LONDON’S BEST ARTS AND CULTURE: CURATED

thesmoke

ISSUE 717 FEBRUARY - 9 MARCH ‘14

SOUVID DATTA, PHOTOJOURNALIST AND UCL STUDENT / WE INTERVIEW KATY B / MUSIC REVIEWS: CONNAN MOCKASIN, ST. VINCENT, WILD BEASTS / DEREK JARMAN: PANDEMONIUM / A DIALOGUE WITH PAINTER

DIARMUID KELLEY / THE NORTH, SOUTH, EAST AND FURTHER EAST IN LONDON STYLE

the smoke

LONDON UNDER WATER: COVER DESIGN / PHOTOGRAPHY EMMA ALLWOOD

READ FULL ISSUES ONLINE: WWW.LONDON-STUDENT.NET/THE-SMOKE

FROM THE EDITORS

EDITORS-IN-CHIEFEmma Hope Allwood

Rena Minegishithesmoke@london-student.net

SUB EDITOR Anna Tomlinson

DESIGNER / FASHION EDITOREmma Hope Allwood

fashion@london-student.net

ARCHIVE EDITORGaby Laing

archive@london-student.net

ARTS EDITORSCostanza Beltrami

Liza Weberarts@london-student.net

BOOKS EDITORElizabeth Metcalfe

books@london-student.net

FILM EDITORKit Harwood

screen@london-student.net

FOOD EDITORBryony Bowie

food@london-student.net

MUSIC EDITOR George McVicar

music@london-student.net

THEATRE EDITORSarah Fortescue

theatre@london-student.net

TRAVEL EDITORJames Hodge

travel@london-student.net

Oh God. What is up with this weather... no more smugly declaring that “London isn’t even that rainy, it’s just a stereotype” for us, because this is miserable. To lift our spirits, ground down by endless grey skies, these editors decided to brighten their lives through fashion. Rena picked up an orange Fila pu�a jacket from eBay in a men’s small, which is still enormous. People can’t help searching for the little woman living somewhere inside the big nylon object, with something akin to pity in their eyes. She doesn’t care, though, because it looks fucking cool. Emma invested in a neon pink faux fur coat, because sometimes only wearing black – in an attempt to give o� tragically fashionable existentialist vibes – gets a little boring.

But if you aren’t the kind of person to buy something which will earn you wide-eyed stares, we have plenty in our new issue to brighten your day. Our feature this issue is a double spread on Souvid Datta, a UCL ESPS student and winner of 2013 Guardian Student Media Awards’ Photographer

of the Year. Also the man behind London Student issue 6’s photographic feature “China: Industrialising Nation”, we asked him about the process of documenting and the

politics of representation.

In other UoL talent news, the ex-Goldsmiths student and Mercury Prize-nominated singer Katy B told us about writing her new release Little Red, her student days and favourite recipe. She’s lovely: turn to page 6 to read up. And we’ve got one more: Derek Jarman, the late cult filmmaker and a King’s and Slade alum, is being celebrated in the exhibition Derek

Jarman: Pandemonium, hosted by King’s Cultural Institute. We spoke to Mark Turner, English professor at King’s and curator, about Jarman’s importance: “you didn’t have to have a lot of money to make interesting work.”

You also don’t have to go to a big cinema chain to see good films: check out our highlights of independent film

screenings in two Peckham bars. Sink down on a comfy couch with a pint and enjoy a selection of great films – it’s the best of both worlds.

We hope you enjoy this issue, and that it helps to keep your mind o� the rain.

EMMA & RENA

THE SMOKE

4-5 – FEATURES THE EYE: Souvid Datta,

photojournalist and UCL student, shares his tales and thoughts on

documentation

6 – MUSIC Interview with R&B singer Katy B:

“100% I miss the [student] lifestyle – that freedom of being able to learn

and meet people”

7 – MUSIC Live & album reviews: Connan

Mockasin, St. Vincent, Wild Beasts and more

8 – FILM Derek Jarman: Pandemonium:

a conversation with curator and King’s professor Mark Turner on the

cult filmmaker’s commemoration

9 – FILMCozy and cheap film nights at our favourite Peckham bars: Peckham

Pelican and The Montpelier

10-11 – ARTSA dialogue between Arts Editor Liza Weber and painter Diarmuid Kelley

12 – ARTSSensing Spaces: Architecture

Reimagined at the Royal Academy / Interact: Deconstructing

Spectatorship, Courtauld Institute’s biennial exhibition

13 – FASHIONThe North, South, East and Further

East in London style

14 – BOOKS Independent bookstores: Muswell

Hill Bookshop / Reading Literature, Studying Science: a veterinary

student’s love letter to literature

15 – THEATRE Interview: Tim Key, actor and stand-

up comedian

16 – FOOD Review: Pitt Cue Co / A quick & easy recipe for procrastination o’clock: burnt butter biscuits

17 – TRAVEL

How to travel the world without leaving the Big Smoke: Cuba /

Little Britain: Wales

18 – DAYS & NIGHTSWe present London’s best events,

17 February - 10 March

19 – FROM THE ARCHIVES Two students at Goldsmiths

Student Union by Philip Meech, February 1992

19

3the smoke

WHAT’S INSIDE

4

10

8

SOUVID DATTA

How long have you been taking photos for?

Not long. I kind of fell into it, actually – I took a year o after school, started travelling quite a bit, mainly just backpacking; that’s when I started taking pictures of pretty things, using lots of filters. Slowly it became a way to create narratives and connect with certain communities and people. It gave my travelling a bit more purpose. And then I realised there was this whole field of photojournalism, which I knew nothing about; it went hand in hand with social sciences and being interested in politics and humanitarian issues. When I went back to India later in the year, it all started clicking together, and I got my first proper camera then.

We saw that you took pictures of women in

India – those who are involved in sex work?

Some of them are. There is one project specifically about sex trade in India. There’s another project, quite a big, long-term documentary work, on slums being redeveloped across India. That’s not getting too much attention at the moment, just because it’s such a long process, and in terms of visual documentation – everyone goes and takes pictures of slums, but [I was interested] in identifying the character of these quite iconic long-standing special economic zones of the poor, and seeing how that’s fading away and changing the face of the city. The sex trade project is a part of that. One of the biggest red light districts in Asia is in north Kolkata, called Sonagachi; it’s one of the slums I’m really interested in.

We were interested in how you manage to

go into such a private situation – how do

you approach people? Are they OK with

being photographed?

Sonagachi was really hard, just because they’re not fond of photographers or foreigners at all. I can speak the language, but I don’t look like I’m from there – I’m taller than most people there, I wasn’t wearing the right clothes and I have a funny accent when I speak, so it didn’t take very long for people to realise that I’m not supposed to be there. You get heckled away and stu. There are stories of unsuspecting foreigners going there with a camera and getting beaten up. The area works as a criminal gang system. Unless you have a way in, through people who spend a lot of time there or who have connections, you’re not going to get access. So I tried working with NGOs [Non-

Governmental Organisations] to begin with, and that gave me some familiarity with how things work on the ground, some context; but even then, they’re seen as outsiders. So I had to make contacts with sex workers there, and arrange for meetings to speak to them. Just interviews initially, spending some time with them, and then introducing the idea of a camera to document them.

