Canadian storyteller/performer Laurie Anderson filled the Barbican theatre for 5 consecutive nights this week. In the 90 minutes long show Delusion she spoke of her personal life mixing in recent news stories and fairy tales. All that accompanied with a screeching violin. I wanted to be excited about the performance as much as the audience and critics were, but I couldn't help feeling bored. A storyteller should grab your attention and give you either immense pleasure or a wealth of knowledge, but Laurie Anderson provided non of it.
I kept putting off a visit to the French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot's instalation in The Curve (in the old good Barbican) due to long queues. Long queues because the installation is actually good or just because it's free? The boast on the poster that it's inspired by youtube hit clip doesn't sound too appealing. And yet it's worth waiting to get in. A flock of zebra finches fly around and from time to time land on electric guitars producing strange sounds. Sometimes they succeed in something rhythmic and even beautiful. The beauty is standing and watching the birds zooming around you and composing this soundscape.
Also this week: looked at the Staffordshire Hoard at the British Museum, (It's the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found and yet every piece is so tiny that a magnifying glass is needed to display them.), listened to the BBC Symphony Orchestra playing Mahler, enjoyed Boom Boom Club cabaret at the Bath House.
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