A friend is curating an exhibition at the Arnolfini, a wonderful gallery in Bristol. I've known the space for years, one particularly fond memory being a room of musical sculptures that you could touch or blow or move to create beautiful sounds. The new exhibition is a brave departure for the Arnolfini: several spaces have given over to PLATFORM. And PLATFORM is not your average, safe, arts organisation: "PLATFORM works across disciplines for social and ecological justice. It combines the transformatory power of art with the tangible goals of campaigning, the rigour of in-depth research with the vision to promote alternative futures". Run with collaborators, PLATFORM's show is called "C Words: Carbon, Climate, Capital, Culture, a major exhibition and season of 50 events in the run-up to COP 15" - the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
I went to the opening day of talks and discussions, with participants explaining their ideas and beliefs and what they intended to do at the Arnolfini. It was fabulous. By the end my brain was humming with thoughts and insights. The day made me realise how I miss being stretched - how I've not been intellectually stretched for years now - and has got me thinking about how I can change that (Open University anyone?).
The other excitement of the day was the space itself. It's right beside the river and its new lottery-funded facilities boded well for access. I called ahead - unusually for me - to find out about parking and was told that I could park directly outside the gallery, all day, for free. I just had to ring when I reached the locked barrier and someone would let me in. Wow! Access was as good as I'd hoped and the staff took things to another level. I duly arrived at the gate, called, was shown in and offered help across the beautiful but awkward (and no doubt listed) cobbles. The shop offered me bags to carry my new purchases on the back of my chair. The cafe carried my delicious lunch outside for me so I could sit outside. They were exceptional. The building itself was easy to get through, level floors, lifts, low bar... Bliss.
Two moments stand out. One was meeting someone who I've not seen for over twenty years. His first words were "you've not changed at all". Hug-worthy. The other was exploring what I thought was the skeleton of a yurt but turned out to be a geo-dome made of wooden branches no more than several inches thick. "Is it accessible?", asked the maker? Now that's a first...