Quite a long process, then.It seems like it, but it was quite a rushed process; the sex work project was in a one-month period. I wish I could’ve taken all the pictures that I wanted to, but the frustrating thing is that 99% of the pictures I wanted to take, I couldn’t. It was more about trying to manage, to edit the pictures I did have to represent the situation in a fair, respectful but honest way.

You asked about permission – I think that’s super, super important, especially for me. In terms of creating a narrative or addressing an issue – for me, photography is about getting to know people, connecting with them; you have to speak to them from before. And in terms of objectivity, they say you should try to blend into the shadows, be a fly on the wall or whatever, but I don’t think that’s really possible in most of these situations. Especially when you quite clearly don’t belong there. So you have to interact with them, get them used to who you are, what you’re trying to do, get them comfortable with you, so that the process becomes more honest and true.

Oh, completely. And there are a lot of

politics around representation, because

you get some photographers that just go

into a place they have little familiarity with

or connection to, don’t spend the time to

get to know the people or understand the

situation, and thus misrepresent them,

which is dangerous.

We were wondering about your work in

China – the Western media loves to portray

China as this huge dystopia. Did you have

any connection to China; did you speak

the language or did you go with somebody

else?

No; I was quite acutely aware of the fact that I was going to a place where I don’t know its language, I’d never been there before, addressing an issue I don’t have any qualifications in – I don’t know much about environmental sciences – which is why the approach became much more anecdotal and based on a personal testimony of things, instead of trying to paint a big brush kind of picture, of China being environmentally irresponsible. So it became more about the people and personal costs to individuals and communities, of specific companies being neglectful of their responsibilities. I did have people there helping me translate. They weren’t professionals, they were students willing to help out. I was there on a tourist visa, which got me into quite a lot of trouble… in terms of getting insight into the country, I went on my very limited personal experiences and what other people said to me.

featurethe smoke44

Souvid Datta is a photojournalist and

the Guardian Student Photographer of the

Year. From Kolkata and London, and a final year

European Social and Political Studies student

at UCL, we asked him about documentary

photography, the politics of representation and

future projects

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feature the smoke 5

In your degree, you’re studying issues of

con ict s that hy you tra elled to ypt

to document the continuin unrest

It was during last February, and that was for me the first time I got to test whether I had the skills to be the photographer that I wanted to be. When I think of photographers that inspire me, I think of people like Steve McCurry and James Nachtwey, they’re all heavyweight photojournalists who go to conflict zones and cover quite challenging, long-term humanitarian issues. That requires a lot of skills, which I don’t think most people get to test out.

How do you react when you hear gunfire? How do you react when there’s a bleeding guy in front of you but there’s a picture you should be taking 50 metres away? All that, you can’t really learn unless you are in that situation. For me, that was one reason to go to Cairo, to see how I handled it. Secondly, I was super inspired by all of the Arab Spring, studying politics, with terms like “freedom” and “democracy” being thrown around and rearranged all the time, but not being questioned on a personal level. That whole process of people – families, children, students and the elderly – coming together to fight for what we take for granted really attracted me, and I thought it would be a chance to get a story together.

I realised really quickly that my ambitions are always too big – I didn’t speak Arabic, I didn’t know anyone there either, but it was a good learning experience. I’m not happy with the pictures I took, because they don’t tell a story really, but I learned.

ny ad ice to i e to other students ho may

e inspired to try this type o photo raphy

One of the biggest bits of advice I’ve got from people and mentors, and what I’m beginning to discover now, is that your best work occurs in places that you know something about. Like, China was fun, but it was just as much about travel and learning as much as it was about taking good pictures. I’m going to be able to take much better pictures in places I know more about. That’s something I’ve always been scared to do, in the same way people like to go to a new city and travel a lot more than they do in their home city.

I take many more pictures abroad than I do in London, and I want that to change. There are a lot of important stories here, which aren’t really getting good photojournalistic coverage, and I want to address that. Specifically looking at youth culture in ethnic minority groups, which I think I have some access to. Young parents, gangs, violence, that kind of stu�.

What I would’ve wanted to know as me two years ago… enter competitions, shoot as much as you can, whatever the project is. There are portfolio reviews, and so many di�erent photography festivals. Shoot, shoot, shoot, and find a mentor.

/ INTERVIEWED BY EMMA ALLWOOD &

RENA MINEGISHI / KCL /

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

A PROTESTOR IN CAIRO THROWS BACK A TEARGAS CANISTER, FEB 2013. £1.7M WORTH OF THESE WERE

ORDERED FROM THE US BY PRESIDENT MORSI

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musicthe smoke6

KIERAN JONES INTERVIEWS KATY B,

R&B SINGER AND GOLDSMITHS ALUM,

IN TIME FOR THE RELEASE OF HER

NEW ALBUM LITTLE RED.

This may be a bit of a predictable

question, but where did the name of your

album come from?

You know what, it’s not an obvious

question – I actually named it after a song

called “Little Red Light” but it didn’t make

the album because it didn’t fi t in with

the rest of the music. But I really liked it,

I think it kind of describes me in a way –

because I’m short and I have red hair, and

I thought “Little Red” represented all the

emotions I feel when I listen to the album,

and the subject matters like love, jealousy,

lust, danger. It just feels like quite a weird

album as well.

So is there a particular theme running

through it? What do you feel infl uenced

your music this time around?

I think the songs are just about

experiences, conversations and walks

from the last three years of my life really;

that’s kind of what ties it together – those

sorts of experiences that I’ve had over

the last few years. I listen to underground

club music, a lot of very raw albums,

which defi nitely infl uenced me when I

made On a Mission.

One of the songs called “Blues Eyes” was

infl uenced a bit by Joni Mitchell and her

acrobatic kind of vocal style, so [there’s]

loads of different infl uences. Some of

the new music is a bit slower, instead of

up-tempo, but it’s still electronic so it

accidentally ended up sounding quite 80s.

As a result, I started listening to artists

like Madonna more.

What was the writing process like for

the album? Do some songs take longer

than others to get through in the writing

process?

All the time; some songs fl y out in half an

hour and you’re like “wow, that was easy,”

then other days I’ll write six different

verses when I have a chorus in place. Or

sometimes I’ll think that chorus isn’t good

enough, and I’ll write another one and

another one, bashing my head against the

wall saying “oh my God” because I just

can’t get it out.

I understand your UK tour is sold out,

how do you feel about that kind of

response?

I feel really, really excited because I can’t

wait to sing my new songs live; it’s just

going to be really, really good fun.

How has London shaped you as an artist?

London is the biggest part of my identity.

I was just driving through here the

other day and I was thinking I am such a

London girl. My parents are from London,

my grandparents lived here so I’m a

London girl really. There’s so much here

that has infl uenced my music, like the

pirate radio stations here and the music

that you hear all around. Even where I

was growing up in Peckham in south east

London, you walk down the high street

and the butchers will be blasting music or

a friend’s uncle will be playing. I grew up

to be around a lot of people that are into

R&B. It’s just everything here really.

Do you have a favourite place in London?

