF THE FORTNIGHT
http://vitaminq.blogspot.com
If you bought Schott's Miscellany. the Surprise publishing hit of Christmas 2002. then chances are yOu'll love Vitamin 0. Put together in the spirit of a daily weblog. it is a list-lover's paradise. a constantly-expanding cornucopia of Irma. much of which is Surprisineg engaging. And. despite the increasmgly Crowded market for such trivia. Lumsden's site is to be published as a book this year. Because the man behind the site. Roddy Lumsden. is a Bristol- based Scot. it features a pleasantly Scottish bias. There's an explanation of the Scots words found in the poetry of W.N. Herbert. ('smoorikins' ; stolen kisses: ‘crappit heids‘ :— stuffed heads of haddock). and the most deliciously inconseQuential list on the site:
TWO THINGS THAT LASTED EIGHT MINUTES: 1. The battle of Culloden.
2. The wedding ceremony of Elvis and Priscnla Presley.
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the0pnion
Art into architecture doesn's
The new Kunsthaus in Graz, with its curvy 'BIX' light- and media-facade
§ (9 E E “.1
Why do we want to treat some architects as if they’re artists? Words: Charles Holland
he I956 Hollywood epic Lust for Life represents the apogee for the image of the artist as lunatic genius. In it. Van (iogh. or Kirk Douglas to be more precise. rages at the world whilst
hurling paint at the canvas in passionate bursts of
creative energy. At one point. the door of his primitive htlt bursts open and in strides Paul Gauguin. his cape billowing behind him. ‘Van (ioghl‘. he bellows. ‘Gauguinl‘. shouts back Van (iogh. and they embrace before immediately embarking on a passionate argument about post-impressionism. They led that kind of life I gtless. Or. more truthfully. it's that kind of film.
Llislfin' Life celebrates an image of the artist as visionary. impervious to bourgeois comforts. domesticity or personal hygiene. I think it’s fair to say that in the world of contemporary art such a portrayal of artistic life might be seen as a charming load of old toss. This view. however holds a strange grip upon the popular imagination and remains a model for how architects view their artist cousins.
Architecture suffers from a kind of art envy. Frequently linked. art and architecture in fact represent opposite polarities of the creative process. If. according to Hollywood’s model. art is created alone by tormented souls in frugal accommodation. then architecture is made by teams of reliable chaps in well-lit offices. For architecture. the myth of the
lone creative genius is a powerful one. suggestive of
everything that architecture isn‘t — unfettered by planning officers. clients and other people generally. The gap between architecture and art is clouded by a misty eyed reverie where the artist is idolised for a
lack of consideration for the practical issues that supposedly bedevil our profession.
Such a profound longing for artistic purity is the product of a more pervasive counter image: that of the architect as the hopelessly compromised stooge of society. Architecture's sense of conformity creates its longing for the perceived freedoms of art. The signature architects who ply their idiosyncratic genius world-wide — (iehry. Libeskind et a] — are idolised within the architectural community for the degree to which they appear to disdain the practical in favour of a flamboyant ‘artistic' personality. The art gallery as city icon is an example of this tendency to see architecture at its most artistic when most freed from practical constraints. Joining Bilbao. ('incinatti. Venice etc. in this is (iraz. in Austria. which has just acquired a 'prestigious’ new art gallery designed by ()()s radicals Peter (‘ook and (‘olin l‘ournier. (iraz's ‘blue blob' or 'friendly alien’ is like a distorted bar of soap bristling with snout-like light scoops. It is already a recognisable emblem of its city and is a pretty strange sight. It’s also pretty hopeless as an art gallery. Mainly. this is because it has no straight walls on which to hang. like. art and sttlff. The inside is a direct and unmediated consequence of the outside and paintings have to go on plasterboard screens that sit awkwardly in the centre of its gloomy interior. It is the curious result of architecture‘s wish—fulfilment as sculpture. and the architect‘s desire to be seen as an artist. Stuck with the ‘realities' of professional life. the only escape appears to be another myth: artistic purity.
Charles Holland is a partner of FAT Architects
I I n Cindy Sherman National Gallery of Modern Art. Edinburgh until Sun 7 Mar
Cat Rush Artist
Eric Cruikshank
Pt'l/nter
Sarah Brady
Sauer.
Ben Fallon Student
'I think the flln‘ stills '| leaTl‘. ..'\(?(l it are fantastic —~ the real stand—out pieces. Some of the clown work is interesting in a t)t'tl(}$;()ll‘.(} way but I think the earlier work is ll‘.()f;l intriguing. '
‘It's yen. interest nq. l'iked the use of identity and son‘e of it's (ltlllt? disturbing. Itlldn't like the earlier stuff so llitl(:l‘. but I really ilke the (:lo'l'.'ns;
‘I prefer her film stills but I think her works deteriorate: the later work is quite sarrtey and the disguise becoming less subtle. I prefer her work '.’/llll light than to ‘.’/llll make up.’
The <1.7.'.rl:; more tltllfe i?t<:..<_;"t the t'illl‘ fSl'ilf‘» .'.ere
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6 THE LIST 89? Jan 200/.