Lisbon 2 - The Wedding

The reason for my trip to Lisbon, and the high spot of the week, was to attend the wedding of my good friends and London neighbours Ana Cajiao and Tiago Correia.

Ana’s family and friends came over from the US, joining with a London contingent, and many others. Tiago’s family home is Lisbon and it seemed as if all his family attended too.

I noted people from Canada, USA, Finland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, UK, Peru, Colombia, Australia and Italy - what a cosmopolitan couple!

The wedding was held in the north west of the city, a traditional service in the lovely church Nossa Senhora do Rosario.

We then walked just a few hundred metres to the Palacio Frontiera, a fabulous setting for such a colourful event. Drinks and photographs on the terrace, the formal meal in the beautiful chamber. People stretched their legs around the gardens and follies before the cake cutting and dancing on the terrace.

A really delightful wedding, a wonderful family event, a most enjoyable day.

Lisbon 1 - Cityscapes

The absence of posts this last 10 days is because I have been away in Portugal – Lisbon to be exact. This was my first visit to the country and what a great capital city it is. Mid-October was a good time to go: fabulous weather, few apparent tourists, a city going about its business, quiet shops and galleries, and easy-to-use public transport.

Architecturally, much of the city feels reminiscent of central Paris: impressively wide boulevards planted with serious trees for shade from the heat, and lined with small gardens, fountains and benches. Where they have been restored, there are stone pavements with ornate decorations. Yes there is traffic but it seems so light compared with London – and it keeps moving: from the airport to my central hotel took just 16 minutes by taxi.

Off the main streets are smaller, tighter roads and closely packed alleyways. People live here, small businesses exist, families sit outside their doors, and tiny bars will sell you a glass of beer for just one euro. The city is built on seven hills, some surprisingly steep, which you can either climb on foot or use one of the quaint elevadores (funicular railways). Trams are still operated too, and not just for tourists. And of course the whole city is set on the side of the river Tejo (Tagus), which is central to its history and indeed to Portugal’s place in the discovery of other continents and expansion of its empire and economy.

There is everywhere a sense of a city which is aware of its heritage and charm, and trying hard to preserve it all, whilst probably not having all the necessary funding. This of course may be a blessing: unlimited pots of money have often led city fathers to tear down all the old and replace with new and charmless.

I was really taken with the beautiful colours used on building facades, and these are coupled with the extensive use of tiles. These aren’t occasional one-offs, or heritage buildings; they are everywhere, in their thousands, on every street. The tiles are sometimes simply strong plain colours, others may be elaborate floral designs, yet others will pictorially represent the business carried on within.

Elsewhere you can see some wonderful shop fronts, which I believe are originals, not reconstructions, and some wonderful old graphics and sign writing. Noticeable was the absence of street advertising, posters, flyers, neon signs, hoardings and all the other clutter we see in so many cities.

On the hill behind my hotel I found the newly restored terrace garden at Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcantara. From here there is a panoramic view across the centre of the city to St George’s castle. Also in these pretty gardens is a tiny wine bar – operated by architect Tomas Lima, assisted by Maria Allen with whom I spent a pleasant couple of hours on my last evening.

I have many more photographs of Lisbon Cityscapes here.

If you are looking for a break in a European city, only 2.5 hours flying time from London, I'd certainly recommend Lisbon. I've really enjoyed my time here.

Gag on Guardian is lifted

The gag on the Guardian reporting MP's Trafigura question is lifted

Within the past hour Trafigura's legal firm, Carter-Ruck, has withdrawn its opposition to the Guardian reporting proceedings in parliament that revealed its existence.

The story is here

And there is a supplementary piece on how Twitter couldn't be gagged.

The Guardian gagged

Picking up my copy of the Guardian this morning I was shocked to see the front page headline “Guardian gagged from reporting parliament” which is quite chilling. You can read this piece here, but in essence it is that: 

   

The Guardian is prevented from reporting parliamentary proceedings on legal grounds;

The Guardian is prevented from identifying the MP who has asked the question;

The Guardian is prevented from saying what the question is;

The paper is prevented from saying which government minister might answer it, and where the question can be found.

The Guardian is also forbidden from telling its readers why the paper is prevented – for the first time in memory – from reporting parliament.

It takes less than two minutes on the web to find further details – reported by a site other than the Guardian -  and a link to the official parliamentary website which lists today’s parliamentary order paper.  Here you can find the four questions being raised by Paul Farrelly MP, the Labour member for Newcastle-under-Lyme. See questions nos. 60-63

The key word in those questions is ‘Trafigura’ and that leads right back to the major story the Guardian reported earlier this year. Trafigura is a company trading in energy, including oil.  The following is extracted from a longer piece in the Guardian 14^th May 2009

Documents have emerged which detail for the first time the potentially lethal nature of toxic waste dumped by British-based oil traders in one of west Africa's poorest countries.

