Fresh announcements over ‘London Paramount’ – which is being hailed as the ‘Disneyland’ of the UK – has left millennials across the country drooling into their Finding Nemo breakfast cereal. If approved, construction of the world class theme park will start in 2019 for a launch in 2021, blowing the likes of Thorpe Park and Alton Towers clean out of the water.
What?
London Paramount has been described officially as an ‘entertainment resort’ with a ‘number of themed zones, with exciting rides and attractions for families, children and the more adventurous thrill-seeking visitor’. Zones include; Adventure Isle, Land of Legends, Cartoon Circus, Starfleet Command, Action Square, Port Paramount and Entertainment City.
At the heart of the resort, there will be a wide range of indoor, covered and open air experiences, including West End quality entertainment, daily parades, restaurants, cafés, bars, nightclubs, cinemas and one of Europe’s largest water parks.
Who?
You can ditch the dreams for a Space Mountain, as although the park is being called ‘Disneyland London’ – it’s absolutely no way affiliated with Disney. The park, as the name suggests, comes from Paramount Pictures, the oldest major Hollywood studio in existence, but will also work in collaboration with BBC Worldwide, Aardman Animations and the British Film Institute, with the intention to explore the right mix of British film and television with the glamour of Hollywood.
In my head, the only time British television and Hollywood glamour could work together is at a theme park. They wouldn’t even need the white knuckle rides – just Hyacinth Bucket and Mr Bean popping out from behind a barrel on the log flume and scare the living piss out of everyone.
Paramount are also responsible for films such as Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible, Titanic and, wait for it… Mean Girls.
When?
Plans have been around since 2014 but it’s all starting to get very real. If approved by the Government, construction will begin in 2019 for a 2021 opening, with some attractions opening slightly later.
Where?
The park will be located on the Thames, slightly north of Swanscombe in Kent, and can be accessed from London within one hour with new transport links.
We love a bit of quirky art here at House of Coco. So we are delighted that there are plenty of wacky and wonderful art exhibitions on in London during the last few weeks of summer. From lilting Scandi music played in each room of an old house to the iconic outfits worn by the Rolling Stones, we’ve picked out the quirkiest of them all…
Ragnar Kjartansson at the Barbican
‘Art is a slippery devilish thing’ – Ragnar Kjartansson
Performance artist, musician, painter and film maker, Kjartansson’s talents are brought together in this emotional and ironic exhibition. You can wander through the rooms and bump into young men lounging around on sofas, drinking beers and playing slow love songs whilst in another room, nine videos of musicians play simultaneously, all filmed over an hour in a gloriously ancient house in New York State.
If you decide to go along at the weekend, look out for two women in Edwardian costume enjoying a live four-hour kiss on a rowing boat. Yes this exhibition might take the biscuit as the maddest in town…
The Ragnar Kjartansson exhibition runs at the Barbican until 4 September 2016. Entry costs £12 for adults.
Exhibitionism at The Saatchi Gallery, Chelsea
‘We came up with the perfect tongue, I think’ – Mick Jagger
Exhibitionism is a bonanza of music, clothes, videos and paraphernalia related to the Rolling Stones. In fact it is the largest exhibition of Stones memorabilia ever put together.
It focuses hugely on the great people who have collaborated with the band from Delia Smith to Andy Warhol and there is a whole room dedicated to the development of the iconic lip and tongue logo. Anyone in need of a reminder of the squalor of student life will enjoy the re-creation of the band’s shared house from 1962 complete with discarded custard creams, overflowing ashtrays and piles of dirty plates. From humble beginnings to the ruffled velvet and striped lycra (among other choice outfits) of their days of success, this exhibition is a fitting tribute to one of the greatest bands on earth.
Exhibitionism runs at the Saatchi Gallery until 4 September 2016. Entry costs from £19 to £25 for adults.
Mark Grotjahn: Pink Cosco at the Gagosian Gallery, Mayfair
‘I call my sculptures masks, but they are not masks’ – Mark Grotjahn
Pink Cosco is made up of nine huge, brightly painted bronze ‘masks’. Influenced by pop art and abstract expressionism, each ‘mask’ is immense and garish with a long tube nose and a childishly scrawled name and date.
Formed from leftover cardboard boxes cast in bronze, the leering 3D faces seem to stand like an army in the blank space of the Gagosian Gallery. They remind us of tribal masks and lurid graffiti, an unsettling and very human combination that makes it difficult not to stare.
Mark Grotjahn: Pink Cosco runs at the Gagosian Gallery in Mayfair until 17 September 2016. Entry is free.
