To the Museum of Transport and Technology this morning. I try to visit here every time I come to Glasgow, but this will be the last time in its current venue. The exhibits are being removed piece-by-piece in preparation for their move to new premises in the Riverside Museum, which will open next year. Some of my favourite items are not on show today, in particular the ship gallery, with scale models of hundreds of Clyde-built ships. In the few minutes I stand, nosed pressed against the glass looking at what's left of the display, another three or four men of around my age come up beside me and utter disappointed sighs.
Despite the closure of the ship cabinets, two exhibits cath my eye today. The first of these is "The Truck Art Project". As part of Glasgow's Salaam festival (1997), celebrating the arts and culture of the Muslim world, a local van has been transformed into a colourful and dramatic mobile work of art based on the "Truck Art" of Pakistan. Local artist Nicola Atkinson Griffith and Pakistan artist Afshan Abid have worked with students from Glasgow School of Art and local schoolchildren to produce the dewsigns and decorate the van. In the text accompanying the van on show, artist Nicola is quoted: "I was sent to Karachi to meet an artist, Afshan Abid, and to gain some knowledsge about Truck Art. I gained a greater understanding of the Muslim faith. It is siad that this is a new Land. It seems that the cultural ideas have moved into a direct form, revisiting the tools and language that has always been part of the people of Pakistan, one example is Truck Art. Afshan and I will try to bring Glasgow and Karachi culture together".
Also on display is a caravan from Faslane Peace Camp. This is a permanent peace camp sited alongside Faslane Naval base. It has been occupied continuously, in a few different locations, since June 1982. For a few years, I lived not that far from the Peace Camp and visted the people there a few times. Occasioanlly, we'd bake cakes for them.
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