For Part 1 go to https://apulhed.wordpress.com/2015/06/13/91326/
On Sunday I dropped in to hear Anthony Roberts do a guided tour of the building and all who sail in her.
Anthony gets on his horse
He has a good way with words but more importantly he has a good angle on the possibilities at the gallery.
Here he goes for a bite of a lady’s banana
He began with an intro in the foyer.
Happy families
He explained that Hunt & Darton have come in to serve as the café, but they are really a performance art gig.
He took us round to the side of the building which has always seemed out of bounds. It gives us a lovely view of the architecture which is, despite all the differing opinions, still a landmark building which we should admire and spread the word about.
I feel that this side of the ‘park’ needs to be made more accessible, so that people can just spend their time lolling around it, picknicking and all. Maybe live outdoor gigs?
Hold on a bit it’s not the only good architecture around here, there’s that old church too
So we get the best of both worlds here
Anthony explained he’s actually been involved with Firstsite since it was first dreamed up by a lady he once knew. He must have been distressed to see it as it went through the pangs of despair in the original build and the subsequent mis-direction. Some of the old guard seemed to think it more important to appeal to about ten people in London than to get the local populace incorporated into its projects.
We went thru the office area into the ex-café zone. It’s rather unfortunate the proprietors of the Whitechapel café left too soon, If they had stuck around a few more weeks they may see a surge in visitor numbers. Now it seems the Hunt and Darton girls will have to fill that bill. And very entertaining they are.
We stood on the veranda overlooking a ‘field’ which access to and through is severely limited cos of histoirical issues which need to be ironed out and left behind for the gallery to grow with quick access to a public car park.
Let’s work together and get this place on the map.
Outside the morris dancers
did energetic jigs and the street dancers joined in.
And the new staff seem lively and very friendly too.
apulhed tingling 