The other day I walked to Greenwich

because my mum and dad used to take

me there when I was little to visit the

Cutty Sark or walk through the foot

tunnel, and I had a spare Sunday over

the Christmas holidays so I thought, “I’ll

walk to Greenwich and get some pie

and mash.” I had just a little walk around

the market on my own like a loner, but

I had such a nice day so I actually think

Greenwich is one of my favourite places.

What was it that inspired you to take the

route of a popular music degree rather

than just going straight out into the

world of music?

I thought that when I left college, instead

of going and getting a job in a bar or

something like that, I thought I’d go to uni

and be a student and learn more about

music and open my mind to things, so

that was my reason for doing a popular

music course.

What was it like being a student? Were

you the typical partying student and do

you miss the lifestyle?

I went to Goldsmiths, so I didn’t move

out or anything, but I still defi nitely

saw my fair share of [partying]. I’d

also get the National Express to all my

friends that were in Bristol and York and

Bournemouth and all these different

places. 100% I miss the lifestyle: that kind

of freedom of just being able to learn

and meet other people that are from

different parts of the country. I think it’s

defi nitely an experience that shapes you

as a person.

Is there any advice you can give to

students that helped you get through

your degree?

I would defi nitely say don’t do essays the

night before, because as soon as I would

start doing them I would be like “I’m quite

enjoying this” and it would just be too late

to really put 100% into it – I would just be

doing it last minute. I still came out of it

with a degree but I feel I could have done

so much more so I would say just start

things a little earlier.

I heard you like cooking. Any meals you

can recommend for students to cook?

The easiest thing is just to have a roast

chicken, and if you cook a roast chicken

then you can make sandwiches with it,

make a salad, make a curry and make

stock out of the bones.

If you hadn’t studied popular music,

what degree would you have chosen?

I probably would have studied media.

I wouldn’t mind doing something to

do with a radio show so I probably

would have done a media course and

writing about music. I may have done

something at Goldsmiths like sociology or

anthropology, although I really enjoyed

doing music psychology – working out

how people think with music and stuff like

that.

What is your favourite part about being

an artist?

When you’re in the studio for ages then

you can’t wait to sing live, but then when

you sing live you can’t wait to get back

into the studio and when you’ve been

there for ages then you want to shoot a

video so everything comes full circle.

You revealed that your dad had a career

in performance, when he appeared in

the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest; would

you say that he was an infl uence in you

becoming a performer because of that?

100%. My dad was a massive infl uence on

me. He loved singing and he would always

be singing in the kitchen. He had a little

studio at home and he would always be

writing songs and he always supported

me as well, saying that you have to do

what makes you happy. And he has really

great taste in music as well.

LITTLE RED WAS RELEASED ON

FEBRUARY 10TH.

/ INTERVIEWED BY KIERAN JONES / QMUL / CONTRIBUTOR

IMAGE: KATYBOFFICIAL.COM

KATY BKATY B“ I ’ M S U C H A L O N D O N G I R L ”

When you’re in the studio for ages then you

can’t wait to sing live, but then when you sing

live you can’t wait to get back into

the studio

“

“

/ KAMRAN KHAN / HEYTHROP / CONTRIBUTOR

Around the fourth album, many bands and artists seem

to lose their sense of adventure. Thankfully, it is safe to say that this is not the case for Annie Clark, AKA St. Vincent. Picking up where she left o� with the sweet, fuzz-guitar-driven chaos of previous album Strange Mercy, things are no less distorted or hectic this time around. The pretty yet wonky opener “Rattlesnake” bounces along with a strange sense of anxious buoyancy, with guitars and vocals dancing in harmony over a crisp, up-tempo groove. Lead single “Birth In Reverse” follows, and once again showcases Clark’s unique guitar style, which is both melodic and abrasive in equal measure. Lyrically, too, this album is just as spiky as the instrumentation, with brutally blunt lines like “Oh what an ordinary day/Take out the garbage, masturbate”. The leftover horns from 2012’s David Byrne collaboration album, Love This Giant, which feature on “Digital Witness” are also a welcome addition. While a track like “Bring Me Your Loves” is lively perhaps to the point of slight alienation, for the most part this record is a truly engaging listen. Although the album may not contain as many hits as her previous work, it must be commended for its inventiveness.

music 7the smoke

ALBUM REVIEWSst. vincent

actress

ST. VINCENT(LOMA VISTA/REPUBLIC) Darren Cunningham (AKA

Actress) recently put together a very telling

selection of musical and cinematic influences for Dazed

and Confused magazine, contextualizing the rough, esoteric, electronic music on his latest album, Ghettoville. This album shares similarities with the slow and grainy house currently in vogue, being released by labels such as The Trilogy Tapes. Ghettoville underscores the mutual influence between Cunningham and producers like MGUN and Huerco S. This recent trend certainly owes much to Cunningham’s earlier releases but there is diversity within the record, particularly on the latter half, that goes beyond the vital but uninviting trudge of the opening few tracks. Avoiding the clichés of describing Cunningham’s music in terms of dystopias and bleak urban landscapes is tricky, especially given his admission of taking inspiration from films that explore these territories, such as Metropolis and They Live. An obvious point of reference in Cunningham’s music is Burial. However, while Burial’s first two albums are draped in a bittersweet glow valorising urban environments and inner-city life, Cunningham is shorn of such rose-tinted glasses and presents a somewhat more dank vision.

/ ROB HEATH / UCL / CONTRIBUTOR

Cass McCombs brought a jamming, rocking evening to Queen Elizabeth Hall. In a set that incorporated songs not only from his 2013 LP Big Wheel and Others, but also from his eight-album discography, Cass was consistent in reconciling the many disparate sounds of his music into a night of decided alternative rock. He stood with confidence, punching out even his most hushed vocals, and boldly lead his band’s many jams. Despite the importance of the unknowingness and dreamer-like curiosity of his lyrics, there was a pronounced defiance to the performance. Whilst Cass’s music has been sparser, more reserved and generally quieter when I have seen him in the past, tonight saw a fuller, more immediately engaging and lively set. I found myself content to lull back, not really think about what’s going on, letting his music ripple around the room. Circling, repeating ri�s were a recurring motif of the show, being protracted into long meditative jam sessions, often involving the rich, resonant tones of a lap steel guitar. It was particularly impressive how he tweaked every song from its recorded original, in terms of tempo, dynamics, and instrumentation, creating a more interesting experience than a straight recital would have provided. In characteristic fashion, Cass remained a man of few words throughout the show, but the music spoke volumes.

/ TOM LOVE / UCL / CONTRIBUTOR

There are few occasions where the titanic size of Hammersmith Apollo is justified by the music played within. Fortunately, the works of Ludivico Einaudi make for one of those occasions, as we were treated to a mixture of cacophonous film scores and delicate and heartfelt piano ballads. Einaudi’s music is so frequently accompanied by film that it’s hard not to drift off into an imaginative dreamscape and be swept along by the stirring ambience. Indeed, this is what he does best: infecting the audience with vivid cinematic spectacles with dazzling and hypnotic motifs. At points, it did feel as if Einaudi was trying a little too hard to fill the space by creating the most rousing and impassioned sound possible, and could have done with a little more reserve and patience. However, in a venue like Hammersmith Apollo, I was just excited to witness how far he could go with the sound – which included the intriguing use of some unusual textures such as sub bass, echoed cello and even thumb pianos – marking the new direction Einaudi has taken for his latest album In a Time Lapse. Unfortunately, Einaudi’s stop-off in the UK was for one night only before he continues on his world tour this year. However, given how good the response was to each and every piece, I’m sure he’ll be back again soon.

