Day 3

In contrast to the previous day, Day 3 was a little bit of a downer, but I think that mostly had to do with the fact that my laptop charger had burned out during the night. Finding that out in addition to the rain outside was an unhappy way to start things, so that affected my overall mood for the rest of the day.

The Serpentine Gallery was interesting, to say the least. I especially loved Philippe Parreno's Invisibleboy. It just seemed so inventive and one-of-a-kind, especially in how he shot and edited the film. The seemingly random footage he took are very beautiful, especially when it comes to the colors and the composition of the footage. Even the scratches he made in the film to create the imaginary creatures were so beautiful and interesting. The soundtrack just topped it off for me; something amazing always happens when an instrumental rock band incorporates authentic [or at least authentic sounding] strings into the mix. It was so dramatic and it really emphasized the narrative a lot, even though the base of the song is the same maybe 4 or 8 bars repeated over and over. The film had a lonely vibe to it, but it also seemed very hopeful and the imaginary creatures were oddly endearing.

Getting to the Saatchi gallery was no easy task, but when we finally got there, I was blown away by a lot of the work. Two that really stood out to me was Pile Up by Alexander Hoda and Richard Wilson's 20:50. I loved how Pile Up was so nightmarish and grotesque and I thought it was a very clever work. It seemed as though the blob that was the foundation of the piece was trying to make sense of what it was, and the figures protruding from it reference to its journey of self-discovery. Or maybe I'm just weird. 20:50 was just phenomenal and at first I didn't even know what I was looking at. When I realized it was motor oil reflecting everything I was taken aback and completely discombobulated.

Getting to the Globe Theatre was a lot more enjoyable than trying to get to the Saatchi because the path that led to it was very scenic and interesting. At first I wasn't too thrilled about the tour, but when the tour guide met up with us I got excited; he seemed like such a pleasant person. I definitely learned a thing or two, though I'm not sure how much I'd be able to repeat to my family. The architecture of the theatre was really unbelievable and the detail kind of blew me away, especially the astrological ceiling and the trap doors.

Altogether, Day 3 was awesome, despite the small unpleasantries that popped up every now and again.