After that there'll be a special J18 5th anniversary jam night for people of all musicalities, so come on down with a voice, an instrument, an ear for a listen or a foot for the tapping.

By the way, Thursday was a great day in the space, with people of all shapes, sizes & backgrounds dropping in for some information, tea and inspiration. In the evening we heard from Marta Hinestroza (Colombia) and Benny Wenda (West Papua), who told us the real story about what BP's up to away from the glitz and glamour of portrait awards and the like. When we heard their stories we used 'theatre of the oppressed' techniques to set up human sculptures to recreate them, which was far more moving and effective (as well as fun) than I for one had thought possible.

Irish republicans, England shirt-wearers, graffiti writers, shoeless wanderers and other undefinables all hung out after this, helping with the Resonance FM team as they prepared the following day's programme, listening to the late 70's nuggets from the DJ booth, painting the occasional portrait and...oh yes, looking at the art.

Passers-by snapped up leaflets as they hurried or ambled past, making it a sure thing that the place will be even more jammed with visitors come the weekend. Speaking of which, there will be a workshop on the Baku Ceyhan pipeline on Sunday, as well as possibly London Earth First! Films are a very distinct possibility, as will a meeting to discuss plans for the Monday 21st evening do at the National Portrait Gallery to announce the winner of the by-now-heavily-tainted National Portrait Award.

PS. Of course this shouldn't really be the place for corporate media postings, but this one tickled us from Thursday's FT:

Shades of Browne
By Clay Harris
Financial Times; Jun 17, 2004



Lord Browne, of BP, was due to have yet more honour heaped upon him
last night with the unveiling of a new portrait of Britain's greatest
oil man. BP is a leading patron of the arts and Lord Browne has
already been captured for posterity in a photograph for the National
Portrait Gallery.

But the latest work is distinctly less flattering and designed to
highlight the alleged distastefulness of "big oil" sponsoring that
same gallery's yearly portrait award. London Rising Tide, a direct
action group opposed to the oil industry, was launching its
alternative to the award, with a party outside the NPG - where the
private preview was in full swing.

Pride of place goes to a portrait showing Lord Browne's "benign mask"
slipping to reveal "a satanic look". Organisers claimed the artwork
"paints a true portrait of an oil company".