What I did in April 2017

[squirmelia]

Vilnius and surroundings:
I walked through the remains of a maze made from television sets, with a fallen statue of Lenin in the middle, at a sculpture park, near the centre of Europe. I walked inside a giant head, made of rusting metal, in the forest. I walked around a pond and frog after frog hopped into the water, and that seemed magical. I saw a rocking house, teetering on the edge of a pond. I played a tree as if it were a guitar.
I visited the Republic of Užupis and read their constitution, which includes, "a dog has the right to be a dog." I saw a mermaid by the river.
I thought I had gone the wrong way, but it turned out to be the right way, as it led me to fantastic views.
I watched butterflies flutter next to the barricades.
I saw a wall with teapots on it.
I ate poppyseed strudel and mushroom biscuits (sausainiai grybukai.)
I drank coffee in the revolving restaurant at the top of the TV Tower, listened to the creaking, and admired the scenery.

Riga:
In Riga, I looked at spy cameras in the Photography Museum, visited the market in a former zeppelin hangar, drank black balsam, saw a plaque for the first new year's tree, stared up at cats on the Cat House, visited Cafe Leningrad and looked at old cassette players. I walked by the river and stared up at the TV tower and the bridge. I saw an oak tree that grew 3500 years ago, at about the time when Pharaoh Tutankhamen was the ruler of Egypt. I ate black balsam chocolate and saw a monument of a monkey cosmonaut. I stared up at horrified faces, lions, dogs and mythical winged creatures, on buildings in the art nouveau district.

London:
I spent time with my mum, ate hot cross buns, walked by the river in sunny Richmond, got the ferry across from Ham House, and enjoyed returning to a freshly painted bathroom and bedroom in my flat.

I went to Now Play This, at Somerset House, and bit a person's neck just before the world ended, in "Queers in love at the end of the world." (A text adventure.) I also played a game of crazy golf which was about environmental disasters, so one of the holes was at an airport, another amongst nuclear reactors, etc. I became an elm tree and then an oak tree, made cats appear in a forest, helped someone find a giant penis in a strange game where you to had to run around a body, caught ghosts with mirrors, and oh, played various other games.

I walked along the north bank, and into the city, playing Ingress, and then later found the nose at Admiralty Arch, and ate balsamic vinegar ice-cream and blackberry & lavender ice-cream.

I wandered around Brockwell Park and saw one of the great trees of London, the Brockwell Oak.

I stared at photographs by Martin Parr and Roger Mayne in the Photographers' Gallery, and saw the photos that were part of the Deutsche Börse prize.

In the Carroll/Fletcher Gallery, I played the game of Space Invaders where you fire at passages taken from Michel Foucault’s essay What is an Author? (1969) . I also saw stolen fragments from works of art and tried making shapes from the ZOOB play system. (Exhibition: Looking at One thing and thinking of something else – part 4.)

I watched birds fluttering in front of me and it felt quite magical. (Exhibition: Mat Collishaw – The Centrifugal Soul in the Blain Southern gallery.)

I had drinks at Pub Standards and then afterwards we ate burritos and went to the Reverend J W Simpson and drank cocktails.

I saw Hidden Figures at the cinema with doseybat, and then we ate dim sum with verazea and Sue, and went to Foyles and amused ourselves by learning how to say explicit terms in different languages.

I went to Here East, for 64 Bits – An exhibition of the web's lost past. I printed out a picture of myself on ASCII-cam. I browsed the first website, used Archie, and looked at old web comics, ASCII art, animations, and other things that made me feel nostalgic. I didn't really want to be reminded of the hamster dance though.

I ate lime and basil flavour ice-cream, and maron flavour.

I organised a Monochrome BBS Meet and caught up with old friends there.

I looked at portraits at the Riverside Gallery in Richmond.

I went to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA) movie night and saw video clips about magical musical instruments, virtual reality, drones and other things.

Essex, Kent, Sussex:

I visited Harlow to gaze at its sculptures, and also took a walk by the canal there.

I walked along the beach at Bexhill, and visited the De La Warr Pavilion and saw pictures of woods by George Shaw, and crawled under a blanket in the “In a dream you saw a way to survive and you were full of joy” exhibition.

I visited Eynsford and walked amongst the bluebells and they were lovely, and I was in awe.

I watched morris dancers at the Sweeps Festival in Rochester, and visited Rochester Castle.

Ingress:

I went to the monthly Enlightened social.

I went to an Ingress meet in Twickenham and we had drinks at the Barmy Arms and walked by the river.

I walked around Victoria, completing the Victoria Station banner with other Ingress players and ate pastiera napoletana flavour ice-cream.

I also went to a meet in Brixton and a meet in Waterloo.

I completed banners in Vilnius and Riga, and at Europos Parkas.