Hello there,

I will be visiting London soon on an art & design research trip.
I wanted to know if anyone could recommend any places to visit or somewhere
I can view work from graphic designers and alike.
I would also like to see some good examples of creative or inspirational
architecture.
Where can you recommend?

Thanks for reading.

Gary

Check out the design museum. Very interesting!

/Tomas

"Gary" <dj1NOSPAM@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:2nlbd.750$Lr6.244@newsfe2-gui.ntli.net...
I just came back from 5 days in London. Good luck, have fun! I don't know
much about the design side, but we loved touring the Royal Academy of Arts'
galleries. These were fine arts and it included sculpture from the Egyptians
and Roman's through to a wonderful room full of Gauguin paintings and
sculpture. I'd highly recommend it. If you like the art museums, see the
National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery as well.

As far as architecture, the city as a whole is an exhibit. See Westminster
Abbey and Westminster Cathedral. I loved St. Paul's Catherdral. I even
climbed all 530 steps to the top of the dome so I could get a skyline shot
of the city. I also liked Guild Hall and the Tower of London for the older
architecture.

Don't forget your camera. London has many great photo opportunities. I'm
just starting to go through my five days worth of shots. Here are a few I've
posted from the very first dawn I saw in London.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=10661319

Fred

"Gary" <dj1NOSPAM@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:2nlbd.750$Lr6.244@newsfe2-gui.ntli.net...
Hi Gary - Here are a few of my favourite places to get inspiration - most of
them free:

The Tate Modern:
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/default.htm
There's always something here to inspire - even the building itself is
striking. A must-see - and the permanent collection is free to enter. It's
in a nice spot right on the South Bank, so you should walk down to the Royal
Festival Hall (west along the Thames) afterwards and see if there's anything
going on in the main hall downstairs - sometimes they have fascinating
temporary exhibitions on there. And just a little further west is...

The Saatchi Gallery at the old County Hall
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/
I've not seen the collection in this building - I saw a major collection of
theirs at the Royal Academy a few years ago - anyway, amongst the wannabe
pretentious masturbatory musings (which are interesting in their own way)
there should be some fairly eye-popping, chin-stroking, ultra-modern stuff
here. Definitely not free.

Tate Britain
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
The original Tate Gallery. I've not been here for some years. The sheer
quantity of work was overwhelming. You could visit the place for a week and
not take everything in. Frankly I found it a bit much - room after room
after room - but then I did try and see everything (which at the time was
primarily oil paintings - I think they have broadened the collection since
then) in one afternoon - better to try and pick the bits you're most
interested in and see those. If architecture is your thing you could wander
5 minutes down the road to the Houses of Parliament - unbelievable building,
even if you don't quite agree with what the clowns inside are up to most of
the time!

The Photographers' Gallery
http://www.photonet.org.uk/
There's normally some quality snaps in this little place. And it's right in
the centre of town, just by Leicester Square, so good to check out if you're
on your way to a night out. And it's free.

The British Library
http://www.bl.uk/whatson/exhibitions/permanent.html
Also free to get in. There's a great permanent exhibition of some of the
Library's treasures, so if you're interested in printmaking or booky stuff
(which if you're interested in design, you should be), you should definitely
check it out. They normally have temporary exhibitions of exceptionally high
quality as well.

The Wallace Collection
http://www.wallacecollection.org/
I'm not normally a huge fan of Renaissance art, crusty old oil paintings and
the like. But I wandered in here one day (on the way to deliver some files
to the printers) and was promptly blown away. I was most enamoured by the
work of 17th century Dutch painter Jan Van der Heyden - here's one that's in
the Wallace Collection:
http://gallery.euroweb.hu/art/h/heyden/westerke.jpg - doesn't loook like
much until you see it in the flesh - the detail is unbelievable. And guess
what - it's free (the gallery, not the painting!).

The Whitechapel Gallery
http://www.whitechapel.org/
A bit out of the way, but worth a trip. I really want to try and get to the
Paul Noble exhibition. It used to be free one day of the week - but I
haven't been for a while. Definitely pop round the corner for a curry on
Brick Lane - and if you're feeling painfully fashionable walk up to the
Truman Brewery area, and check out the surrounding shops, galleries and
bars - quite a bit of retro furniture, tshirts and all the trappings of boho
chic.

Sir John Soane's Museum
http://www.soane.org/
I stumbled on this place actually before I moved to London, about 12 years
ago. I was studying in Sheffield and my father had just got a job at a
quantity surveyors around the corner on The Strand. I was visiting and just
found this place - it's an amazing little treasure trove which used to
belong to a 19th century architect and avid collector of bits of old stuff
from all over the globe. It seems from their website they are getting record
numbers of visitors - good for them - but maybe bad for you as it is tiny
and there's not much room to swing a cat in there!

The Reel Poster Gallery
http://www.reel-poster.com/gallery.php
If you're interested in film poster design, as I am, this is worth a look.
They recently had a great Saul Bass exhibition.


....obviously there are also the big museums that are worth checking out as
well - my order of preference is;

The British Museum
The Science Museum
The Natural History Museum
The V&A

A couple of years ago the government made them all free to enter - huzzah
for struggling graphic designers looking for inspiration!

Other things I like to do is go up to the top of Hampstead Hill and look out
across the whole of London, and also to look both ways from Waterloo
Bridge - the top deck of the Number 4 bus is good for this!

I think that's about it. I've never been to the Design Museum:
http://www.designmuseum.org/ - generally the last thing I want to do when I
occasionally get away from my desk is to look at even more designs - I
generally want some lateral stimulus, if you see what I mean.

Anyway, enjoy your trip - I'd offer to buy you a cup of tea but I'll
probably be working!

K.
--
karl sinfield
www.sinfield.org

Many Thanks for your suggestions. If anyone has others to recommend please
do so.
I appreciate all you help.
Gary


"Gary" <dj1NOSPAM@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:2nlbd.750$Lr6.244@newsfe2-gui.ntli.net...

Let me second that. Westmister Abbey is fascinating. While you're
there in the heart of the city, you could also check out the London
Eye. Basically a Ferris wheel on steroids. Perhaps a bit "touristy",
but if the weather is nice you'll have an amazing view.

http://www.londoneye.com

On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 02:19:42 GMT, "Gary" <dj1NOSPAM@ntlworld.com>
wrote:

Go anywhere; do anything. A boat trip to Greenwich is interesting, and
Greenwich a terrific place for vistas. Nat. Gal., of course. Go to the
South Bank. Wear comfy shoes for the British Museum -- the floors are
*hard*. The V&A is good for design and vistas, too. Don't forget the
theater. Walk. Enjoy!