Artist Annalie Wilson records a joyful and spontaneous response to Ai Weiwei’s
exhibition of sunflower seeds at the Tate Modern.

Visitors have been denied the opportunity to walk on the Chinese artist’s carpet of seeds for
health and safety reasons.  In a non-aggressive act of curiosity Annalie
explores the feeling of liberation that comes from daring to go beyond the
confines of the captive mind. Her video incorporates original music. More
of Annalie’s music videos can be found at
http://www.youtube.com/annaliewilson

Forget the hustle and bustle of travelling high speed around the Capital. It’s only when you take the time to wander round an area that you start to notice all the places that you usually rush past in a hurry.

Golders Green was London’s first Tube-created suburb and these walks are part of London Transport Museum’s exploration of the myth and identity of London’s suburbs.

During March 2010 London Transport Museum is inviting you to slow down and explore Golders Green on foot.

Local residents will guide you around and let you in on the suburb’s secrets.

There are three walks to choose from, allowing you to take time out to taste local delights, ramble in luscious green spaces or reflect in spiritual places.

The walks are free but tickets need to be pre-booked online via this link.

You can also see the exhibition Suburbia at our Covent Garden-based museum until 31 March 2010 - for further details visit London Transport Museum

Jane Audas / London Transport Museum

© canal by helen2006 (flickr)

Slowing down is never far from my mind. I’m reading Christopher Alexander’s fourth book in the series the Nature of Order, an essay on the art of building and the nature of the universe . This body of work is often described as one of 21st Century’s most important documents on the theory of space, architecture, building, planning, and the way in which we view the world in general.

I am particularly struck by the relevance of his work to Slow Down London while reading the chapter called ‘pleasing yourself.’ In it he says that the within us there is a place from which comes our sense of harmony. And to create true living order – in a building, we need to please ourselves. How can we please ourselves? In Alexander’s words ‘..to do that you must first discover your own true self, come close enough to it, and to listen to it, so that it can be pleased.’

On pondering the stories I am struck by the fact that an essential ingredient for me to slow down needs to be time taken to reflect on what pleases me. Bringing my concentration to this subject seems to automatically slow me down and maybe more importantly give me pleasure as I think of things, people, places that please me. This exploration takes time, a commodity that we often we think we have little of and maybe even more than that it feels selfish, especially in the world in which we live at the moment. Yet I believe that this process of finding what pleases us and then doing that provides a type of nourishment that is important to ourselves, our lives and the world.

Deepa Patel – Director, Slow Down London