Really enjoyed Manchester City Art Gallery's restoration project http://www.manchestergalleries.org/whats-on/exhibitions/index.php?itemID=10 The work on William Etty's painting The Sirens and Ulysses is fascinating - not least because it's been over 100 years since the painting has been seen in public - it's a bit "reality TV meets art" but the long period of time that it will take to complete the work lacks the instant hit that fans of Big Brother will crave..... Anyone patient enough to follow the painting's progress through to late 2007 should drop in and have a look now. Visitors can see the conservators at work in the gallery Tuesday-Friday (depending on schedule) with monthly question and answer sessions about the project. Strangely it has been a bit of a week for Sirens with my re-discovery of a video of This Mortal Coil singing Song To The Siren on YouTube. Ancient myths still living on in a variety of modern contexts - am sure there is some moral in there in somewhere...
