South Bank part 2

The next day, on Easter Sunday, I went back to the Southbank. First to photograph TH.2058 on it's last day at the Tate and then to have nice food and take pictures at the Slow Food festival. Then to the Hayward gallery before sitting on a bench with a nice hot chocolate watching the sun set, the Thames flow by and masses of people stroll about and chill. Sometimes you can't help just loving London.



Annette Messanger said in an interview: ''My name is Messanger and the exhibition is called Messangers, but I don't have a message.'' That was more than enough to intrigue me and urge me to go see the show. Even though she is widely considered to be Europe's leading contemporary female artist I am ashamed to admit I did not know of her work before this exhibition was advertised to be coming up at the Hayward.

The Messangers
This retrospective presents an overview of the artist's career and reveals her use of an astonishing and affecting repertoire of forms and materials, among them soft toys, stuffed animals, fabrics, wool, photographs and drawings. The exhibition presents a panoramic survey from the intimate and conceptually driven pieces Messager made in the early 1970s to the very large sculptural installations of the past 15 years, in which movement plays an increasingly important role.





For a masterclass in curating go see the show by artist Mark Wallinger (2007 Turner Prize winner) on the first floor above Annette Messanger. Be quick before it closes!

The Russian Linesman
Until Monday 4 May 2009

Mark Wallinger, one of Britain's most original and unpredictable artists, curates this unique exhibition exploring notions of the liminal: thresholds between physical, political or metaphysical realms. Artists include Vija Celmins, Thomas Demand, Albrecht Durer, Bruce Nauman, Giuseppe Penone and Fred Sandback.