Trellis2

A very interesting afternoon yesterday spent in a whirl of artist/academic ‘matchmaking’ at Fish Island. This is the first stage of the Trellis2 programme that is about partnerships of artists interested in east London and academics from UCL responding to the new UCL East development. It’s really a knowledge exchange activity, aiming to maximise impact between the university and the local community/ies. Although there were way more artists than researchers at yesterday’s initial event, which made the matchmaking aspect a little tricky, so many of us work in both environments. People at this stage of the selection process include those working on ideas about trust and what to believe, Frankenstein, being human, self-build houses, sign language, magic and remembering and heritage.

It’s early days in the project, building up to the selection of four partnerships being selected to create work for spring 2021. There’s so many levels of interest for me and connections with my work: from east London itself; concepts of ‘regeneration’ and varying ideas of heritage; collaborations with people working in other disciplines and engagement with users of a space or place; and the duration of the project. In terms of the themes outlined, culture, social science (in terms of social geography and sociology) and urban living (in terms of communities, architecture, public spaces) are highly evident in my practice. Along with engineering in relation to architecture and social engineering, these are the areas in which I’d see most potential with my work.

With my background in architecture, projects are often focused on a particular space or place or building and its users. These include:

1 Lightboxes & Lettering (2018–20)
A Heritage Lottery-funded project with Rendezvous Projects, on the experiences of people involved in the printing industry in the pre-digital era in east London (mostly Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest). The outputs here include exhibitions at SPACE and Nunnery galleries, a series of oral history interviews to be deposited in the London Metropolitan Archive, a book and workshops on printing and writing.

2 Building 519 (2014)
A publication and audio installation commissioned by Whitstable Biennale, focusing on the community of redundant workers from the closed Pfizer pharmaceutical complex at Sandwich.

3 Leysdown Rose-tinted (2009–11)
An arts regeneration public realm improvement project on the Isle of Sheppey where, together with muf architecture/art, as project leader, I worked with local arts, religious and business groups, schools, the WI and other social groups. Outputs ranged from a rose garden, photographic exhibitions, a postcard project, a book to a community writing website. This project received a Royal Society for Public Health, Arts and Public Health Commendation 2011.

A Trick of the Light (2005), a digital writing piece on reactions to a newbuild performance space for a writer-in-residence commission with architexts/Southeast Arts. I worked with residents and staff at Orchard House, a Rudolf Steiner residential home for young adults with learning difficulties. It was from my experience during this project that I coined the term ‘audio architecture’ for my use of sound to create spaces.

Ligthboxes and Lettering Gallery Workshops

Alongside the exhibition, there’s a programme of day and evening talks, walks, workshops and visits, all related to aspects of local print. Read more on the Nunnery gallery website

Lightboxes and Lettering

The show is open at the Nunnery gallery until Sunday 29 March 2020, Tue-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat & Sun 10am-5pm.
181 Bow Road
London
E3 2SJ

 

 

Lightboxes & Lettering: The book!

It’s nearly here: on the press this week.

The exhibition at Nunnery Gallery in Bow opens on 16 January, and the book is a standalone but companion piece to the show.

This is the press release:

Lightboxes and Lettering: the importance of east London’s print industry celebrated in new National Lottery-funded exhibition

Lightboxes and Lettering | 17 January – 29 March 2020 at the Nunnery Gallery E3
Private view: Thursday 16 January, 6-9pm

A new exhibition at Bow’s Nunnery Gallery is set to celebrate the fascinating and important history of the print industry in east London.

Lightboxes and Lettering by Rendezvous Projects is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the show tells the story of the ever-changing face of the print industry throughout the 20^th century. The show focuses on printers in the boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Waltham Forest, giving the public a chance to view historic photographs and printed items, many of which have never been seen before.

The exhibition collects images of iconic east London print shop fronts, factory floors and machinery alongside print workers’ memories, which are told through a new collection of oral histories. These oral histories were collected by the Rendezvous Projects team alongside a number of enthusiastic local volunteers, who also received free training in interviewing techniques and the collection of oral histories.

Lightboxes and Lettering utilises archive material and newly discovered items from print companies, co-ops and radical presses across east London. The absorbing exhibition documents changes in the print industry throughout the 20^th century, exploring the important role east London played and the influences of new and digital technologies.

