Sketchy

I've had a very arty day today in the company of Notebooker who came over to see John Kirby's exhibition The Living and the Dead at the Walker Art Gallery and to hear Kirby and fellow artist Sadie Lee along with performance artist Tim Redfern speak on the topic of gender, sexuality and the existence (or not) of a Queer Aesthetic in art.

Plenty of food for thought there!

Earlier in the day we went to see the 'Robots and Avatars' exhibition at FACT. The best part of which, to my mind, was this installation - ADA by Karina Smigla-Bobinski. It consists of a huge helium-filled ball covered in pieces of coal which create marks on the gallery walls, ceiling and floor as the ball is batted around the room - volleyball style - by visitors.

We got distinctly mixed messages from gallery staff as to whether photography was allowed or not. One said yes but another said no... We chose to believe the first one!