  Apologies for the long absence - been pretty busy lately. This weekend I was in Reading with Grey Dog and Matthew. Was great to catch up with the boys. We spent Saturday in London (not been down there for over a year) and went to a number of very cool exhibitions. First up we went to urlLink yes yes y'all a interesting if somewhat reverential cultural history of the first 10 years or so of Hip Hop. It was extremely interesting but a little disconcerting in its retrospectiveness.
Does hip hop need a museum yet - is it that dead? I don't think so. The show was staged in urlLink The Hospital which looks to be a very exciting new venue - if only I lived in London eh? After that we walked to the National Gallery for Bill Viola's exhibition urlLink "The Passions" this completely blew me away. Bill Viola is a video artist. His heavily referenced renaissance Christian art as well as non-western influences.
According to the gallery... "Bill Viola's new work explores the power and complexity of human emotions. Visually stunning and psychologically gripping, Viola's works are at the cutting edge of technology but they are also deeply rooted in the art of the past. Using actors, shown in silence and extreme slow motion, "The Passions" probe and reveal the nature of overwhelming emotion. " The work was ultra contemporary and yet intimate, emotional and engaging- a lot of it was very worshipful too. One piece, a huge installation called "The Crossing" ran a slow loop of a man walking towards the audience he arrives and stands still then he is drenched with water, until he is completely washed away and just the water remains. Then the loop runs again with Fire.
It reminded me of Baptism and as I watched I found myself praying and asking God to fill me with his power, to wash me away and let me be lost again in him. Amazing. If you can get to it do. Then it was a quick trip over the river and a coffee before we wit ito the Tate to see " urlLink 5 angels for the millennium " another Viola installation (though this time much bigger) again very cool. In the turbine hall of the Tate was a piece called " urlLink The Weather Project " the Artist, Olafur Eliasson had recreated the effect of a sun in the hall. I wish I had my camera but had to settle for this postcard: Its hard to see here but the top half is a reflection using the mirrored ceiling.
The "sun" filled the room with yellow light which was ethereial and uplifting. The room was absolutely packed with people sitting around looking at the piece - like a crowd waiting for a festival gig. People were bathing in the sun and playing with their reflections in the ceiling. Again it made me think about worship, it was awesome but also very playful. By now we were pretty arted out so headed out for some Vietnemese noodles and a few drinks. Grey, thanks so much for the weekend it was excellant to catch up.
Matt, always a pleasure to go anywhere with you. All of this has got me thinkng about the way art and worship overlap and the two could be used together, but thats something I'll leave for now. 
