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Always pay attention to where the sharp end is.

I stopped paying attention to the sharp end of a scalpel on Saturday morning and it was brought to my attention moments later as I realised I'd stuck it, with reasonable force, into my thigh. Quite messy.

Then I went out to a mainly soulless Music Tech Festival with Lee wearing my blackest trousers in a vague attempt to hide inevitable leakage.

This was an informative hatefest of how to gather data for the music industry while locking up valuable IP as much as possible in packages that synergise the monetisable metrics of user event objects (I expect you get the drift - there was little talk of actual music or actual fans in the sense that real people might use the terms). Matt Black from Coldcut was a/the notable exception.

Next we joined Eris for the most purely joyful thing I've attended in ages: Ethometric Museum at the Battersea Arts Centre. I will tell you nothing more other that it's on until 26 May and you really must go, any further information would be spoilery.

Friday night we'd been to Babel which was also lots of fun and also put on by BAC, to who's event list I will be paying greater attention in future.

.O.Rang - Little Sister

Not a lot to report. Met up with an old friend I’ve not seen in years. One of those ‘like you’ve only not seen them in a week or two’ meetings which was nice.

The space I think I want to live in came up on Gumtree again after being off the list for a couple of weeks so I emailed to arrange a viewing – everyone I’ve talked to about it has said just get it and worry about the details later, possibly because they hate me.

The whole thought of moving gives me the willies though. Especially as I need furniture (which I quite want to make myself) and white goods and all that grown up stuff that I haven't had to deal with since my American adventure ended so badly.

It’s at the top end of my budget so I expect I’ll be able to catch up on unread books as I can’t see myself going out all that much after I’ve settled in (if I get it that is). Still, I do have an awful lot of notes for work I haven’t had the space to make and there would be space in abundance. And I do need to relearn to draw and learning to paint is also on the list, and …

I’ve always liked change but also to feel secure and somewhat grounded, which doesn’t make a heap of sense. As long as I know where the bathroom and the exits are I’m usually happy to wing the rest.

Oh god. The horror. The nerves. Bold adventures. Smaller portions.

EDIT ☞

Well it’s gone so there’s one less thing to worry about for the moment.

Double St Bride, Deller and Dinner.

Tuesday: attended a talk at St Bride Library about Designer Bookbinders beautiful work but to my mind most definitely craft rather than art. I mention that only because it came up in the talk – raising ‘craft’ to the level of ‘art’ which I rather took issue with. I don’t think doing that is possible. There can definitely be artistry in craft and craftsmanship in art but they're not different levels on a single scale. ‘raising craft to the level of art’ devalues craft and the person pursuing it.

There’s a longer thing in there about the difference between bookbinding and book art but I’ll spare you, gentle reader.

Wednesday: back to St Bride for a silent poster sale in aid of the library and Central St Martins Graphic Design students’ final show. I managed to show a little restraint but am now the proud owner of this by Dave Cuvelot :



and this by Vicke Cheung:



Hopefully both soon to be on display in a flat with my name on it. I’m still working on it but the rental market’s a bit expensive and I know exactly what I want – there’s no point in me jumping at the wrong place because I’m in a hurry to move. I’m not and I only want to do it once.

Saturday went to see the Jeremy Deller and David Shrigley double header at the Hayward Gallery with Richard. Well, the Deller was amazing, and if you haven’t had a chance to see it you’ve only got until next Sunday, best show I’ve seen in a good while. The other artist is also available and has a couple of good things. A couple.

Then there was dinner and scheming for new projects, which went very well indeed.

Also I got a copy of that book I mentioned I’d designed and I must say I’m reasonably pleased with how it turned out.

Oh, yes, one other thing of note: I saw my optician on Saturday morning and I need new glasses as my eyesight has improved again. Ouch in the wallet but it’s interesting to think that any eye strain I’ve experienced recently (and possibly the tiredness I can’t shake) isn’t due to deterioration in my vision but having to correct an over-correction. Unhelpful helpers.

Where was I?

