Art in the Arctic

Last night I watched the BBC 2 programme on the capefarewell project. I absolutely loved it. They sent a boat load of artists to Spitsbergen island in the Acrtic, and gave them free rein to interpret the place. The film followed their efforts. The piece I liked the most was the guy who projected pieces of poetry about the Arctic directly on to the massive walls of a glacier. I also liked the piece where they made a "lens" from a slab of glacial ice and photographed the sun coming through it, and the effects of flashlight through it at night.

But the sound artist was fascinating, he recorded the whip of the wind in ropes, long coiled skipping ropes, and the haunting sound of seals "talking" to each other under the icy water. They all said that the place was unique and that it was hard to interpret as one loses all sense of space and perspective.

Just a brilliant programme. Shame none of the exhibitions are coming north of the border, looks like it had English Art Council funding.

Marilyn Monroe would have been 80 today. The radio is doing one of these pointless "what if?" type things. Bet they do it again in 2016 and the biggy will be in 2026. I wonder if Joe's flowers still get delivered? There, I'm doing it too....