It has been an incredibly busy time over the last couple of weeks. I am massively interested in concert photography and a couple of months ago, took on a challenge down in Cardiff to shoot 2 days of live music at the Sŵn Music Festival. This is an annual event occurring in various locations throughout Cardiff city centre. As I did my first degree there, I have a particular inclination toward the place and thought it would be a great opportunity to revisit the fast moving capital city, as well as take on the challenge of more music photography. I shot 10 bands over 2 days which may not seem like a lot, but it took me about a week to recover [however it was definitely worth it]!
Here is a link to the Sŵn Festival site:
I really enjoy being able to experience new music. Cardiff's music scene is as fast moving as the development within the Capital itself and it was great to see bands come from all over the county to be a part of this intriguing underground music scene festival. I was a part of a team of about 30 photographers all with their schedules for various bands and venues. Here's a link to some of the photos I took over the weekend:
I will tell you about a couple of examples while on the topic of music and architecture [hence some relevance towards my project]. Barfly, a typically grungey music venue has seen a recent overhaul and been renamed Bogiez, now a full on rock club and live music venue. From what I have heard it's a great little place to go and rock out, but I did not get the chance to head there myself unfortunately [but it certainly looks a lot better than it did in the old Barfly days at least!]. Sticking with the music theme, another [very different] locale has undergone a huge change over the past 4 or 5 years. The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, a particularly prestigious institute for performing arts has been massively modernised. Formerly a typical college block without much consideration for aesthetics, the new building has brought the college into the 21st century, not just in the way it looks but also the facilities now available to students. New rehearsal spaces, recording studios, practice rooms, extensive libraries, a café, galleries and performance areas are a selection of what students now have to work with.
I'm sure it is great to have these spaces/facilities but I found the building itself gave me a strange feeling – it was quite spooky. From the outside it is modern, clean, very neatly put together,quite typical wooden, concrete frontiers, it dominates the space etc. However, the sliver of glass by the entrance makes it seem unwelcoming. Or perhaps it should be seen as enticing one to come and take a closer look, but I could not help but feel it looked odd. I did see it at night once where it looked eerie. You could imagine yourself walking through this giant space, the only thing you can hear is the clip-clop of your shoes along the pristine polished floors. Then again, I could have just got used to the idea that glass is the material of the moment/century. Everyone wants you to look at the innards of their buildings so you can see what they have and what you do not. A way of showing off essentially [as well as a way of getting light into a building without compromising security or atmospheric conditions].
I was on a bus when I first saw this and definitely did think it was an impressive sight. I had seen it nearly every day as a building site and so was in that typical situation of having forgotten about it over a year later, then seeing it in it's new glory and being quite stunned by the sheer magnitude of the building. Being on the main North Road into Cardiff and opposite the beautiful Cardiff University and Government buildings it certainly has a lot to compete with and I would say it has done this mostly quite well. It has much presence but without being gaudy. I often wonder what the fathers of modern architectur e(Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius etc) would think of the new 21st Century take on Modernism – would they think we are doing great and adapting the principles of Modernism to suit our current needs or have we got the wrong end of the stick and gone in a completely different direction?
 |
| The RWCMD new £22.5 million building under construction |
 |
| RWCMD 3D realisation of the new building |
Cardiff has changed so much over the last few years, architecturally and socially, with the ever increasing number of students choosing to study there and the development of St David's 2, a multimillion pound shopping complex situated near the centre adding to it's already historically impressive Queen Street. At one point I remember being in Cardiff Castle grounds on a well earned day off and counting 13 cranes dotted around the city centre. This highlighted Cardiff's ever changing state: standing in an 800 year old castle seeing new layers being added to the city everyday. I hope it continues to improve, it has been a centre for change for over a hundred years now, in particular since the industrial revolution which saw Cardiff and South Wales as the worldwide hub for coal production and exports. These days may be gone but Cardiff is certainly making an impressive attempt to get itself back on the map as the place to be seen.
No comments:
Post a Comment