/ GEORGE MCVICAR / QMUL / MUSIC EDITOR

CASS MCCOMBS, SOUTHBANK CENTRE 13.01.14

live REVIEWS

Connan Mockasin’s performance at Shepherd’s Bush Empire began before the lights were even switched off. As I was at the bar, I suddenly heard the music fade out, and familiar but barely audible whispers and noises echoing around the venue. Without any response from the crowd, I started to think I had finally lost the plot, but this is exactly the sort of game that Mockasin pulls off so well in his music. As strobe lights began to blind the audience and Connan’s peroxide palm tree haircut came to the stage, it all started to fall into place. Before each song, the band created an incredible tension of agonizing silence in the venue before being released by a warbled lick from Connan’s whirling guitar. The centre piece of his 2013 album Caramel, “I’m The Man, That Will Find You”, was particularly impressive as a crowd-pleaser, as audience members tried their best to match his ethereal falsetto howls in the chorus. Connan himself has gained a remarkable stage presence that matches his unsettling and creepy persona on Caramel. It came to a climax at the encore as a cheerleader chanted his name on stage with Connan flinging his Jesus-like robe into the crowd, revealing his Austin Powers-esque physique. Behind me I heard someone say, “I don’t think he’s gay, he’s just letting out his inner Prince” – not a bad analysis, on reflection.

/ GEORGE MCVICAR / QMUL / MUSIC EDITOR

PRESENT TENSE (DOMINO)

Wild Beasts’ fourth album Present Tense has the

same arty, idiosyncratic appeal as their previous efforts. The production is slick, showcasing the album’s intricate, contemporary takes on 80s post-punk and electronic rock. “Don’t confuse me for someone beautiful,” Hayden Thorpe trills in his signature countertenor on the lead single, “Wanderlust,” a strong opener for the album with a vibrant electronic sound reminiscent of Radiohead and M83. Tracks like “Sweet Spot” and “A Simple Beautiful Truth” sound like Joy Division at their most upbeat as Thorpe’s falsetto swoops over the synth and drums. The album swerves from the playful to the melancholic: “Daughters” layers falsetto phrases over vocals in a lower register to a moody and menacing effect, and the down-tempo tracks toward the end of the album lead into the sweet, buoyant closer, “Palace,” which could almost be a lost Stereophonics track. The album lacks the punchy dance-floor appeal of singles from their earlier albums, such as “Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants” and “We Still Got the Taste Dancin’ On Our Tongues”, but the band continues to innovate even as it makes nods to other sounds and genres. / LANA HUH / KCL / CONTRIBUTOR

wildbeasts

LUDIVICO EINAUDI,HAMMERSMITH APOLLO 22.01.14

CONNAN MOCKASIN,SHEPHERD’S BUSH EMPIRE 28.01.14

7/10 7/10

GHETTO-VILLE(WERK DISCS)

8/10

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/ KAMRAN KHAN / HEYTHROP / CONTRIBUTOR

While 2012 was the bicentenary of Charles Dickens and

London was awash with commemorations and festivals

dedicated to him, 2014 will highlight a far more contemporary

and su ersi e fi ure ilmma er painter riter set

designer and queer rights activist, Derek Jarman is one of

ritain s reatest ma eric s rom the late th century est

no n or his e perimental films arman challen ed the

status quo of politics, history and sexuality in his works such

as ritain s first o ficial pun mo ie Jubilee and his numerous

notable collaborations with actress Tilda Swinton, including

Caravaggio, Edward II and his final and most e perimental

work, Blue

Commemorating twenty years since

Jarman’s death from AIDS-related

complications, institutions across London

are hosting events throughout the year

highlighting Jarman’s contribution to

oth the arts and G T acti ism ormer

student at King’s College London and the

Slade School, Jarman is commemorated

at The Inigo Rooms, curated by King’s

College London’s Cultural Institute, which

is hosting a special exhibition of Jarman’s

earlier or s Derek Jarman: Pandemonium

(until 9 March) focuses on the artist’s

education at King’s and his life along the

Thames doc side e ore sat do n

with curator Mark Turner, an English

professor at King’s, to discuss the exhibit

and arman s si nificance t enty years

a ter his tra ic passin

Why is Derek Jarman such an important

fi ure to remem er and commemorate

The spirit of him is what I’d like to celebrate: the idea that you don’t have to have a lot of money in order to do some really interesting work. You don’t need to be confined to a single medium and that politics [are] important. People are responding to this figure, who is appealing in many ways. It’s hard to imagine an artist like him nowadays, working completely outside of the systems and structures.

What does this exhibit offer that other

e ents perhaps don t

What it tries to celebrate most is his experience of London, and it’s the kind of London that no longer exists in the same way because it’s all been redeveloped and is too expensive now. There’s a particular vision of London I wanted to capture, not nostalgically but just to remind people of the way art used to be at the absolute centre of this city, with all kinds of people, with amazing kinds of energy. I don’t know where it is now, but it’s not at the centre anymore, and I wanted to gesture back to that kind of London. They lived and could produce art really cheaply with the materials available to them.

I think that relates to what people should arguably be trying

to do no

Yeah, I think that’s coming back to the idea of exploding technologies. I think Jarman would love mobile phones and things like YouTube, and finding objects and materials and

reworking them. So one of the things that the exhibition shows is first one very simple super 8 film, and one very layered one. He’s always doing things like taking one image and blowing it up. Like his version of alchemy where you transform one type of film into another. There’s nothing as cheap as taking a video on your mobile phone and then playing around with it, and I think young artists might respond to that.

o did you o a out selectin hat to include

The other thing I wanted to focus on was what he learned while he was a student at King’s. He did a general humanities degree but there were some very specific things that he focused on

which become very obvious [in his work]. I picked Death Dance because he absolutely loved medieval literature so I wanted something that obviously showed him reworking that. With the other films I wanted to show the complexity of what he does with images and the third super 8 film, Studio

Bankside, there was this notion that wherever he lived and worked there was this idea of the home.

es there s a i aspect o his educational li e at the e hi it

Why did you feel this was important?I think there’s a political point here: we’re both part of a university at a time when arts and humanities are under fire, with resources being cut and with humanities subjects being forced to defend themselves. People start questioning

why do an arts degree? And Jarman came here and did a general humanities degree, and he went to the Slade and did a fine arts degree, and why is that important? Because Derek Jarman produces the incredible work he does. And he wouldn’t have done that if he hadn’t had done these degrees. I think its important for universities to remind themselves, and for King’s to commemorate its really important queer alumni and a really important cultural figure. Also it’s important that spaces like [The Inigo Rooms] exist. It’s tough in the inner city for students, and I’m glad we have these spaces so that students can move from the classroom into the exhibition.

