Tuesday was a very nice day in London, which was convenient because I decided to walk to my two appointments, which were quite far apart.
First I met with a PR firm. You know their founders are into art when in the meeting room we were in (one of many) they had a J. Opie and a W. Hewett. Nice. Bonus points.
Then I walked to the Japanese Embassy, where I had been invited to a symposium on big data research for dementia (actually, I chuckled when I thought that, in a way, it could be argued that “big data seems to cause dementia in some vendors”) 😉
Sunday November 8th we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Science Museum for some educational fun weekend.
I love the V&A for its interesting variety. We saw sculptures (although lot more Rodin than Bernini), Medieval objects (from reliquaries to clothing and drawings), and some fine examples of Japanese design.
In the Science Museum we went to see the small but extremely interesting exhibition on Ada Lovelace’s history. We learned a lot and I believe it was a great inspiration to my son.
On Friday November 6 I was invited to a Scientific Symposium on Translational Research, held at the Biotech Innovation Center. The fun part was to stop at the Royal Veterinary College cafeteria, with their interesting museum.
On Friday November 6, on my way to a meeting, I stopped by the British Library. It had been quite a long time since I had been there.
You need a special permit to use their volumes, but they have a very active schedule of events and presentations, and a wonderful museum.
Amongst the “treasures” they have, there are manuscripts from Mozart (‘Verzeichnüss aller meiner Werke’), Beethoven, Magna Carta, John Lennon, Percy Bysshe Shelley (‘The Mask of Anarchy’), and many other historically relevant documents, like the first printed music in western musical notation using Gutemberg’s movable type (Southern Germany c.
On Friday, November 6th, I was invited by Marcus Stuttard, head of AIM (the London Stock Exchange’s growth market), to participate in the London Stock Exchange market opening ceremony, which takes place daily at 8:00 am.
The ceremony offers companies joining London Stock Exchange’s markets the opportunity to mark their success on the day of their admission. The event was followed by drinks and breakfast.
The reason why I was invited is because one of my companies (Kanteron Systems) had been selected as a member of the #ScaleUpClub 2015.
On Thursday, coming back home from a meeting, I run into the Million Masks March. While I assume I agree with most of their anti-system protests (the truth is I did not bother to read them), I think their choice of Guy Fawkes as an “icon”, even if a graphical one as proposed by the comic/movie “V for Vendetta”, is a very stupid one. Just read about what that historical figure had in mind and judge for yourself.
Last Thursday, on my way to a business meeting, I stopped by the Southbank Center, to view the World Press Photo 2015 exhibition. It was a great collection of pieces, but I particularly liked (or was most shocked by) the work of Tomas van Houtryve (2nd prize stories), Cai Sheng Xiang (1st prize singles), Turi Calafato (3rd prize stories), and Arash Khamooshi (3rd prize stories).
Definitely worthwhile visiting.
