Art in a Van

Last weekend I enjoyed a nice day at Brixton Market in South London. Every place we go to has an aim to it and visiting a market usually implies shopping or dining, and if Brixton is the place, then dining would most probably include African and Caribbean cuisine. Well my aim for going there does indeed expresses my Italian side as I came to discover that the best pizza in London can only be found at the entrance of the market, precisely under the banner 'Franco Manca', but you won't miss it, queues are just as massive as the ones in the best pizzerias in Naples.

After a delicious Margherita I strolled around the market, looking at some of the peculiar products offered on sale; markets are always full of new and amazing things to get to know. And they are all there to explore without obligation to buy them and stuff your home with things in boxes, beacuse very often, that is where great bargains end up.


I came across an art initiative called Art in a Van. The installation on show that day was a small camera obscura, in which audience was invited and from where one of the shops could be spied on, with the upside projection of its image. 

What I liked about the work set up in that particular place was the drastic contrast between colours, movement and light outside and the dark room from which one could see the outside. Although the image could have been reinverted in order to look at it correctly, in my opinion, it was left upside down not only becasue of the poor materials and little space at disposal, but also to underline the fact that it is a 'mechanism' we looked through to see the shop infront of us. Once we came out the same view became (or just went back to) a completely different reality.


If you are interested to go and see it, it's on till the 11th of March and must be open the same hours as the market. I would advise that you don't leave the market without trying the pizza...