Six Exhibitions, a Pavilion and Italian Fountains

Monday was a day full of art -- so many exhibitions that I'm just going to give you the links rather than describe each one in any detail. All different, all very good, and all but one in the company of my good friend Judy. Suffice to say that much of what we saw was right up both our alleys -- photography, abstractions, objects used in social change movements or to convey political messages, things made by women to further women's causes, etc. We started at the Royal Academy of Arts, where Judy is a member and I got in free as her +1, and then moved on to the V&A for several free exhibitions. At the end of the day, I went on my own to the Science Museum -- by that time overrun with kiddies doing after-school activities that seemed to consist of running and yelling -- to a photography exhibition in the (blissfully quiet) Media Space. So, here's the rundown:

• Radical Geometry: Modern Art of South America. Neither of us knew anything about art from South America, but we could both see some connections to the Malevich exhibition at Tate Modern. 
• Dennis Hopper: The Lost Album. Black and white photos, taken in the 60s and 70s (after which he put down his camera and never took photos again). An interesting glimpse of one man's eye on a time of change in America; more compelling in total, I thought, than as individual images.
• Disobedient Objects. Placards the doubled as shields against the riot police, a graffiti-writing robot, arpilleras that contained political messages made by mothers of the disappeared in South America, and some brilliant ceramics on the V&A facade made by Carrie Reichardt.
• Posters of Protest and Revolution from around the globe, spanning about 100 years.
• Rapid Response Collecting. Objects collected now, which may or may not hold greater significance in the future. This display is right next to the 20th century gallery, where Judy and I saw a Gestetner printer and talked about our memories of printing leaflets and booklets for various political actions on just such a machine.
• Stranger than Fiction. Photos by Joan Fontcuberta that I can't begin to explain.

By the time I left the din of the Science Museum and exited to Exhibition Road, the rain that had been intermittently pissing down all day had stopped, so I decided to walk up to Hyde Park, stopping to see this year's Serpentine Pavilion, a pod-like shape that looks like it dropped out of the air onto the lawn. I had a sit-down there and a chat with a nice woman who sat at my table. Since time and weather were in my favour, I opted to walk north to Lancaster Gate station rather than to Knightsbridge or South Kensington. This took my past the Italian Gardens, which I'd never seen -- the fountains, pools and flower beds are really lovely and well worth the stop. 

From there, I pushed on to Belsize Park, where Roger and I toasted Greg and Esther's 40th anniversary before the four of us had a fun meal of pub grub at The George. 

Expenses:

£31.40 for 7-day zones 1-2 travel card

£4 for exhibition at the Science Museum (50% off after 3 pm on Mondays and Tuesdays for old people)

60p for postcard for Roger

£16 for pub meal

16,825 steps, 6.63 miles