Ghost doors @ the Barbican

everybody is familiar with the strange atmospheric feeling that goes by the name of 'Barbican'. i have a couple of routines there (going to the cinema on level 4, going to the curve gallery on level 0). without the Barbican branded mini moments of oddness, i doubt i'd be enjoying the movies and art as much as i do.

my favorite one is the ghost door on level 4 (right), a lonely door in an absurd desolate corridor leading to cinema 2 that just can't get it's motion sensor right - the way the door automatically opens and closes for any visitor approaching is calibrated slightly wrong, it makes you want to stop in your tracks, it makes you feel like a ghost just walked through and you don't know whether it's coming right at you or whether you'll be safe. just a tiny tick, but it makes me nervous every time. (i don't think i'm the only one - building management put up a sticker pointing out that this is an 'automatic door' - see bottom sticker on door).

another can-i-trust-my-eyes moment usually grabs me when i enter the ladies room on the ground floor (left). the passage way through to more toilets is so oddly designed that i usually mistake it for a mirror from which my own image is miraculously absent. just a little shock, but it works every time. (i don't think i'm the only one - building management put up a 'more toilets this way' notice, pointing out that this is a way through, not an ending - see sign next to frame).

ZKM at night

what an amazing building. i didn't know i was supposed to leave before ten in the evening, so i stayed on last night. when i left the studio, the lichthof was pitch black. it took me long to make it down the wood-and-metal walks and stairs. a coke machine's light guided me to the exit.

this night, somebody played piano on the ground floor. everybody, everything got high on music.

Public Spaces, and...

...definitely depressing: fairground indoors at Alexandra Palace, arrival hall at London Luton...