You cant fail to have noticed there is a whiff of patriotism in the air. We haven't quite made up our minds if we will be holding an anarchist type f..k the Royal Wedding type party or hanging out the bunting, but the lead up to Olympics and Royal wedding fever, certainly seem to be bringing out the patriot in some of us.
One event we will be interested in however, is the four month long Festival of Britain celebration at the Southbank centre in London. Festival highlights include Ray Davies curating this year’s Meltdown (June),Tracey Emin’s first major show at the Hayward Gallery (18 May to 29 August), plus a celebration of our national treasures such as by Lang Lang, Heston Blumenthal, Billy Bragg, John Berger,Meera Syal and Tony Benn.
Some of the the themed weekends sound interesting – from Stewart Lee’s curated weekend of comedy and music (27 to 30 May) the London Literature Festival (8 to 18th July), a hip-hop weekend (14 to 17 July) and our personal favourite, Wayne Hemingways Vintage Weekend (29 to 31 July).
The festival starts this weekend with a series of events, which range from Moroccan acrobatics to Stravinsky’s The Rite of Springwith live 3D visuals and a real street food market.
The Festival of Briatin anniversary has also inspired modern day design companies to look back to the past for inspiration. Interiors company Mini Moderns has produced new range of wallpapers featuring features highlights of the 1951 exhibition, with geometric shapes and abstract representations of the iconic Skylon, the Dome of Discovery and the Royal Festival Hall, all in lovely muted, tonal colours.
Now where is that tea dress and silk stockings!
