I was there!

Came home to the unusual experience of hearing a discussion on Radio 3 about something I had been to a preview of - in this case the opening of the Turner Centre in Margate.   It is a rather dull building - not interesting enough to be called hideous, which I think looks a bit like an out of town warehouse.  It would not look out of place on the great, soon to be abandoned, Pfizer estate.  It dwarfs poor little Droit House, and is a generally unattractive addition to the Harbour area.   However, it is the great white hope of local regeneration, and everyone had told me it was fabulous inside.  Well, that turned out not to be true - it is just more concrete inside - but there are fabulous views of the sea, and the horizon is used a part of the architecture: that was the only appealing thing about the architecture.  It is clearly a work of great utilitarianism.  I have never seen a public building on this scale with such unimpressive and dark stairs: sticking "the sun is God" on to them, and then jumbling the words up with good and bad to make, inter alia "God is bad" so that each riser contains a variation on the phrase, is no compensation for their design.  I suppose they are a bit like the stairs at the Hayward, but those are open so that one can see other sights as one goes up. 

Anyway le tout Thanet was sort of there - or rather 25% of it - since we have been spread over 4 nights.  And in addition, there was L&D surprisingly, which was nice, but tricky since I was with S and couldn't just dive into my usual self.  But lots of nice people there - and I enjoyed it mildly - although not the speeches, as it was rather hot and stuffy in the area where these were given, in front of a striped sun stuck on the glass... a bit dull, and reminiscent of that installation at the Tate Modern.  Not a great night for networking - and lots of fascinating people trying to look interesting and posing in weird ways... I could just have talked to them as per usual I suppose, but I got the impression that lots of people were with their "plus guest" and stayed in their pair for the evening.   Some people were actually interested in the art.   There was one thing I liked very much - beautiful views of Margate etched onto perspex... the style, like woodcuts was really appealing.

I'll have to go back when it's quieter.  So that was it, the great event.  The official opening is on Saturday, but I won't be going.  Funny though, Gerry White, old long-lost school friend is, she got in touch and said she was coming down for it.  So hope we'll see her on Friday.  Evidently it is attracting Londoners!  But how often will they come?