Illuminations
@illuminations.bsky.social
Media producer of arts docs, screen performance; posts by John Wyver, Professor of the Arts on Screen, Univ of Westminster; broadcasting history, esp early TV, theatre, film, visual art
Images: Man w the Flower, ‘30 / de Stael, Le Saladier (detail), ‘54
Images: Man w the Flower, ‘30 / de Stael, Le Saladier (detail), ‘54
Courtauld cafe after the Wayne Thiebaud exhibition 🙂
November 6, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Courtauld cafe after the Wayne Thiebaud exhibition 🙂
Only two rooms, but a stellar show
November 6, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Only two rooms, but a stellar show
Cakes by Wayne Thiebaud at Courtauld, Somerset House
November 6, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Cakes by Wayne Thiebaud at Courtauld, Somerset House
... and that's me done, I think - proofs, queries, final checks, the lot.
October 30, 2025 at 4:44 PM
... and that's me done, I think - proofs, queries, final checks, the lot.
You can hardly read it, but it says, Everybody Needs a Place to Think, BBC Four. Installed on London’s South Bank benches for channel’s launch. A lifetime ago.
October 18, 2025 at 1:04 PM
You can hardly read it, but it says, Everybody Needs a Place to Think, BBC Four. Installed on London’s South Bank benches for channel’s launch. A lifetime ago.
Tate’s Henry Moore Locking Piece, 1964, looking somewhat the worse for wear on Millbank this morning.
October 18, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Tate’s Henry Moore Locking Piece, 1964, looking somewhat the worse for wear on Millbank this morning.
This morning, 11am in the UK, midday CET - and it's not too late to request a Zoom link from from maximilian.brockhaus@univie.ac.at
October 15, 2025 at 5:11 AM
This morning, 11am in the UK, midday CET - and it's not too late to request a Zoom link from from maximilian.brockhaus@univie.ac.at
Looking forward next Wednesday to outlining some of my ideas in and research processes for my forthcoming book "Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain". Do e-mail for a Zoom link if you would like to listen in.
October 9, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Looking forward next Wednesday to outlining some of my ideas in and research processes for my forthcoming book "Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain". Do e-mail for a Zoom link if you would like to listen in.
'Rohtko', by Polish director Łukasz Twarkowski and tireless team, is @Barbican for one more show - and is astonishing, a bit banal, extraordinary, occasionally boring, challenging (nearly 4 hrs), beautiful, an absolutely unique mix of performance + live video - I was enthralled; pic is curtain call
October 4, 2025 at 4:39 PM
'Rohtko', by Polish director Łukasz Twarkowski and tireless team, is @Barbican for one more show - and is astonishing, a bit banal, extraordinary, occasionally boring, challenging (nearly 4 hrs), beautiful, an absolutely unique mix of performance + live video - I was enthralled; pic is curtain call
In Bradford for Widescreen Weekend and staying at the grand but somewhat faded Midland Hotel where, I am perversely delighted to discover, in 1905 Sir Henry Irving breathed his last on this staircase. His manager, Bram Stoker, was in attendance.
September 28, 2025 at 8:16 AM
In Bradford for Widescreen Weekend and staying at the grand but somewhat faded Midland Hotel where, I am perversely delighted to discover, in 1905 Sir Henry Irving breathed his last on this staircase. His manager, Bram Stoker, was in attendance.
Great 'Captive Cinema' programme at BFI Southbank last night, with Associated-Rediffusion documentaries from 1955-57, including "Our American Cousins", intro'd by BFI curator Lisa Kerrigan. Part of Lisa and colleagues' brilliant A-R season.
September 24, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Great 'Captive Cinema' programme at BFI Southbank last night, with Associated-Rediffusion documentaries from 1955-57, including "Our American Cousins", intro'd by BFI curator Lisa Kerrigan. Part of Lisa and colleagues' brilliant A-R season.
Very pleased to be contributing an Entangled Media Histories seminar about the writing of 'Magic Rays of Light', online on Wednesday 15 October.
Request a Zoom link from maximilian.brockhaus@univie.ac.at
Request a Zoom link from maximilian.brockhaus@univie.ac.at
September 19, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Very pleased to be contributing an Entangled Media Histories seminar about the writing of 'Magic Rays of Light', online on Wednesday 15 October.
Request a Zoom link from maximilian.brockhaus@univie.ac.at
Request a Zoom link from maximilian.brockhaus@univie.ac.at
Starry line-up for Q&A after last night's VistaVision projection at Odeon Leicester Square BAFTA preview screening of Paul Thomas Anderson's 'One Battle After Another':
PTA, Leonardo diCaprio, Chase Infiniti, Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro.
PTA, Leonardo diCaprio, Chase Infiniti, Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro.
