I've spent a few minutes needlessly wishing I was Australian in the past..

Or at the very least concocting daydream courier-plans. And now Design is Kinky's Semi-Permanent finally comes to London the weekend I'm in Amsterdam, June 10th and 11th. Surface to Air, Pixelsurgeon and Universal Everything are speaking, although they don't excite me as much as the idea of the event does. I wonder if any of these people will actually give any insight into their work, or whether it'll be style over content, self-indulgent, self-deprecating 'witty' joking-about for two days.

I had a brief introduction to the Circle of Sound exhibition last night. It was a little strange not being able to immerse myself in the little worlds so carefully constructed - sitting in a deck chair surrounded by private-view conversations whilst trying to envision myself on a Brighton beach courtesy of Magz Hall, regardless of scenic pebbles, was impossible but a great 'sound piece' in itself. The gutteral noises of the wheel in the centre of the Foundry's basement was a welcome and fun addition to the night's sonic landscape. Seeing old be-academia-suited men stroke their chins and rotate, with Jim Backhouse's PVA records clicking and crackling loudly in the background made up for the fact that I was too impatient for the Kaffe Matthews chair queue. Tomorrow that red crushed velvet "throbbing" chair (I quote Magz here, it came with an enthusiastically raised eyebrow too) will be mine, for a moment. I don't think these kind of exhibitions really lend themselves to private views, but I had a good time trying to figure out who Dan Wilson was.

Yesterday while flicking through Grafik I jumped with childlike glee (think I'm allowed for 3 more days) when I found out about Her Noise, an exhibition happening in the South London Gallery in November. In Camberwell. In South London. Anyway, curated by the great folks at Electra, it's all sound installations by international ladies (including Kaffe Matthews and Kim Gordon) which rely on dialogic communication with the audience, and seem to promote and encourage engagement with our immediate environments ... I can't wait.

Quotes of the Day:
"It's plainer than plain." - Karolin, drooling over American Apparel wares.
"No." Gavin the radio astronomer (see below) on whether he had seen Rokeby perform on Sunday night.
Apparently, Radio astronomy is but a hobby for Gavin; he spends his day-times putting the back catalogues of independent record labels online. The diplomacy he used in reference to Rokeby the cyborg, was pretty impressive. When pushed, in some half-arsed attempt to recreate the potential heated melodrama of Cybersonica, I think the most scandalous thing he'd comment was "He didn't really have much to say. We just don't agree."