More than 30,000 people from Ivory Coast claim they were affected by the ­poisonous cocktail and are currently bringing Britain's biggest-ever group lawsuit against the company, Trafigura.

The firm chartered the ship, Probo Koala, which transported the cargo to Ivory Coast in 2006. An official Dutch analysis of samples of the waste carried by the Probo Koala indicate that it contained approximately 2 tonnes of hydrogen sulphide, a killer gas with a characteristic smell of rotten eggs.

The documents have been obtained by the BBC. One chemist told BBC Newsnight last night that if the same quantity and mixture of chemicals had been dumped in Trafalgar Square: "You would have people being sick for several miles around … millions of people."

Trafigura, which claims to be one of the world's biggest independent oil ­traders, originally issued statements in 2006 denying the tanker was carrying toxic waste. It said it merely contained routine "slops" – the dirty water from tank washing. Executives of the company lined up to specifically deny that the waste contained any hydrogen sulphide.

The full story, including internal emails, letters and video reports from Ivory Coast is here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/trafigura-probo-koala   Having prevented the Guardian from reporting the story (or indeed, the story about the story) it is now all over Twitter and the wider web.

The Fourth Plinth 2

Anthony Gormley’s One&Other in Trafalgar Square – more commonly known as The Fourth Plinth – comes to the end tomorrow.  Some 2400 people should have participated over the 100 days it has been running, although there have been some ‘no shows’.

Already, before it has run the curtain down, we have the reflections, the comment pieces, debating on whether it’s been a good idea or not; whether it counts as art, or just summertime fodder for the masses. 

If you’ve seen it in the Square you’ll have your own views.  You might have caught it via the webfeeds (technically very accomplished, with sharp pictures and fairly clear sound) available here.   I wrote about it back in July (doesn't that seem a long time ago).

   

Sky have also been running a round-up programme each week on Sky Arts 1 on Friday evenings.

The Guardian’s critic Jonathan Jones got in early, giving his views at length in the paper last Friday under the headline ‘The fourth plinth: it was just Big Brother all over again’ which attracted almost 100 comments on the website.  It’s fair to say that Jones didn’t like it, and other critics agree.

The public seem more optimistic, perhaps more open minded, with 7.3 million hits on the webstream and nearly 700,000 people logging on for an average of more than nine minutes.

There is quite a lot of criticism of Gormley. (Why are the people who post on these things so aggressive?  Why can’t they express their counter-views with some decency?).  Here is a small flavour of those views:

“It's time Gormley's luck ran out. The plinth was obvious. The Angel of the North is obvious. It just happens to be big and obvious”.

“What you appear to be saying, Mr. Jones, is that you don't get it, therefore it is not art”.

“After all, can anyone REALLY define once and for all what art is/is not/should be? It seems that if someone points to something and says: "that's art", then it IS art whether you like it or not.”

“Anthony Gormley's a fine artist and shouldn't waste his time on this kind of nonsense either”

“In my opinion, someone being manky and disgusting in their bed and then putting it in an art gallery is a complete waste of space, but Tracey Emin managed to get away with it, and get paid.”

“Antony Gormley has actually created an opportunity for individuals to create or be in their own piece of art. The fact that many wasted that opportunity and revealed themselves often to be quite artless is down to them not Gormley.”

“I thought it was a nice thing to do. The question about art is irrelevant.”

“Overall I'm glad I did it. It's an experience that only 2399 other people can say they've had and I can now (arrogantly of course) point to the plinth and say "I've been up there".  But hey, what do I know, all I did was throw paper planes, tell bad jokes and phone my Grandad to tell him I love him.”

“Surely 'the plinth' would normally be called street theatre?”    

I find myself in agreement with that: although of course street theatre is very much “art”

And finally: “Basically Everything is art. Or Nothing is. You decide!”


Indeed.

Tall buildings

April 8th                                                           October 2nd

Two photographs of the same building, 26 weeks apart. It is hard to count accurately from ground level, but I think they have constructed 26 floors in that time: that’s pretty good going.

This is the Heron Tower at the junction of Bishopsgate and London Wall. When completed it will be the tallest building in the UK – but I’m sure an even bigger one will come along in the following years. Designed by architects Kohn Pedersen Fox it currently it stands 36 floor high.  Completion is due in 2011 when it will provide the City with a further 400,000 sq feet of office space.

I’m quite positive about these tall buildings as long as they look good and work well.  In my part of the world, and I’m sure right across London, there seems now to be a real affection for the Gherkin. 

Indeed, some people are unhappy that their views of the Gherkin are disappearing behind taller buildings which just don’t look as good.  Most often cited is the new Broadgate Tower, by architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.  Personally I can’t find anything attractive in it, whether at long distance view, or close-up at street level.  It seems to have no good side, and I imagine it must be quite frustrating to work inside, with views out obscured by all those chunky diagonal braces running across the office windows.