I loved the multi-media aspects of the

e hi ition ou ha e the pro ections

the booklet and the music provided

ia headphones and an MP player t

transformed it into a whole experience

rather than ust a allery space hat as

the inspiration ehind that

I wanted to get across his multi-media interests, as he didn’t perceive one [medium] as more important than the other. With the music, I wanted it to be a new take on the museum audio-guide, but a kind of jokey version of that, to have music that you could skip around and to be able to hear Derek. He worked on a lot of pop videos like The Smiths and Pet Shop Boys – music was important to him. His studio friend remembers walking into Derek’s room and he was just blasting medieval chants. So I thought I must have that sense, somehow, that at very high volume you’d be listening to monks and nuns singing at high pitch at you, and there was something about the incantation-y nature of that that is captured in some of the tracks.

Who would you say are stepping stones

towards Jarman for people unfamiliar with

him

Jack Smith, Kenneth Anger, and Maya Derren – he was really interested in the history of experimental film. Also Jean Cocteau is a huge influence on Jarman. This surreal but incredibly beautiful filmmaker, who was also a polymath in the same way Jarman was. Cocteau was a writer and a set designer and

a poet. And his contemporaries, like John Maybury. I think there’s a day at the BFI dedicated to his contemporaries and its on the Jarman2014 website.

What is the one thing that you hope visitors take away from

the e hi ition

The one thing I want people to do [after visiting this exhibition] is to go and find out more, whether that’s at the BFI because there’s a big retrospective going on now, or just be curious about Derek Jarman, and about art in that period. Hopefully this is what ties it to being at a university – it’s an exhibition meant to makes you curious. This is not the final word on Derek Jarman, it’s “go and find out more”.

/ INTERVIEWED BY SNEZHANA KUZMINA / KCL / CONTRIBUTOR

filmthe smoke8

DEREK JARMANa saint’s legacy

TO MARK 20 YEARS SINCE HIS DEATH, A YEAR-LONG

RETROSPECTIVE FOCUSES ON ONE ICONIC ALUMUNUS

OF UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, DEREK JARMAN. VISIT

JARMAN2014.ORG FOR INFO.

THERE’S A PARTICULAR VISION OF LONDON“ “ART USED TO BE AT THE ABSOLUTE CENTRE OF THIS CITY,

I WANTED TO CAPTURE... TO REMIND PEOPLE OF THE WAY

WITH ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE, WITH

AMAZING KINDS OF ENERGY

IMAGE: RAY DEAN

Pop-up cinema is considered a thing of summer: it’s the season of watching films on rooftops, in gardens or from a hot tub. But as winter drags on, we’re here to remind you of some of London’s alternative screening spaces that are running the year round. The rise of digital projection technology is democratising the

exhibition process, with increasing numbers of bars, pubs and co�ee shops diversifying into screening films. These alternative establishments are the polar opposites of the megaplexes that most cinemas have become. They may not have the largest screens or the most booming sound, but they’re cheap, cheerful and relaxed, perfect for a spur-of-the-moment trip. Today we’re featuring two venues in Peckham that o�er film screenings alongside their usual services. Both show films di�cult to find in your average cinema, and are very reasonably priced. For a new (and cheap) film experience, have a look at these two Peckham venues!

film 9the smoke

peckham picture housespeckham picture houses

On the back of my ticket for The Selfish

Giant in the “back room cinema” at the Montpelier, Peckham – which was, in fact, just a little square of paper chopped o a menu – were the last few words of an item from their menu: nuts, Oatcakes: £8.50. During the film in the un-soundproofed back room, I couldn’t help but wonder about this mystery, and often found myself thinking about what could have preceded those nuts. Is it a cheese board? Whoever’s ordering that treat is evidently subsidising the screenings, which at £3.50 are reasonable, and this value is probably the back room’s biggest draw.

From what I’ve seen of the schedule they oer an eclectic selection: a range of films that sit somewhere just between the mainstream and the obscure (The Selfish

Giant was critically lauded but didn’t get much time at the cinemas, whilst in January the Montpelier screened another critical hit The Great Beauty and landmark Saudi Arabian film Wadjda).

The film was excellent, but my experience was a little strange. For one thing, I went on my own. Whilst I usually find going to the cinema alone a wonderful thing, seeing as

there was not a single other person in there, and I got some queer looks when I had to ask the people at the bar to turn the film on, it was a bit much.

Also, I had seen the film before, was too stingy to buy a drink, and as the room is just at the back of the pub, had no choice but to listen to a very long and boring conversation about a holiday in Greece that was filtering through the apparently not thick enough walls. (Greece is lovely in January, apparently).

The projector and sound system are of the fine-but-not-really-all-that-great range, essentially. But the room is nice, with pew-like benches and woody, leathery vibes. So I think if you’re a more normal person and don’t go to the pub alone it could make for a lovely evening: it’s always nice to have a drink and talk after a film, and in the Montpelier you don’t have to go far to get your reward for sitting through some arty-farty film about Italy, Saudi Arabia, or Bradford. If you’re in Peckham, and have friends, go.

/ FRANK POLATCH / KCL / CONTRIBUTOR

Accurately self-described as “a nest for unfussy brews, food, and booze”, the Peckham Pelican is a laid back café/bar on Peckham Road, a short walk from Peckham Rye station. On its walls, new local artists are exhibited each month.

Regularly featuring new artwork means that the interior is always changing, making the Pelican a worthwhile visit time and time again; each artist also donates one piece to be permanently shown, adding to their ever-growing collection. There’s also an eclectically curated bookshelf, and a wall of mugs to choose from for a cup of tea.

But every Monday, the Peckham Pelican closes early to make way for Pelican Pictures, a free film screening. Starting between 7 and 8pm, the evening is a fairly casual aair: the furniture is moved around to make the café into a cinema, and there’s a great comfortable atmosphere. Choose from booze or tea, popcorn or cake, and settle down for a screening of a great film.

We had a chat with Stewart, one of the managers of the Peckham Pelican, about their regular film night. He told us that Pelican Pictures was borne out of a sizeable collection of VHSes and a passion for film: “we didn’t have much money when we were starting up, but we had a VHS player. We thought ‘here’s an idea that’s a bit novel,’ and we really liked the old school grain.”

Since it started, Pelican Pictures have mainly been showing classic blockbusters – their

first screening was Jurassic Park. Stewart said their first night was a great experience: “we made special Jurassic Park jelly shots – they were green, with a jellybaby cryogenically frozen inside, and a cornflake on top so it looked like a stegosaurus.” However, they’re now “looking to get away from just doing blockbusters. [They] have a connection with the arts in Camberwell, and so are hoping to put on some sort of art house films.”

From the end of February, the format of Pelican Pictures is going to change. Chris, one of the pioneers behind the film night, told us about it: “[the films will] still be free and they’ll still be VHS. However, we’re going to make a bit more of a song and dance about each one and limit ourselves to one special screening [on the last Tuesday of every] month.”

“To date we’ve been completely varied in what we’ve shown, but soon we’ll be showing very rare and odd cult films - the first of which is going to be Godzilla

vs Megalon! Essentially, we’re planning on screening strange stu that people have never seen before.” This change to the format is a great excuse to go to the Peckham Pelican for a drink and a free screening of something new and exciting. While I loved going to see the classics, I’m intrigued to see what films are in store for the rest of 2014.