September 16, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Starry line-up for Q&A after last night's VistaVision projection at Odeon Leicester Square BAFTA preview screening of Paul Thomas Anderson's 'One Battle After Another':
PTA, Leonardo diCaprio, Chase Infiniti, Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro.
PTA, Leonardo diCaprio, Chase Infiniti, Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro.
The distinctive bulgibng Orangina bottle, a sign of the sophistication of the Continent since I was yay-high, seems, on the evidence of our current trip, to be increasingly rare, replaced by anonymous cans.
September 12, 2025 at 5:29 AM
The distinctive bulgibng Orangina bottle, a sign of the sophistication of the Continent since I was yay-high, seems, on the evidence of our current trip, to be increasingly rare, replaced by anonymous cans.
So refreshing from Zack Polanski
September 2, 2025 at 11:05 AM
So refreshing from Zack Polanski
Absolutely delighted that Dan Briggs, son of the BBC's first official historian Asa Briggs, has written to The Observer supporting the need for on-request vetting to re-instated at the BBC Written Archives Centre (p.29; not I think online).
Letter's wording is in the .alt element.
#waccampaign
Letter's wording is in the .alt element.
#waccampaign
August 31, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Absolutely delighted that Dan Briggs, son of the BBC's first official historian Asa Briggs, has written to The Observer supporting the need for on-request vetting to re-instated at the BBC Written Archives Centre (p.29; not I think online).
Letter's wording is in the .alt element.
#waccampaign
Letter's wording is in the .alt element.
#waccampaign
And here's a picture from the AP to Radiolympia of Pogo with Miss Lutie (and an Emitron camera):
August 29, 2025 at 10:11 AM
And here's a picture from the AP to Radiolympia of Pogo with Miss Lutie (and an Emitron camera):
OK, Bluesky, I need some advice. I'm in the privileged position of being able to determine whether my book Magic Rays of Light should have on-page footnotes or end-of-book endnotes. There are a LOT of notes (> 1200) and maybe a quarter are more than bare citations...
August 21, 2025 at 10:01 AM
OK, Bluesky, I need some advice. I'm in the privileged position of being able to determine whether my book Magic Rays of Light should have on-page footnotes or end-of-book endnotes. There are a LOT of notes (> 1200) and maybe a quarter are more than bare citations...
And then there was the 1931 sculpture ‘American Miner’s Family’ (collection of the University of Georgia) by leftist artist Minna Harkavy, who was a WPA Federal Art Project artist… [and] a founding member of the New York Society of Women Artists.
dp.la/item/3c0644f...
dp.la/item/3c0644f...
August 18, 2025 at 9:25 AM
And then there was the 1931 sculpture ‘American Miner’s Family’ (collection of the University of Georgia) by leftist artist Minna Harkavy, who was a WPA Federal Art Project artist… [and] a founding member of the New York Society of Women Artists.
dp.la/item/3c0644f...
dp.la/item/3c0644f...
At 3pm on the Monday afternoon announcer Jasmine Bligh, pictured in a BBC photograph taken off-screen in August 1937, welcomed back viewers to a schedule that began with an edition of Gaumont-British News.
August 16, 2025 at 5:44 AM
At 3pm on the Monday afternoon announcer Jasmine Bligh, pictured in a BBC photograph taken off-screen in August 1937, welcomed back viewers to a schedule that began with an edition of Gaumont-British News.
Post one of the most haunting shots in movie history from a film made before the year 2000
August 12, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Post one of the most haunting shots in movie history from a film made before the year 2000
Such a fine facade, in Southwark Street near London Bridge
August 8, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Such a fine facade, in Southwark Street near London Bridge
... but he was also featured by producer Dallas Bower in the BBC Television Demonstration Film, shot of 35mm film, which was shown every weekday morning from the summer of 1937 through to wartime shutdown.
August 8, 2025 at 7:31 AM
... but he was also featured by producer Dallas Bower in the BBC Television Demonstration Film, shot of 35mm film, which was shown every weekday morning from the summer of 1937 through to wartime shutdown.
but he was also featured by producer Dallas Bower in the BBC Television Demonstration Film, shot of 35mm film, which was shown every weekday morning from the summer of 1937 through to wartime shutdown.
August 8, 2025 at 7:30 AM
but he was also featured by producer Dallas Bower in the BBC Television Demonstration Film, shot of 35mm film, which was shown every weekday morning from the summer of 1937 through to wartime shutdown.
A bemused Keaton-esque clown, Sherkot performed the actions by sportsmen throwing, twirling and catching imaginary balls and the like. He appeared at least four times in live broadcasts from Alexandra Palace...
August 8, 2025 at 7:29 AM
A bemused Keaton-esque clown, Sherkot performed the actions by sportsmen throwing, twirling and catching imaginary balls and the like. He appeared at least four times in live broadcasts from Alexandra Palace...