Somerset House

Out of Sync

We finally got along to Somerset House the other week.  There were a few exhibitions there I was kind of keen to see, though they turned out to not be as good as what I had hoped.  The main one was in the courtyard of the building, it was called Out of Sync and was thousands of clay daffodils planted in turf.  It looked kind of cool, not that the weather has been particularly spring-y lately, what with the almost daily rain.  Finally we are getting some more traditional English weather.  The rain here is very particular to England though, it's this almost fine mist, it very rarely seems to rain that heavily.  It's like you're walking through a cloud rather than a rain storm.

The current Somerset House was built in the 1770's after the previous Somerset House had to be demolished due to neglect.  Even though the courtyard now seems to be one of the more used parts of the building, what with the art and the ice skating, and one of the more attractive views, it was only opened to the public in 1997.  Prior to that the Inland Revenue used to be housed here, and the building was all closed.

View towards the city

It's in a great spot, almost opposite the London Eye, and looking off the balcony you can still see the debris from New Years Eve.

Houses of Parliament, across the Thames

Homeless person art

As well as seeing the daffodils there were a few other exhibits on, all free, the main galleries were closed.  The other galleries were not quite as impressive.  One had works by homeless people, another was with weird art/fashion jewellery and a third was by a Japanese tattoo artist.  The art jewellery was kind of cool, the lady exhibiting claimed to be the person who invented the nested ring, you know where multiple rings all fit together on the finger.

It's funny walking round inside the building, there are very few signs up and the way the exhibits are laid out it almost feels like you can just wander anywhere you want.  It does still feel very like an old office building, in that there are a lot of doors coming off the corridors.   And you do wonder if there may be more art hiding behind some doors.

There is also what looks to be a very fancy restaurant there, so perhaps Dave and I will have to come back one night to check it out.

More homeless people art - these doors are the same ones used in Somerset House

Japanese tattooist art