/ SOPHIE MAWSON & CAROLINA MCPHAIL / KCL / CONTRIBUTORS

TH

E M

ON

TP

EL

IER

, P

EC

KH

AM

THE PECKHAM PELICAN

IMAGE: KIT HARWOOD

IMAGE: SOPHIE MAWSON

artsthe smoke10

DIALOGUE ARTS CO-EDITOR LIZA WEBER

Wednesday 5th February: tube strike. The wind is blowing my second-hand hat from my head as I schlep along King’s Road. At least it’s not apocalyptic, Diarmuid would later say. As well as an exceptional artist, Diarmuid Kelley is a discerning weatherman.

I buzz his studio. Scale fi ve fl ights of stairs. There’s always a pint of milk chilling on the wrought iron chair outside, once painted white, now peeling to a Windsor & Newton cobalt turquoise.

Diarmuid is peeling pink masking tape from his studio fl oor, an impasto with years of dropped paint. I fi nd the four pink points on the fl oor indicating where I am to sit, and position my chair.

Gossip?

I tell him I have a date on Friday. Then I break his favourite mug. Co� ee spills on the red Persian rug. He says, it’s only coffee.

I say it is symbolic. You’ll break his heart. Can you just let

your head fall slightly… Oh, do you want

another coffee?

I’ll replace your mug, Diarmuid. Yes, with one of those plastic tommee-

tippee ones.

Born in Stirling, Scotland, Diarmuid fi rst lived in a cottage on an estate where his father was the groundskeeper. He has vague memories of the countryside - looking out over the heath waiting for my

father to come home with a rabbit.

Have you ever held a gun?I don’t like them.

Guns or rabbits?

Guns. I don’t even like that sword over

there very much. But it’s nice to paint.

Diarmuid studied Fine Art at Newcastle University. He graduated in 1995.I then took a studio near the infamous

Bigg Market for twenty pounds per week,

before studying for my Masters at Chelsea

College of Art and Design. Sitters were

then only three pounds an hour, which

reminds me, I owe you ten from last time.

Do you think you’ll ever return to Newcastle?It would be hard. I am sad in a way about

having ever had to move to London.

What did you bring with you to the South?The window of the Wendy house. I picked

it up from a lorry skip outside the college.

can ne er fi nd anything in the s ips

in London. In Newcastle architectural

salvage was not a big deal. People would

throw away all sorts of interesting things.

Umm. That chair. This chair.

What do you miss of the North?Newcastle is at a distance from London

so as to give you enough perspective.

You don’t get caught up in the glamour

of the art scene. Healthy really. You’re

not all about previews and “I met Patrick

aulfi eld last night

BBC Radio 3 gabbles in the background. I don’t like Rachmaninoff. Too Hollywood.

OK, take a break. You’ve started to look

human.

Your favourite actress?Carole Lombard, a comedy actress in the

thirties ee the fi lm Nothing’s Sacred.

IN CONVERSATION WITH ARTIST DIARMUID KELLEY

GENERATION ATE AT ST. JOHN RESTAURANT.

LIKE THAT SARAH LUCAS AND DAMIEN HIRST’S

I KNOW ARTISTS HAVE TO EAT, BUT I DON’T“

”

IMAGES: © 2013 TOMMOPHOTO

arts 11the smoke

I stretch my legs. Check out the festering peaches. The peaches are insane, Diarmuid. At a certain point they stop festering. They

just become dry matter. Like rocks.

Talking of rocks, I redecorated my room in the Lake District the slate grey of your studio, and that green, and that grey (pointing to the sofa and the fl oor respectively). I think I want to be you. No, you have taste. If there is a colour

scheme, it is classic.

I like that Diarmuid listens to BBC Radio 3 instead of Classic FM. This man - I think it is Donald Macleod - has

the nicest voice on Radio 3. I think they

should all sound like him. Just lift your chin slightly. A little bit more.

Little bit more.

Other than at O� er Waterman & Co, where would you like to see your work hanging?There’s a space off Bond Street in Haunch of

enison ard, hich has par uet oor

Gallery you most like to visit?Kettle’s Yard, in Cambridge. In London, the

Serpentine.

Your favourite young artist?Photographer Jeff Wall.

He’s not young. OK. I like the guy who paints his housing

estate. He had a show at the South London

allery e uses irfi it paint enamel

paints that you buy in tiny pots). I used to use

them as a model maker when I made planes

as a small boy.

I’ve always seen you with a dog.In the countryside, yes. An Irish wolfhound.

They come and go. You don’t have to take

them anywhere.

I like Whippets. They don’t do all that much.

In your student days where did you go to do not all that much?

We hung out at the Bookhouse, a sort of left-

wing bookshop serving the best coffee and

walnut cake.

And today?Today I’m having lunch at the Stockpot. A

café serving school dinners. I am building

an artistic movement around the Stockpot. I

know artists have to eat, but I don’t like that

Sarah Lucas and Damien Hirst’s generation

ate at St. John Restaurant.

I am going to do a bit of work on your mouth

now. So…

BBC Radio 3 does the talking.

We should quit while we’re ahead. I’ve

managed to keep more of the graininess. This

is my new thing. George isn’t happy about it.

Why is George not happy?George has been sitting for two years, and

now he has to start again.

Diarmuid is, at times, painfully particular. This is what makes him an exceptional artist. And someone I feel privileged to call a fascinating friend.

He turns my portrait upside down in front of the gilt mirror and says, Christian Bale looks like Josh Brolin’s dad in

the mid-seventies.

Diarmuid, this time, I’m afraid you’ve lost me.

I later Google Josh Brolin’s dad. His name is James Brolin and he looks remarkably like Christian Bale.

/ INTERVIEWED BY LIZA WEBER / KCL / ARTS CO-EDITOR

DIARMUID KELLEY. ALL CATS ARE GREY

24 January - 28 February 2014

Offer Waterman & Co

11 Langton Street, London, SW10 OJL

Nearest tube: South Kensington /

Sloane Square

arts12 the smoke

Wherever you are, you’re in a constructed space. The design of gardens, houses, and skyscrapers all dictate a particular impression on their inhabitants. The newest exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, Sensing Spaces:

Architecture Reimagined, challenges our relationships with our surroundings. In the exhibition, seven international architects transform the Royal Academy’s neoclassical galleries into various architectural installations heightening our awareness of space.

Starting out at the Annenberg Courtyard, Alvaro Siza, a Portuguese architect, has erected primitive yellow columns, which interact with the RA’s existing classical façade. For the fi rst time, you notice the amount of space and the monumental impact of the grand entrance to the Royal Academy. The shadows of Siza’s columns alert our eyes to the small pockets of sunshine throughout the open-air courtyard. Light becomes a primary element in architectural design, especially as it changes with the viewer’s position within the gallery space and depending on the time of day.

