i know that it's my blog and i'll post when i want to, but i did just want to fess up to being slightly pre-occupied at the moment and having a little trouble with making time to blog.
between a tonne of new projects, new semester, a weird sleep-inducing-sickness-thing and a stack of interesting stuff in town, it's a long time between drinks.
in the mean time, here's a disco burger, courtesy of maurice golotta at don't come (a pretty rad gallery soon to disappear, sadly).
I've been working on one of the baking architecture projects for this year's state of design festival*- the one between jill's restaurant and hassell. It has actually been a fantastic merger of my many loves: sculpture, food, architecture and family. The crew at jill's have been an extended family to me for a while, and my mum happens to be the sous chef there. So when she told me about the project, that she'd be partnered with hassell and was a little nervous, i jumped at the chance to get involved.
And, as it turns out, my skills have been quite useful. i've been able to translate between the lanugage of architecture and food, on both sides of the form/taste divide. And the collaboartion itself has been an amazing experience. The idea of combining both these practices is genius.
In terms of 'practice', there have been a surprising number of similarities (as well as some of the obvious differences). On a basic structure, they have very similar hierarchical dynamics - head chef/principal architect, sous chef/senior designer, model maker/dishpig. on this project, it has also been inspiring (and a little bit scary) to see that both of the 'seniors' are women and have a similar type of engagement with the project. it's all about ideas and throwing in possibilities and thinking big.
and then you have the designer/artist/model makers reeling them in to focus on the project, discussing the practicalities, making the work, rearranging the pieces. it has been fascinating to watch unfold.
in terms of the materials, the work really does sit firmly in the middle of architecture and food. the duration of the exhibition is 10 days. which, for architecture is like the blink of an eye. for food, it's like eternity. and so, the forms are essentially a big compromise and a stretch for both sides to think a little further afield.
the architects have been liberated by the lack of building codes and planning infrastructure durge - allowed to play with texture and colour and wobbliness and smell. [since when did you judge a building on its smell]. materials are tested with our tongues and our noses and if a bit breaks, they get to pop it in their mouth.
whereas the chefs have been focused by the intensity of the timeframe - it has been a great challenge to find foodstuffs that will last the time but still reflect a prescribed form. instead of tasting the work, to see if it works, it is about shape and image - the structure and 'behaviour' of food. it is about combining flavours that might ordinarily be awful, but work because, when it sets, best reflect that alcove and overhanging floorplate. or something along those lines.
from where i've been sitting, it has been a great project of problem solving goodness. and i have the fortune of being relatively objective in the whole process - not my building, not my 'cake'. i get to work with some of the decorative elements, to be a studio assistant again and to work with some of the most amazingly talented creative types in Victoria.
I'm looking forward to (and a bit nervous of) seeing all the entries, which are unveiled on the Festival opening night at the AIA - Architects Institute of Australia - on the 15th July and pretty chuffed at the good times had by all.
*especially as i was supposed to have a work of my own in the festival, but had to pull out for reasons i won't go into yet.
my friend huw has just recently moved to london on a super-exciting scholarship to kings college. he's brilliant.
in a recent fly-by, post-marriage catch-up, i promised huw that i would write him a list of good, cheap places to eat in london. i didn't eat particularly well in london (when you look up heathrow injection on urban dictionary, there's my picture looking back at you), but in this list, i'm trying to steer huw away from some of the really really bad stuff. i'm sure there's a proper cheap-eats guide, but nothing beats recommendations from someone you at least know... (and if doddsy gets an art guide to NYC, this is nothing)
and huw, next time i'm there, we'll do yum cha. or something.
so, following on from my last post about designing places to eat privately in public, here's my
top 10 cheap-ish eats in central-ish london. ish. (ooh, loose segue)
1. the dumpling/dim sum carts on gerard st - they're ace and hella trad. cheaper than ping pong (even though ping pong is pretty ace)
2. ping pong dim sum. on great marlborough st (parallel to oxford) not quite so cheap, but still good place to get great dim sum and funky interiors.