Forgotten, often intricate techniques are celebrated, with beautiful examples of print on display, which include booklets, catalogues, packaging and colourful posters that advertise anything from political events to music nights across east London. There is also a selection of prints and publications made by local participants in workshops that Rendezvous Projects ran to demonstrate the techniques and equipment of the past.

“The print trade is such a rich part of east London’s industrial history,” says Lucy Harrison, Project Leader. “The technology of print, design aspects and the finished products all provide a fascinating insight into the evolution of the print industry in the area, from closed-shop union print-works to radical presses and commercial, artists’ or community print shops.”

Presented in the heart of the East End, the show will run at Bow Arts’ Nunnery Gallery, opposite Bow Church from 17 January to 29 March 2020. The organisers hope that this will attract many former-print workers and art lovers to view the work and reflect on this slice of our capital’s history. The exhibition is aimed at anyone with an enthusiasm for print, design or local history, although it should also attract those with interest in photography, trades union history or the changing face of east London.

“It is important that the history of the print industry in east London is recognised and recorded,” says Peter Wynn, a former-owner of the Malvern Press, which operated in Dalston from 1953 to 2003. “The advent of the printed word in England in the 15th century saw London become a major centre of print. Due to its proximity to The City, its commercial heart, East London provided a base for printers to supply products and services that supported its rapid growth and, to some extent, still does.”

ENDS ——

For further information, images and interviews please contact:
Lucy Harrison, Rendezvous Projects info@rendezvousprojects.org.uk
Georgina Walters, Marketing and Communications Assistant, 020 8709 5290 | media@bowarts.com
Sophie Hill, Director of Arts + Events, 020 8980 7774 ext.312 | shill@bowarts.com

Notes to editors

Exhibition: Lightboxes + Lettering
Dates: 17 January – 29 March 2020
Venue: Nunnery Gallery, Bow Arts, 183 Bow Road, London E3 2SJ. Tues-Sun, 10am to 5pm, free entry

About Rendezvous Projects
Rendezvous Projects is a Community Interest Company based in Waltham Forest, developing creative ways of exploring social history and providing opportunities for communities to take part in the work. The organisation is run by Iain Aitch, Rosa Ainley, Katherine Green, Lucy Harrison and Michael Needham.

Lightboxes and Lettering has been made possible with a £58,200 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The project focuses on the pre-digital era of printing in Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest and the experiences of people involved in the industry.

http://www.lightboxeslettering.com/
www.rendezvousprojects.org.uk

About Bow Arts
Bow Arts is an arts education charity that provides affordable creative workspaces for over 500 emerging artists. Alongside this, Bow Arts manages one of the country’s most exciting education programmes, which takes world-class artists into 90 schools to improve the lives and learning of children and young people. Bow Arts runs the Nunnery Gallery, a public gallery that supports a diverse range of high quality exhibitions and events as well as the delivery of a public arts programme. Established in 1995, Bow Arts holds an important place in east London which is fast becoming known as London’s Artist Quarter.

www.bowarts.org | www.twitter.com/BowArts | www.facebook.com/bowarts

About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
Using money raised by the National Lottery, we Inspire, lead and resource the UK’s heritage to create positive and lasting change for people and communities, now and in the future. http://www.heritagefund.org.uk.

Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund

https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/

Lightboxes + Lettering: East London print industry history

Opens January 2020, Nunnery Gallery, London E3

A new exhibition explores and archives the history of the printing industry in east London.

Lightboxes + Lettering, an exhibition by Rendezvous Projects, offers a wealth of material – printed matter, photographs, objects and oral history – to explore the 20^th century history of the print industry in the east London boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Waltham Forest in the 20^th century.

Using archive and newly found material from large and small companies, co-ops and radical presses, the exhibition examines and documents changes in the industry and its locations, and the influences of new and digital technologies. Rendezvous Press worked with a team of volunteers to collect material and produce responses to the project’s findings.

Lucy Harrison, Project Leader, “The print trade is such a rich part of east London’s industrial history. The technology of print, design aspects and the finished products all provide a fascinating insight into the evolution of the print industry in the area, from closed-shop union print-works to radical presses and commercial, artists’ or community print shops.”

http://www.lightboxeslettering.com/

www.rendezvousprojects.org.uk

 

 

 

Notes to Editors

About Rendezvous Projects

Rendezvous Projects is a Community Interest Company based in Waltham Forest, developing creative ways of exploring social history and providing opportunities for communities to take part in the work. The organisation is run by Iain Aitch, Rosa Ainley, Katherine Green, Lucy Harrison and Michael Needham.
www.rendezvousprojects.org.uk

Lightboxes and Lettering has been made possible with a £58,200 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The project focuses on the pre-digital era of printing in Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest and the experiences of people involved in the industry.

