I opened this blog back in 2007 as something of a showcase-cum-portfolio for my writing as a freelance journalist in art, design and architecture, partly to help me keep up to date with the world I was writing about, keep my writing skills honed, and partly to attract writing commissions. This was at a time when it hadn’t really hit print publications exactly how enormous was the developing threat from online media. Now it seems obvious. back then, just eight years or so ago as i write, it wasn’t taken seriously at all, but then even broadband still wasn’t common, many people were still using internet cafes, and there were no smartphones around, let alone 4G or fibre-optic high speed internet.
What started out as an intended showcase for me and my writing, and, to a lesser extent, my photography, has become an increasingly embarrassing testament to my lack of activity over the last few years. the reasons for this are complicated. time, or the lack of enough of it is always an available scapegoat. but that’s an excuse really. my ‘day job’ took a greater toll on me than I ever realised at the time, and other complications, which I won’t go into here, added to my distraction from this great project of mine. So it’s time now. Put up or shut up. I’ve decided not to shut up. The inattentive reader will continue, no longer be dedicated to the arts specifically, but will be much more freewheeling and broad than it has been. This is not to say that the arts will be ignored. Design, Visual art practices, and the discourse around them are still central to my interests, but this website will no longer be selling itself as a sort of serious listings and critical review. there are plenty of people and organisations doing this already and doing it far better and more comprehensively than I have either the inclination or resources to do effectively.
