ARCHIVE / BOOK LAUNCH

It was a real pleasure to meet up yesterday with David George and Mike Seaborne at the launch of  the book ARCHIVE. I sadly arrived after the presentation but managed to catch up with people and the works. I strongly recommend you this new publication which has all the assets for a successful and versatile read. Simply after flipping its pages I can see that not only individuals, not our platform but also institutions are taking the East End as an evolving organic social and artistic matter to question and document in real time. I am looking forward to dive into it.

ARCHIVE
Imagining the East End

Supported by the Cass school of Art
Susan Andrews and Nicholas Haeffner
Edited by Zelda Cheatle

Black Dog Publishing
www.blackdogonline.com
isbn 978-1-908966-37-7

HACKNEY CONTINUUM / THE RUSSET

Very exciting show to witness at the Russet in Hackney Downs Studios by Chris Dorley Brown. As it says the photographer explores the East End and its changing faces from 1970 until today. I was delighted to discover this place at first. I lived nearby few years back and this area has always been abandoned somehow so it is nice to see that there is some creative life on the rise. I can see that Hackney is changing a lot and rapidly. The Russet is a very rich and alternative space where you feel at home. The atmosphere is cosy and child friendly and the space is quite vast. I was very surprised to see that such a commercial venture can offer that much space to an artist in a way that it really looks like an art exhibition instead of a generic profitable decoration.
The flow of the selection and versatility of the walls offer a real journey through Chris' work. In the end it feels like witnessing a mini-retrsopective of his hard work and passion for morphing Hackney and is communities. The prints are all different in size, presentation and finish which makes it very exciting. As you explore the different walls and rooms you get immersed in the various eras and series Chris has observed with his own intellect and engagement. The show runs until 5th March. I know it is not that convenient to get there but it is truly worth it.

The Russet, Hackney Downs Studios, Amhurst Terrace E8 2BT
Nearest train stations: Rectory Road, Dalston Kingsland, Hackney Downs

50 YEARS BOOK CELEBRATION

Very proud and happy to finish 2013 with a quality publication from the Gobelins School, Paris that turned me mid-90's into a fully skilled darkroom technician. I then moved a couple of years later to London and became a freelance photographer. I am celebrating their 50 years successful anniversary with a lot of talented photographers sharing their vision and interests. I personally submitted my Boarrrds series which has never been published before. They selected my Blue, reds and double yellow lines picture which I love. This series has been produced randomly over few years and might be revisited in a near future, who knows. But just to say that most of it has been shot in East London and it does encapsulate quite well what the East is about.

éditions.terrebleue 

RIVER LEA BOOK / GIGLER

issuu.com/drdom/docs/along_the_river_lea?e=0/5858043

CHRIS CONTINUUM

Dear Friends,

My first iPad book is published today by Fusion Lab in NYC, it’s available from the App Store for the princely sum of £2.99. Featuring 120 colour photographs of the evolving London landscape from 1983 to the present and an introduction text by Stewart Home. Thanks & best wishes! Chris X

http://is.gd/continuumipad

Fusion Lab says:

Continuum is an interactive book on the iPad that showcases photographer Chris Dorley Brown’s unique set of before-and-after photos of London spanning two decades. These pairs of photos with their identical framing of the exact same location, reveal the sometimes incredible and sometimes subtle but always present march of time.

This interactive book provides an especially fitting means of experiencing this exceptional photographer’s particular view into the ways in which streets, buildings and people change over time. By tapping the subtle icon in the lower-left corner the “before” image fades into the “after” image. Tap repeatedly to toggle back and forth through time. Scroll vertically to see both photos side by side, the years they were shot, and the photos’ caption. 

The book includes sixty pairs, or one hundred and twenty photographs, as well as a beautiful essay on this work by writer Stewart Home. 

The app will be available for purchase ($4.99) on Thursday, November 28th. The app store url is: http://is.gd/continuumipad

Samples of photographs from Continuum: http://fusionlab.com/continuum/

CATALOGUE

I can now officially announced that a catalogue has been produced to relive this almost one year residency project at the Workshop Coffee Marylebone branch. This is a free A4 format publication to grab with your coffee. It will be available this week and we have a 1000 copies. Feel free to take one, or more, before the Christmas rush.
This initiative wouldn't have been possible without the generous contribution from our host.
Many thanks again and enjoy the read.

In the next few days I will revisit the space and devise a collective show to complement this brochure.

AUGUST RESIDENCY

My own Stories from an autonomous space is titled Playtime in reference to Tati's last major long feature.
The pictures are now hung and ready to enjoy with a coffee in Marylebone.

Playtime
I have photographed the East-End from 2009 until early 2012 to analyze the shift experienced on the way to the recent London Olympics and gathered materials to be presented in various ways. Today I want to pay hommage to French film director Jacques Tati. Playtime was not only his masterpiece but also his downfall.
Best known for his modern silent tales based on humour and nostalgia they also depict human activities in the most mundane scenarios. That said there is always a strong underlayer that questions modernity, politics and aspirations to a better world thanks to innovation, colossal developments and capitalism.
I think the contemporary Olympian agenda would have been of a great inspiration for another Tatiesque feature where laughter is always around the corner. 


Directions: 
Workshop Coffee Marylebone
75 Wigmore Street
London W1U 1QD
nearest tube Bond street
open until 6pm daily