&
N /\ l
\,' /‘ \
4 the architects who designed lidinburgh's l’layfair Link. should be seen. It currently hosts to Michael Landy 's life si/e reconstruction of a semi—detached house.
l"or a change of pace take to the Thames. Boats leave every 40 minutes from just opposite the main entrance and link to Tate Modern for just £2.30 with a day 'l'ravelcard. This takes you past the llottses of Parliament and the London Eye (where you can dock) and round to the old power station. If you do get off at the liye. do visit the Saatchi Collection —- a much—derided homage to YBAs »— and stroll along the skateboarder-friendly o0s brutalism of the South Bank.
It‘s hard to imagine an old industrial riverside without a converted art space now. But the buidling occupied by Tate Modern was desolate for almost 20 years after having run as an oil-fired power station for only In. The impact of this transformation is most powerful in the Turbine llall. Bruce Nauman is the latest to add his voice to the space - or 22 voices. to he precise. What he‘s described as ‘sound bands~ streak across the hall so that you walk in and out of voices taken from his past work. Bruee Nutmtun —- Raw ilrluleriu/s runs until March 2005). You can buy food and drink upstairs overlooking St Paul‘s and a whole swathe of north London. Here. you can also look down on the wobbly bridge. Norman Foster‘s 'blade of light‘ which isn‘t half as much fun now that its undulations have been damped down. And here you can see London's great geographical feature. the source of its north-south
TRAVEL
i‘ l \ i \ ‘ Y
r y ‘l. _. ir— _ i a r -. KY . r t l r 'V ’ r T r i ( r _ x. r- r— we ‘r ’ t I t , " ’ r T F f x r I " f f‘ k. x ’ ’ ’ ’ x I A I I ’ r ’ A“
Design is everywhere in London, from the new roof at the British Museum to the collection at the
V&A in South Kensington
divide: the murderous. tidal Thames.
And onto the last stretch. Don't worry; more tucker is on the hori/on. Walk across the Millennium Bridge and get on the tube at Blackfriars. Take it east to Aldgate and walk tip Whitechapel High Street. Along the street is the famous Blind Beggar pub. where in Non Ronnie Kray walked in and shot gangland rival George (‘ornell
for calling him a ‘fat pool”. But if
you don‘t want to risk it. turn left onto ()sborn Street which turns into Brick Lane. known as 'Bangla Town‘. and get yourself a curry. In the heart of London‘s Bengali community there are cheap curry houses galore. each trying to tempt you in with special menus and good prices. After all that culture. you‘ll be hungry. (iet stuck in.
Eastern blocks
As the cornerstone for some of London‘s most interesting history, the East End is ready to come of age. Tim Abrahams investigates.
n The liH/(‘pt’llt/UIH in NUS. you would have found the following instruction on how to tind the New Spirit of the liast: ‘Work your way into the hidden side streets and you‘ll discover Hoxton Square » the heart of a new artistic community that is making its way
toward being the (‘amden Town of east London.‘ Thus did the home of
Britart inveigle its way into the national consciousness. lloxton attracted artists not because it was hard to find btit because of the consequent low cost of its property. liven now it‘s an awkward place. ill served by tube and full of mean buildings. .\'o chiipy' (‘ockneys bom hugger mugger to the sound of Bow Bells here.
Its isolation gave it a sense of
community. But when Jay Jopling opened the second White Cube in 2000 rents went tip and the artists had to move out. lloxton Square now has an atmosphere akin to the King’s Road. The artists have headed further east to Hackney Wick: the clubbers have gone south of the river.
lloxton is only the first sign of what will happen to the whole of
east London. if the Olympics come in 2012. At the end of September. the London Development Agency launched a massive campaign to lure tourists to the east. Tourists have been coming here for a long time. of course. The Painted Hall in the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich is one of the most beautiful rooms in the whole of London. And the Royal Observatory is there too.
In fact. if the Dome hadn‘t been so rubbish. the authorities wouldn‘t need publicity campaigns. It would have acted as a further draw so
.‘l'ho clock at Qr'o'enwich
. *T- WMatory
people could stand on the Greenwich Pier and realise that Canary Wharf is rather impressive when you see it rise from the stunning lowness of the architecture in this area. .\'or is the relationship between the White (‘ube 2 and its locale the best example of the last lind engaging with art. The Whitechapel Art Gallery has brougltt an to the people of the liast lind since l‘)0l. It is also a fantastic gallery with great exhibitions. The current crop of utopian proposals by draughtsman l’aul Noble are eerie and. because they reproduce badly in magazines. stubbornly uncool.
N0 CHIRPY COCKNEYS BORN HUGGER MUGGER TO THE SOUND OF BOW BELLS HERE
It‘s not simply the working Class traditions of the liast lind that give it grit. although that helps. There is still an atmosphere of endurance to Cable Street today. where in October W36 trade union groups gave Moseley's Black Shirts at doing and in Wapping further south. you can still find the same atmosphere that Hitchcock created in The Man Who Knew Too Much. The traditions of the east have been preserved by waves of immigration. In Hackney Wick where the old dog track used to be. you can find stalls piled high with absolutely anything. manned by people from absolutely everywhere. lt'll become a stadium for basketball if the Olympics come.