3. asian grocers. there is an amazing asian grocers, near waxys little sister and they have great stuff you can buy. i recommend doing that - you can boil water and have a steamer in your office and eat at work, even :)
4. tai cafe. greek st, soho. on the shaftesbury side of soho square.£3 for a take-away buffet of vegetarian goodness. it's more if you eat in, but why would you when you can sit in nearby soho square and eat out. ok, so maybe at this time of year, the extra couple of quid is worth the warmth. i think there are a couple more of these venues around soho too (maybe beak st? anyone?), but keep an eye out for them.
5. chinatown. i reckon most of the restaurants in chinatown are ace. we went to a great one that is not far from whitcomb/wardour st on the right hand side of gerard. quite narrow and does a fantastic peking duck - if you're into that kind of thing.
6. vietnamese in soho.. i think it's on d'arblay st? it wasn't the cheapest place i've ever eaten in, but it really was that good that it's worth spending the extra. go with a few people and it will be worthwhile. and maybe it's not there anymore 'cos when i went searching for it, i couldn't see the listing.
7. falafels... everyone goes on about maoz, but we have much better falafel places here. you can get better elsewhere i think... just felafs is great, just for the name. they have great wraps, but, as muas, you've had much better here and it's a bit of a let-down. head to edgeware rd instead (and visit lisson gallery on the way).. they have good mezze there.
8. ecco. if you wanna pizza treat - £4 pizzas on goodge st, near tottenham court road. they have ok coffee too apparently -trad italian.
9. berwick st market. buy food there - fruit and vegies are fresh and there is a great nut stand.. it's perfect for lunch-y type things.
10. 1001, truman brewery. it's pretty basic sandwich/salad type food, but the vibe is halla chilled and the wi-fi is free and the people are all pretty lovely. except on sunday afternoons.. then it's cashed-up bogan city. warning: do not eat the donuts from here. they are the best donuts you will ever taste and you'll get a habit as fast as you can say 'one jam donut, please'.
so, there you go.. a little list of cheap-ish places to eat kinda near kings college...this is what the internet is for, isn't it? if i think of any more, i'll post em. and to all my friends in london, can you add to the list please?
as some of you regular readers will vaguely remember, i've been doing some research about public private and private public places. as part of some post-grad study. not just as something to do on the weekend.
anyway, last week i took my lanky midlander UK plannery friend to hell's kitchen in melbourne, and as we were overlooking the hustle and bustle of centre place, i was reminded about some stuff i have been thinking about since i was in europe last year, relating to eating in public. and being alone.
i believe there's quite an art to designing an eating space (as opposed to retail, or other public spaces). it's a balance of logistics, cash flow (ie - 3 large tables gets x amount of business, where as 7 small tables and a bar gets y), ambience and dynamic. it's a space that has to be infinitely personal and public - at the same time; it needs to take noise and smell into consideration; anywhere from a single, intensely private dining experience to an amazingly social banquet experience - and everything in between.
and i believe that the starting point for this is possibly the consideration of single-dining. i think if you have a restaurant/cafe/bar where someone feels comfortable enough on their own but amongst others, it's not too far to becoming a place where they feel like bringing others.
in europe, i noticed that restaurants, cafes, etc are more designed with the single person (as well as the big group) in mind - tables or benches with your back to the wall but facing the rest of the place - closed enough to not feel so exposed, so vulnerable, but still open enough to be able to participate in the collective dining experience. and then extend that to the tradition of eating outside in public - especially in italy, in the piazza, as you walk around with cheese and tomato sugo dripping down your arms from the lunchtime pizza.
some of my favourite places are those which accommodate me as an individual, providing me with the privacy of my own eating experience, my own thoughts, food-based neuroses and choices, yet allow me to participate in the common action of eating, together, amongst my fellows.
whereas dining places that are only for the group, only for the couple - those with friends, large families and many colleagues, opens up a gap for people to feel that they must belong. and if they are on their own, they must be lacking. and lack is an anti-social condition (i wonder what lacan would think of that statement). well, certainly in western societies.
presumably the form of dining spaces have evolved out of the behaviour of dining, but what of those new spaces that are designed? those that need to be designed to accommodate cross-cultural, global and borrowed culinary habits in the cities of the future? where we are at one more singular and infinitely more populous than times past.
