Pearls

Last week, I found myself waiting in a long line of twenty-something-year-olds in fancy dress, Goths in black leather and chains, trans waifs in white pancake makeup and platform wedgies. The line snaked around a block by London’s St. James Palace; the evening was warm, and the mood convivial. It was opening night: we were…

Any fool can see that the head of state is naked, that he is a complete phony — except for himself. Such appears to be the premise of The Emperor’s Clothes, a fairy tale I see referred to more and more. Apparently, Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 parable is awfully relevant today. Reading yet another reference…

Last Saturday I saw a play called « Mother Has Arrived ». It was written and directed by Than Hussein Clark, an American artist based in Glasgow and Genoa. His project was half of a larger installation called « Anal Peace » that is being shown at Corvi-Mora, an art-gallery in South London. Clark’s half…

The elderly gentleman seemed at first sight to be having some kind of seizure. He was lying on the ground, his body shaking convulsively. Young men and women in yellow hi-vis jackets, whom I took to be paramedics, were bent over, questioning him. Then they picked him up by his arms and legs and head…