Raqib Shaw: Self Portraits at the While Cube Gallery, Bermondsey
‘(Art) extracts every bit of existence from you – that’s the promise of the divine’ – Raqib Shaw
One of the most flamboyant, eccentric and fantastical artists of our time, Raqib Shaw is known for his paintings of opulent paradise and disturbing hell. This exhibition differs from these only in that the artist himself is the protagonist of such scenes, always with his trusty pet Jack Russell.
Each work bursts with detail and has a ridiculously fanciful name like ‘Last Rite of the Artists Ego at Shankryacharya Temple’ or ‘Self Portrait with Fireflies at the Oracle of Ridicule and Truth’. An Indian-born London-based artist, Shaw’s paintings are influenced by the Kashmiri landscapes of his childhood and the religious scenes of the Old Masters. At first glance they seem like the grandest paintings imaginable but, when you look more carefully, you begin to ask yourself whether Shaw is poking fun at the very grandeur he paints…
Raqib Shaw: Self Portraits runs at the White Cube in Bermondsey until 11 September 2016. Entry is free.
“Unpredictable, stimulating and shocking.” That’s how the lead curator of this year’s Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy describes the 2016 show.
As the largest open submission art show in the world, the Summer Exhibition in London showcases art by both established and unknown artists every year. So there’s an eclectic mix of sculptures, paintings, drawings, photos and pretty much everything in between.
The show’s artistic pairings and famous names include Ron Arad, Tim Noble and Sue Webster, the Chapman brothers, Nigel Hall and Michael Craig Martin. With just a week of the exhibition left to go, House of Coco’s art contributor Rachael Lindsay wanted to see what all the fuss was about…
Entering the Royal Academy’s Burlington House in London’s Piccadilly is impressive in itself.
Its large sun-dappled courtyard is currently home to a 16-metre high steel rod which uncoils its snake-like body to film those entering and leaving the building.
And yes, this is part of the Summer Exhibition: the revolving monster is called Spyre and is the creation of architect and industrial designer, Ron Arad.
Talking about the enormous metal worm, Arad says “normally we are looking at sculpture, now it is looking at us.”
Hurrying past the single revolving eye of Spyre, I rush inside the seventeenth century mansion where the annual Summer Exhibition is held.
Pulling my immediate attention is a glowing yellow sign with one word of hope: Forever. It is glitzy like a funfair, or the garish lights of Blackpool pier, but it’s also strangely appealing in its promise of eternity.
Created by married couple, Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Forever is a bold example of their ‘light’ sculptures which they create in parallel with their more sinister ‘shadow’ works.
The pair are inspired by pop culture and punk rock, saying “anything…that kicks against the routine, against the mundane things that close down your mind, is a refreshing and good thing”.
But despite this rebellious streak, the couple are also known for their celebrity friends – including chef Mark Hix, who has named a dish after the artist couple: ‘Webster’s Fish Fingers’ is currently on the menu of his Soho restaurant, Hix.
Wandering through the exhibition, the sheer number artworks on display is striking: there’s over 1,200 in all, from every genre imaginable.
But they don’t seem like an incoherent mishmash of styles; instead, the works often complement each other.
Though he’s more famous for his massive sculptures like the free-standing steel structure by the entrance to the Thameslink tunnel, English sculptor Nigel Hall also sketches on his travels – and some of those are on display here.
Hall says he’s inspired by the vast spaces he visits such as deserts and mountain ranges. His shadowy drawings of light and dark spheres in Drawing 1706 reflect this sense of emptiness.
These contrast with the colourful objects of morning routine in Space II, which is almost right next to it.
Showing an old flip phone, a briefcase, a toaster, and a door handle, Space II is one in a series of paintings by Michael Craig Martin, who influenced the ‘Young British Artists’ of the 2000s school like Damien Hirst.
In both these pieces, inanimate objects are the common denominator – and yet the energy of each is so different: the floating circles are whimsical and dreamy where the urban paraphernalia are bold and aggressive. Standing in front of both, I feel a sense of balance which would be impossible if they were hung alone.
But all sense of balance is immediately shattered on entering another room, where a family of be-wigged shop mannequins are standing around a vicious-looking contraption.
And then you notice they’re holding their eyeballs in their hands.
The New Arrival by the Chapman brothers is perhaps the spookiest artwork here. (I have the strange feeling that those eyes, held at waist level by the dummies, are following me around…)
The Chapman brothers, Jake and Dinos, are renowned for their provocative art. In the past they’ve exhibited a collection of defaced Goya paintings, and also a bunch of skulls wearing clown noses.
But I feel more uneasy than outraged when looking at The New Arrival. I’m like a voyeur in some sort of strange ritual that I never should have come across – and yet, ironically, I cannot help but stare.