The architects here involve their spectators – we are no longer innocent bystanders. According to the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Zi, “what is important is what is contained, not the container.” Rather than fi lling the galleries with paintings, sculptures or photography, the spaces contain arguably

the most important element: the viewer. Fingerprints shine the wooden handrails in the Pezo von Ellrichshausen installation; colourful straws (inserted by viewers) decorate Diébédo Francis Kéré’s igloo-like house; the viewer is invited to be the co-creator of the architecture.

One of the installations, by Kengo Kuma, completely transforms the gallery space: gone are the confi nes of time and reality. The room is dark and cool with a hushed ambiance. The fl oor is sprinkled with holes that have small tea lights shining through. From each hole grows thin pieces of hinoki wood (Japanese cypress tree): each strand of wood weaves together with its neighbours. There is a conversation between the pieces of bamboo, a tapestry of voids. The void, or “ma” in Japanese, is for Kuma the most important part of Japanese architecture. Seeing the volume of space produced by the invisible space in the room at once creates a room without limits.

The “old” interiors of the Royal Academy are transformed into modern playgrounds. Touching the art, contributing to the structure and reimagining our own presence within the space, however, culminates when we leave the show. Leaving the Royal Academy, London, a city full of diverse architecture, becomes our living, breathing container.

/ AIMEE RUBENSTEEN / COURTAULD / CONTRIBUTOR

SENSING SPACES:architecture reimagined

Interact: Deconstructing Spectatorship is, by nature, a complex exhibition. The 11th biennial exhibition at the Courtauld Institute is an anomaly in the art world, having been entirely conceived and curated by students. Even attending the show may prove di� cult unless you’re lucky enough to work or study at the Courtauld, although there is a set program of days when the exhibition will be open to the public, including family days and talks by the artists.

Rather, as a working space, the exhibition demands that we, its viewers, interact with the artworks in places where we would otherwise be forbidden from entering. This isn’t a traditional gallery space, which seems to have helped the curating team create an exhibition in which the viewer was able to connect with the works exhibited.

Whilst interactive art is currently very popular, Courtauld’s East Wing team were anxious not to be accused of turning Somerset House into a children’s playground. Instead they wanted to go past the sensory to present works that communicate with the viewer conceptually.  Alicia Stockley, third year student and co-curator of the show with Elizabeth de Bertier, explains that this dynamic asked of them to confi ne the exhibition within four main rooms, where each room is an individual artistic response to the umbrella term “Interact”.

The fi rst room, “Identity”, contains artworks sourced as possible themes for the exhibition. Before deciding on

Interact, the organising team also considered making contemporary Chinese art their theme. It is obvious that this future generation of art historians, critics and curators are unwilling to remain within the boundaries of Western art. The inclusion in the East Wing exhibition of Hiding

in the City: Family Portrait by Liu Bolin (background) reveals just this. Created by an artist who lived through the Cultural Revolution, the work is very much a political product. Bolin’s exploration of Chinese identity is informed by the demolition of hundreds of buildings in the Suo Jia Cun district enforced by the Chinese Government in 2005. Forcing the viewer to look beyond the surface, the camoufl aged fi gures featured in Bolin’s artwork refl ect this power play and question the anonymity of contemporary culture.

Felix Gonzalez Torres’s Untitled (Ross), on display in the exhibition’s second room, named “Sensation”, is a favourite for many of the East Wing team. Presenting a 175-pound heap of sweets (the weight of his partner Ross Laycock, who died from AIDS in 1991), Gonzales Torres invites the viewer to both witness and participate in his lover’s disappearance. Viewers are encouraged to eat the sweets, the gradual decrease parallelling Laycock’s fi gure becoming more emaciated.

The rooms “Vision” and “Refl ection” are a testament to the future, as students have here included young artists such as Emilie Pugh. Her Anatomy of Thought (2013)

questions our narrow and constructed conception of art: by layering incense-burnt and painted translucent gampi papers, Pugh rejects the traditional paper and ink. Some of the artists in the exhibition are still students. Among them is Lilian Ptáček, creator of one of the exhibition’s best-loved artworks, Bite Size (After Lunch).  Inhabited by fi ve living goldfi sh, this fi sh tank questions the status of vision and interaction in art, whilst also challenging the artistic use of live animals.

The hands-on aspects of curating an exhibition visibly caught this year’s East Wing curators by surprise. Curator Alicia now sees her role as largely complete; yet, when the subject of the peeling latex on Regina Silveira’s vinyl Octopus work is brought up, she rolls her eyes. “I know,” she says, “I’ll have to go around with a hairdryer to fi x it soon.” The piece itself was cut out and painstakingly installed over four days by students.

Student curators and artists themselves learned the practical aspects of creating an exhibition – lessons which they then hoped to carry over into the displays and works themselves. Beyond the exhibition’s educational prowess, the East Wing biennial combines the old with the new, merges Western art with Eastern and displays interactive art without turning the gallery into a theme park.

/ MOLLIE WITCOMBE / COURTAULD / CONTRIBUTOR

INTERACT: DECONSTRUCTING SPECTATORSHIPTHE 11TH BIENNIAL EXHIBITION AT THE COURTAULD explores interactive art

IMAGES: JAMES HARRIS

Clockwise L-R: Fjällräven

Kånken rucksack, £65,

Oi Polloi; bobble hat,

£6.99, New Look; wool

coat, £69.99, Zara;

vintage Levis, £varies,

Blitz; New

Balance,

trainers,

£55,

Schuh

Clockwise L-R: Nike Air

orce s fi ce

French Connection

backpack, £75, ASOS;

gold-plated earrings,

£15, American

Apparel; Victoria

roll neck crop top,

£4, Boohoo; plaid

circle skirt, £48,

American Apparel

The Peckham

girl’s look is

that classic Clueless

preppy meets Sporty

Spice, with 90s and

00s street vibes.

Adding a heel updates

this outfi t rom trac to

town, and monochrome bases for

bright colours keeps the look fresh.

Accessorise with scrunchies and hoop

earrings, and that essential leather

backpack. Peckham girl can be found with friends at

ran s ca e or catchin a fi lm at Pec hamPle

L-R: Padded tote bag,

£75, Y-3; MA-1

bomber jacket,

£125, Alpha

Industries;

Vagabond

Dioon

sandals,

£65,

Asos

fashion the smoke 13

Home to the new Central Saint

Martins campus, Granary Square

is turning up the volume for north

west London, often forgotten in the

fashion stakes. Loud colours and

prints aren’t afraid to clash, with

oo y lo er ideas amplifi ed

y contrastin te tures

Psychedelics are chosen

over practicality; for these

students, dressing is an art,

and they are a blank canvas

for street style. Clothes are

customised with creativity

and altered to make them

unique. This student can be

found in St. Pancras Gardens

photographing a friend

modelling their own designs.

Clockwise

L-R: Isolated

eroes in ata le

backpack, £15,

ASOS; Comme

des Garçons Play

T-shirt, £72, Dover

treet Mar et Pin au

Fur Coat, £34.99,

Missguided; JuJu

white heeled

jelly shoes, £25,

ASOS

Black is always the new black in Dalston, where

street style is bold in silhouette yet understated in

colour. Taking cues from industrial goth (chunky

boots, mesh), sportswear (anything with Nasir Mazhar

stamped on it is hot property) and avant garde (long

shirts, Rick Owens vibes) the Dalston look forms a

alance that re ects the local culture the ashion

conscious attitude blends with the artistic culture

that defi nes the area Dalston locals can e ound

at the Doomed Gallery, checking out digital portrait

photography.

