Turbine Festival 2015

The Turbine Festival held at the Turbine Hall in Tate Modern was held this year on Saturday 25 July 2015. The Festival is subtitled “One City One Day” bringing audio-visual experience to anyone that attends.

The event encourages everyone to get involved with the art installations, workshops and activities on display. The day included photography, music, art and technology as they explore different ways to explore different facets of experiencing from using the Oculus to transport to another virtual plane to DJing on a makeshift art turntable to getting your hair styled completely different to what you came in with.

What I particularly liked was FREE2Dance created by Evan Ifekoya where you are given headphones and encouraged to dance like no one is watching. Which I do most of the times anyway!

Live performances come from the main stage set up right at the end of Turbine Hall and I managed to catch Juneau Projects performing as they used their electronic instruments built from perspex, arcade machines and drum triggers.

They’ve created the My Culture Museum as an exhibition where anyone can submit an image of each individual’s culture representation, which could be anything that they wanted it to be. The image would then be displayed in the My Culture Museum exhibition.

#TurbineFestival

Eid Festival 2015

The Eid Festival is the Mayor of London event to mark the end of Ramadan which took place at Trafalgar Square. The event took place on Saturday 25 July 2015 between the times of 12:00 to 18:00.

The event itself was really busy drawing huge crowds left, right and centre. The event had cuisines from around the world covering Malaysia, Morocco, Egypt, Turkey and Indonesia. The main stage sees performances from live acts with music promoting love and peace.

There are activities for children to get stuck in with such as creating Eid cards as well as creating designs from stamps.

#EidLDN

Whitecross Street Party 2015

The Whitecross Street Party takes place on – you guessed it – White Cross Street in Islington near to the Barbican. It is an annual summer event of performances, food and entertainment. Usually over a two day period but this year has been packed into a whole day. The event was held on Saturday 18 July 2015 between 12:00 to 18:00.

The event’s exhibition “Rise of the Non Conformists” was set up by a group of took inspiration from William Blake where he was laid to rest. The event encourages “peaceful non-conformists to rise once again”. The exhibition is drawn live during the day with their final artworks displayed along Whitecross Street for 2 months. There are also art installations dotted up and down the street.

The event is family-friendly with lots to do with the children as the event caters with various areas where children can play and participate in workshops. Fortune Street Park which stems from Whitecross Street became a children’s activity zone with a bouncy castle, an area for face painting and a play area.

There are performances set up on stages and canopies running along the street with performances from solo artists and groups.

The stages are interspersed with stalls of food and an array of items ranging from clothing to artworks.

Cally Festival 2015

The Cally Festival, first started in 2011, is a festival held on Caledonian Road in London which features art, activities, performances and workshops. This year it was held on Sunday 14 June 2015 from 12pm to 6pm.

The festival is funded by local businesses in and around Caledonian Road bringing live music, art and children activities, performances from local groups and bands, a procession as well as stalls for businesses, charities and sellers. Many artworks were on display created by different groups such as wooden structures created by a university in London.

#CallyFestival

Camley Street Natural Park

Camley Street Natural Park can be found at King’s Cross which bridges the gap between the city and nature, where you can escape the hustle and the bustle of the city life and seek haven in this nature reserve.

The park was initially created as an old railway coal yard in 1984, which was saved by campaigns run by local nature enthusiasts. The park now is a habitat a myriad of animals and a beating heart for the London Wildlife Trust volunteers. The park, covering 2 acres, is home to different birds, insects and many other animals within habitats of grassland, wetland and woodland.

There is much to explore and lose yourself in marshlands, shrubberies, meadows, ponds, ascending and descending stairs. There are many sights to see such hazel fencing which is made from hazel wood woven together and spaces for private growing.

The park itself is by Regent’s Canal which can be seen from the banks running alongside the park. The Viewpoint is another platform to view the canal from inspired by the rocky islands of the Nordic Coastline encouraging people to take in the views of nature in conjunction with architecture. Viewpoint is designed by Erko Aarti, Arto Ollila and Mikki Ristola and commissioned by the Finnish Institute in London and the Architecture Foundation.

The Park is free to access and is around the corner from Granary Square, which is something else very much worth seeing.

#CamleyStreet