The review of Marina Abramović

Eun-hye Hwang

So I spent most of the day at Marina Abramović presents which was part of the Manchester’s International Festival. And I can say it was an impressive day. I won’t go into much detail just incase Marina does decided to run the event again using the same artist.

So they were right, its challenging. for example at one point I was attempting to clean someones teeth with a toothbrush and at another point a naked lady shuffled up to me and stared me in the face from about half a meter away. Marina introduces the whole experience in a room full of people for the first hour. She runs a series of exercises to calm your breathing and get you use to understanding long duration art. One of those exercises is drinking a small cup of water but over a period of 10mins.
There’s also a period of staring a strangers face for up to 5mins.

After spending a hour with Marina your ready to make your own way through the rest of the experiences.

There were about 12 different artists performing through the day, some of my favourite included Nico Vascellari‘s songs which involved banging tin and rocks together in a basement with a additional sound track coming from the 2nd floor. Eunhye Hwang did some very interesting things with radios and the public. If you wait long enough, you will see Jelly and Radio, I’ll say no more. Nikhil Chopra spent hours drawing over the walls and floor using charcoal, according to others over time he sketched many pictures, which here would later scribled over it.

Really wrorth going and I’m glad I went along

 

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Marina Abramović Presents…

Following the iconoclastic Il Tempo del Postino in 2007, MIF returns to the crossroads of visual art and performance, inviting world-renowned artist Marina Abramović to curate an epic group show featuring some of the most innovative live artists working today.

For this groundbreaking event, the Whitworth has emptied every gallery space in order to create room for this unique work to develop and breathe. The show will begin with an hour-long performance initiation with Marina Abramović, leading up to a series of extraordinary encounters between artists and audience. Quite unlike anything staged before in the UK, this will be a provocative and visceral experience.

Everyone seems to be talking about this event/performance/experience, and I have the pleasure of going tomorrow. The Telegraph said it was shocking and bizarre and someone else told me they heard Mark Lawson had reviewed it on Radio 4 just recently. I’m starting to wonder if its so intense? And what is in store for me tomorrow? If all goes well I should try and get tickets for the Adam Curtis mixed media documentary, it felt like a kiss.

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revealed: My New Manchester Flat

Living room

Sorry to everyone for the long delay in blogging but you need to feel the pain of not having broadband at home. Some people have asked why I don't just blog from work, but to be honest I tend to have a endless list of things to do at work, so as I complete one task, I just move to the next one. This means theres no time for blogging. Also recently I've been out of the building so much that sitting down and blogging would be difficult. I had thought about drafting a load but I've been unpacking for days and am still not finished.

In the pictures you can now see on Flickr, you might notice a few boxes but up till yesterday was a lot more.

Before anyone asks, the computer next to the TV isn't there all the time, thats my test machine ubuntu box for xbmc in the future. There is no barrier between the kitchen and living room, its open plan. But I decided to put the bookshelf and sofas in the way. This means the living room area feels more cosy. The sofas are not my choosing, just like the glass table and coffee table but I'll live with them. The TV is watchable from the Kitchen and dinner table too. The second bed room still has the bed covers which came with the flat, because I would never pick such nasty bed covers. I put the servers and switch in the wardrobe alongside the extra furniture and boxes. I still need to get rid of the rest of the boxes and sort out the ethernet/telephone cables. If it was my flat, I would be drilling nice outlet holes between the rooms but its not.

To date, only 3 people have seen the new flat. The first person was Kate, while Dave's actual slept over, although Kate did get to sample some cooking. Generally I'm having a good time in Manchester and I did go out drinking the other day with Kate and Leanne, so things are going pretty well. The house in London exchanged last week too, which is good and now means I don't really have links to London except family and friends. Yes the ride up to Manchester last Sunday was pretty long (4.5hours), luckly it only rained between Oxford and Birmingham, so I was dry by the time I stopped for the 3rd time for fuel and a rest near Manchester.

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First day of looking at Flats in Manchester

So after looking at ton of flats in Manchester city centre today, I've drawn the list down to a top 3. Now don't get me wrong, Almost every flat I've looked at has been perfectly liveable and worthy of consideration, but these flats have that wow factor which has pushed them in front of the rest.

  • St Georges Island, Kelso Place, Castlefield Manchester
    This place is furnished with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (one En-Suite), secure parking and a balcony which stretches the complete length of the flat. The view is great and the only downside is the location is quite far from oxford road, so it would be almost 20mins walk to work or to the northern quarter. Deansgate station is about 5-10mins away which isn't too bad. Its also got 24hour conceirge and is right next to the canel.
  • Nile, City Road East, Knott Mill, Manchester
    Is a lot like the last one but no 24hour conceirge and the balcony is much smaller. However its a stone throw from Deansgate station and actually walkable to oxford road within 15mins..
  • Church Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester
    This one was pretty impressive and set the standard for a while till later in the day when I saw the others. The major difference is its location. Its actually across the road from the Arndale centre and located in the northern quarter. According to some people, its a great area and is recommended over anywhere else in Manchester.

Tomorrow I will have a look at, and this is just between 4-6pm!

  • The Lock, Winkworth Road, Manchester
  • The Hacienda, Winkworth Road, Manchester
  • Beaumont Building, Salford, Manchester
  • Skyline Chambers, Northern Quarter, Manchester
  • Green Building, Salford, Manchester
  • Agecroft House, Winkworth, Manchester
  • W3, Winkworth/Oxford Road, Manchester
  • Home 1, Winkworth, Manchester
  • Meadow View, Northern Quarter, Manchester
  • Home 2, Winkworth, Manchester
  • The Linx, Northern Quarter, Manchester
  • Market Buildings, Northern Quarter Manchester
  • Oxford Place, Oxford Rd, Manchester
  • Barton Place, Northern Quarter, Manchester
  • The Citadel, Northern Quarter, Manchester
  • The Ropeworks, Winkworth Road, Manchester

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