Hans -Urich Obrist at Hay

Today will be remembered not for the brilliance of the speakers but for the horrendous traffic jams and mud.

Locals tell us it was the busiest day ever seen in Hay- a combination of official Hay Book Festival, the new Philosophy and Music Festival, Bank Holiday and temporary car parks in fields closed because of the mud.
Result- chaos!


It took us nearly two hours to travel the four miles to the festival site because all roads to Hay were blocked off by the police apart from the shuttle buses who struggled to cope with the demand.

We had no option but join the long queue for shuttle buses.



And the speakers? Well Joan Bakewell was excellent on the importance of history, Daniel Davis riveting on what makes us different and Hans –Urich Obrist challenging.

He is an art historian, critic and co-director of the Serpentine gallery, one of the wolds most influential curators and founder of the Brutally Early club which meets at different location in London at 6.30am.

(Yes 6.30 and this has been moved on occasion to 3.30 am where groups of artists meet and show films in parking lot on the sides of buses…yes you get the idea).

What did I think? Well he spoke so fast in a strong Swiss accent that it took me half the talk to get attuned to his voice.

He curated his first exhibition in his kitchen, and now he is organising ones the Internet for people unrealised projects.

(Apologies for lack of comments etc but internet access is not good- Hay is a black hole).