Unpredictable, stimulating, shocking…these are only some of the things you could say about this year’s Summer Exhibition.
The show seems more daring than ever and yet more demanding on its viewer, whether through an attention-grabbing work by a big name or with the first painting by a new artist, nestled between murals.
My advice: head there now, and see what draws you in…
On a sunny Wednesday evening most people would be fleeing the City but not House of Coco, as we headed to one of London’s best kept secret outdoor bars. Shhh, we’re going to let you in on South Place Hotel’s humpday treat!
South Place Hotel is a gorgeous hotel-cum-membership club nestled by Liverpool Street station that offers trendy meeting space to members and bottomless brunches to all. The exclusive feel of the space extends to the Secret Garden ; a cocktail and cigar terrace in the heart of the hotel that hosts South Place Hotel’s summer live music treat – South Place Unplugged.
On this evening we were invited down to hear Henry Taylour, an enigmatic singer/songwriter who is a popular face and voice on the London live music scene. The intimate space is beautiful with a long cocktail bar and casual Ibiza-terrace style seating. As you wouldn’t know the space was there from the street, it’s a real hidden gem and certainly for those ‘in-the-know’.
We fought the flow of commuters to arrive in this serene space for 7.30pm and proceed to our next battle; choosing a cocktail from the unusual seasonal menu on offer that boasts chocolate bitters Negronis (‘The Secret Negroni’) and delicious sours like ‘The Incas Lily’ with Pisco and St Germain.
Henry, who takes inspiration from Ben Howard and Jose Gonzales, took to the corner of the bar with his guitar to take us through a set of beautiful original acoustic material and covers. The music complemented the setting beautifully and transported us away from our mid-week stresses to a relaxed resort vibe!
As live music venues become fewer and further between it’s amazing to see a venue like South Place Hotel open up their space to promote upcoming artists. South Place Unplugged runs every humpday (Wednesday) throughout the summer. Tomorrow’s show sees Tobias Diggins take to the Secret Garden; we’ll see you at the bar to soak up the holiday vibes without leaving the City!
This week, Team Coco were treated to an intimate three-course dinner at the Sanderson Hotel Aqua Spa.To set the scene the 10,000 square-foot Agua Spa in London provides pampering, spiritual relief, and is the ultimate space for tranquility. With 14 all-white treatment rooms, chill-out zone, meditation beds and white ceiling to floor curtains, it’s not just the variety of rejuvenating treatments, that whisk you away from London life.We enjoyed dishes and drinks selected from the new Wellbeing menu and had the opportunity to discuss the new Wellbeing package with its creators; health consultant Karen Cummings-Palmer, globally renowned acupuncturist, Annee de Mamiel, Spa Director at Morgans Hotel Group, Jacqueline Kneebone and celebrity personal trainer, Jamie Baird. Could we have had better company?
So, what was the reason we were treated to such a wonderful evening? Well the Sanderson Agua Spa is, as of 23rd May, launching an integrated approach to health and wellness, inside and out, to prime both the body and mind for summer. In order to create the package the Spa teamed up with top health experts from across the industry to create the ultimate wellbeing experience.
The package includes an overnight stay for two, a healthy breakfast, including sugar-free granola, fresh fruit smoothies and cold press coffee, a two course lunch or dinner from the Wellbeing Menu, a ‘Check In, Check Up’ package with nutritionist Karen Cummings-Palme and a 60-minute ‘de Mamiel Elixir Experience’ from Annee de Mamiel’s new Atmosphériques collection.
The replenishing and absolutely delicious Wellbeing menu, as curated by Karen, is designed to feed faces and fuel bodies. Focusing on multi-tasking ingredients, the protein-rich Teff Probiotic Bowl and the Vitamin C-packed Seaweed Super Salad enhance skin luminosity and increase energy levels, while smooth frothy Matcha Green Tea boosts both mood and metabolism. Refined carbohydrates and gluten are avoided and all ingredients are locally sourced, seasonal and organic where possible. Karen is also the expert who will be offering the ‘Check In, Check Up’ health consultations and follow-up Skype sessions.
For the ‘de Mamiel Elixir Experience’, Annee de Mamiel, is offering guests the opportunity to experience her brand new, pollution proof, Atmosphériques collection. Designed over five years, guests will be treated to the ‘a 60 minute treatment which has been specially created to combat the damaging effects of environmental stress and rejuvenate the skin. Much needed for millennials.
If that’s not enough for you,there is also the option to have additional treatments, including personal training sessions with Jamie Baird.
The package is priced from £745 and is available until 31st August 2016. With an overnight stay in such a serene environment, gorgeously healthy menus, glorious treatments and top expert advice, the Wellbeing package is the perfect way to treat yourself, your mind and body.
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