 

About Bow Arts

 

About the National Lottery Heritage Fund

Thanks to National Lottery players, we invest money to help people across the UK explore, enjoy and protect the heritage they care about – from the archaeology under our feet to the historic parks and buildings we love, from precious memories and collections to rare wildlife. http://www.heritagefund.org.uk. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund.

 

 

Further information

For further information, interviews and press images please contact Lucy Harrison at Rendezvous Projects at info@rendezvousprojects.org.uk

Meanwhile, back in the real world

I reread an earlier post from this year at the beginning of summer/end of teaching about ‘this is what I want to be doing’ – three projects in the pipeline – and this is what I’m already doing – another three, already in some state of progress. Oh the over-ambitious possibilities of what can be fitted in, when there’s also holidays and the (realistic) rest of teaching to be done.

Those that I want to be doing – the ruined Gillespie, Kidd, Koia seminary at Cardross in Dumbartonshire; the new piece in my waiting series; the ‘uncreative fiction’ idea (with thanks to Kenneth Goldsmith‘s book of the same name – will all be still taking tiny steps, in my head at least. My plan to visit the seminary this summer didn’t come off. This was partly because of fairly extreme weather: there’s not much point trying to do a site visit and document the place in pouring rain, especially when it’s a precarious ruin in the middle of the countryside. And again, I was trying to fit too much into a holiday. There could be something of a pattern emerging here.

Then, of those projects that I’m already doing, the Lightboxes + Lettering book and exhibition are steaming ahead, while The Alphabet Tax, my novel, has made big steps this summer in my head, if not quite yet on paper.

Lightboxes + Lettering

Walking round Hackney, Clerkenwell, Islington and Tower Hamlets in the last few weeks, I’ve been taking reference shots of where old print premises used to be. I’d decided on about 20 locations, for various reasons including the type of place, other material we’d found during the research process, printers mentioned in oral history interviews etc.

None of them exist anymore. This in itself is not so surprising, but it does go a long way to underline the importance of the project. It’s not just about developing technologies and their role in changing the print industry, it’s also about the changing nature of high streets and the role of regeneration initiatives in transforming neighbourhoods. As ever, plenty of interesting buildings to see, even if they’re nothing to do with the print trade anymore, or if they’ve been replaced by completely different buildings.

We may not want everything to stay the same: personally I don’t. But reminding ourselves of what was there and realising that there are other ways for cities and districts in them to look is always important.

This is on Pollards Row, Bethnal Green, close by to where the premises of JS Forsaith used to be.

This is one of the doorways of what used to be Hartstein’s on Commercial Road.

 And the front facade on Commercial St.

And this one at Sugarhouse Lane in Stratford, erstwhile site of the Ink Factory, rather sums up the situation.

New tides

Could it be the joys of spring perhaps or more likely the end of the teaching year drawing to a close? I’m awash with new projects I want to get going, as well as the old ones I want to revisit and complete.

This is what I want to be working on:
Plurivocal project on St Peters seminary in Cardross, the ruins of the building by Gillespie, Kida and Coia (1966)
Waiting data: next phase of series
Uncreative writing project: code translations of images of buildings, then rewriting

This is what I’m what I’m already working on:
Lightboxes + Lettering: final work for East London print industry project
The Alphabet Tax: novel in progress
Writing Alexandra Palace: seeking publication

It’s all been put aside for most of the academic year, so watch this space for more updates.

New phase for Lightboxes + Lettering

We’re delighted to be starting the next phase of the Heritage Lottery-funded Lightboxes + Lettering project on the print industry in east London. The final show will be at the Nunnery gallery, Bow Arts in early 2020, with a programme of events, workshops, talks and walks. Well, at least one walk.

We’ll also be publishing a book-of-the-project, about the processes, the businesses, the unions, the alternative presses. Lucy Harrison, another of the directors of Rendezvous Projects, and I will be making new work as part of the exhibition, as well as putting together the exhibition, the book and the archive holdings on the project for the London Metropolitan archive, along with our volunteers, who will also be contributing to the show.

More Follows …

Our show More Follows, charting the work so far in Rendezvous Projects’ Lightboxes and Lettering, opens at SPACE in Mare Street E8 next Thursday! Come and see what’s happening with our project on print in east London.