Let’s see: the Thursday before last markeris and I went to the latest part of O Brave New World, a petit-immersive retelling of the Tempest over six months in a cafe in Hoxton Street. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the production, which sees a new instalment every month with the space being entirely reconstructed for each scene. First a bar in Borduria, then the inside of a computer and this month Caliban’s cave. It's been fantastically inventive throughout but this time it went to a whole new level.

The cave was a den of scaffolding and bric-a-brac that you had to duck down to enter. Mark and I were lucky enough to be the only people at the performance which added an extra layer of intimacy to the scene as the only other person there was Caliban. Towards the middle of the scene she disappeared and there was the sound of her overhead scrabbling about. Two strips of scaffolding opened up and, sticking our heads through the gap, we were treated to blue sky over the sea (through which we'd stuck our heads) encircling a scale model of the island with a train running round it. The sudden jump this induced was truly joyful.

For the last two Saturdays I've been at Tate Britain with Richard and Maria taking part in a workshop on art mapping, as the Tate works to develop ways to bring the collection outside the gallery and engage with the public. I’ll write up my contribution at the other place soonest. It’s been a really interesting couple of days exploration – even with the video interview and having to present work to a group fear.

Also, I finished a couple of weeks of evenings designing a book for Zero State. I’m looking forward to seeing it when it’s printed as it’s my first POD publication (via Lulu) – live production experiments FTW (hopefully).

And lastly Molly Crabapple gave a talk at the Groucho which was cracking, involved some book signing and some members club envy.

Let's see, reading group was, as ever, fascinating and notable for lack of booze – which was rather nice to be honest (well, just the one, but still rather nice).

She Makes War Little Battles album launch party, cracking music and great to catch up with friends I’ve not seen in far too long. Was also culmination of Laura’s PledgeMusic campaign which I was proud to have helped fund. Excellent pizza too (Half Moon, Herne Hill). Odd that I got tinnitus before the music started.

Manorexia gig with lee_chaos and markeris which was surprisingly lovely (not that I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it). Gig was supposed to be in the Union Chapel but was moved to the bar upstairs at short notice. I thought this was going to detract from the experience but we ended up having a rare old time as they’d moved the sofas and comfy chairs around the stage and it was all a bit grown up and quirky. There is now the serious expectation that next time I attend a gig with Eris I shall act as his carer pushing him to the front in a bath chair. Ear still ringing slightly though neither of the gigs had been loud.

Friday Sarah invited me to see the new Gunther Von Hagens exhibition at the National History Museum which was, erm … thought provoking. It’s called Animal Inside Out and he does his plastination thing with a variety of animals. I didn’t see Body Worlds when it was on so only had a vague idea what to expect. It's a mix of (in no particular order) anatomy lesson, technical marvel, circus sideshow and exploitation (though I think it may be the viewer who’s being exploited). It's brilliant, it’s twisted and it’s the event that’s most caused me to think in years. Highly recommended.

Saturday woke up with a raging ear infection … again. (all better now)

I’ll admit I’ve been a bit run down of late so luckily this week’s been rather quiet.

SSSS by VCMG

Knocked about 15 years off me.

Nice.

Radioactive Tubular Girls Video by Instamatic [Kraftwerk, Duran Duran, Mike Oldfield and Calvin Harris]

Yes, yes.

Sometimes I enjoy work, when I get to design things (not often), when I find some obscure picture or can select a set to accompany an article that tell a subsidiary story of their own and when I get to do some picky editing.

For instance, in a list of countries for a publication we’re doing for a big conference: correcting Sao Tome and Principe (it’s São Tomé and Príncipe - there’s an accent on the first ‘i’ as well). The job kid of rewards curiosity too as in ‘I wonder if “Libyan Arab Jamahiriya” is still correct?’ - it hasn’t been since September 2011, both long and short forms are now ‘Libya’ and getting it wrong would have been quite embarrassing.

This sort of work does have its downsides though. I can’t read anything without typos leaping off the page at me and I get endlessly caught up in how much capitalisation is too much, that sort of thing.

Also, I love splitting infinitives, they usually read better.