The Peckham

OK, WE ADMIT IT. THESE ARE PLACES LONDONERS LOVE TO HATE: PLACES WHERE

EVERYONE PROBABLY TAKES THEIR #SOCIALMEDIAPRESENCE A BIT

TOO SERIOUSLY, GENTRIFICATION IS RIFE AND BEING A STRUGGLING

ARTIST OFTEN MEANS DOING A GEORGE ORWELL AND ELECTING TO BE “POOR” FOR A BIT, JUST TO SEE WHAT IT’S LIKE. THAT BEING SAID, YOU CAN’T FAULT THESE

LONDON RESIDENTS ON STYLE. BUT WHAT DEFINES THE AREAS? EMILY

MONTFORD INVESTIGATES

/ EMILY MONTFORD / KCL / CONTRIBUTOR

The horeditch irl mi es

fashion with practicality.

er ardro e re ects the

busy lifestyle that artistic

city girls lead, and comfort is key.

ou on t fi nd her ithout some ell

worn vintage Levis from Brick Lane

staple Blitz, or a pair of New Balances

for running around in. She manages to avoid

the “only shops in Topshop” vibe and instead

sources select pieces from the high street. She

can be found blogging about recent purchases

in Leila’s Shop between lectures, or listening

to new releases in Rough Trade East.

booksthe smoke14

The rush hour scramble through King’s Cross station fills me with a gut-stretching sense of doubt. Dodging huge suitcases and inhaling the breakfasts of travellers, having not had time for my own, I wonder whether I made the right choice in studying veterinary medicine. It’s mornings like this when I wish I was studying literature.

Having very few friends studying English Literature, it is di�cult not to be envious of what I imagine their daily routines to be: ten o’ clock alarm calls, character-themed parties, and evenings spent resting against a tree with a battered, spine-broken book in hand whilst the sun sets, Brideshead Revisited style. Of course, I fail to acknowledge the actual reality: the stacks of essays, the late nights required to meet deadlines, and the possibility of becoming fraught with literature.

I decided to study veterinary medicine for many reasons, but reading is still a great pastime for me. It’s a way of unwinding and discovering other cultures, lifestyles and opinions, of altering your own perceptions. I can detect a good book when the plot kicks in and I am left feeling excited and inspired. I’m looking for the perfect balance of enjoyment and information to help justify the

amount of time I spend reading, or to at least justify reading a book instead of my revision notes.

Like most students I find it di�cult to juggle a social life with an overbearing study schedule. What I find more di�cult, however, is how to explain to friends that I’d like to stay in one night simply to read. It doesn’t always meet with the most understanding of responses.

I often feel that I have to make a choice: to read to educate myself scientifically and improve my chances of getting a higher grade, or to read sprawling novels for pleasure. In some ways this isn’t necessarily the case. After being thrown around by Dostoyevsky’s Crime

and Punishment, I came across the more lighthearted Bird Sense: What It’s Like

to Be a Bird? by Tim Birkhead. It’s non-fiction but feels like fiction. It’s informal and yet formative with beautiful ecological examples of the brilliant abilities of birds. I certainly enjoyed reading it and perhaps there is a possibility that it could go on to improve my marks.

Listening to the poet Ruth Padel at King’s College London in October last year as part of their Arts and Humanities festival is another example. She was a wonderful host. I listened to a selection of her poems combining science and poetry, and I found myself analysing what she was saying, debating its accuracy against my own knowledge. Similarly, Ted Hughes’ collection of animal poems and James Herriot’s veterinary adventures cover experiences with description and imagery, passing on an understanding that I can relate to and gain from.

On the other hand, a good (or bad) book naturally needs a discussion. This is incredibly di�cult on a course that doesn’t specifically ask for reading non-scientific literature. Great discussions are not rare at the Royal Veterinary College but they are bound to be animal-related in some way. Therefore, finding a discussion about a book means leaving the security of other vet students. It can be di�cult trying to remember what topics are sociably acceptable when talking to “non-vet” people before heading to a book or poetry reading. Certainly there will always be Internet reviews, blogs and literature magazines to enrich my reading, but it requires time and e�ort to keep on top of it all.

As far as a hobby or a “social life” goes, the costs of reading are minimal: the time spent on it is ultimately optional and the mystery of what you will gain is part of the excitement. As Neil Gaiman described in his lecture last year at the Barbican, “you get to feel things, visit places and worlds you would never otherwise know… and when you return to your own world, you’re going to be slightly changed.”

/ REBECCA WALSH / ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE /

CONTRIBUTOR

BE INDEPENDENTAfter stumbling upon a map of London’s independent bookshops, The Smoke realised how much we missed running our hands along the spines of books before we committed to buy, something sadly lost in the Amazon age. Supremely peaceful and in need of some love, we hope that this series encourages you to visit this ever-shrinking breed, the independent bookshop. In our second independent bookshops feature, contributor Alainna Georgiou takes us on a tour of Muswell Hill Bookshop.

This cosy bookshop has been at the heart of the Muswell Hill community for nearly thirty years now. Situated within walking distance of the historic Alexandra Palace, this bookshop has a little something for everyone. Filled to the ceiling with a variety of novels, travel books and reference books, Muswell Hill Bookshop is definitely worth a visit.

Upon entering the double-fronted shop you are greeted with a table piled high with the latest literary releases, inviting hours of browsing. It’s easy to find recent, popular reads amongst the many books that fill the shelves. The shop also holds a vast cabinet of classics – great for any student making a last minute bid to get all those required reading texts (we’ve all been there!). If you wander

deeper into the recess of the shop you will discover shelves upon shelves of specialist books on photography, art, religion and crafts. And if you’re looking for something in particular, all you need to do is ask a friendly member of sta�, as the shop o�ers a great ordering-in service.

As well as their vast collection of books, Muswell Hill Bookshop also often have a beautiful range of calendars, diaries and stationery available – perfect gifts for book lovers. Their occasional fiction sales and special o�ers means that supporting this independent bookshop can be achieved on a reasonable budget – always an advantage!

A nugget of independent bookshop gold, Muswell Hill Bookshop is perfectly situated amongst a cosmopolitan hub of co�ee shops, charity shops and restaurants. The shop has a real community feel, with its noticeboard featuring local news. Perhaps the best quality of the bookshop, however, is its events calendar. It is especially worthwhile to keep an eye on their schedule, as the shop often hosts readings and signings by prominent authors and poets.

Most recently, local writer and radio presenter Michael Rosen appeared at the bookshop for a reading and signing session.

So if you’re looking for a bookshop in a great area, with knowledgeable sta� and a wide range of books on o�er, head straight to Muswell Hill.

/ ALAINNA GEORGIOU / QMUL / CONTRIBUTOR

IMAGE: MUSWELL HILL BOOKSHOP

IF YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE INDEPENDENT BOOKSHOP

AND WANT TO WRITE A FEW WORDS ON IT, DROP

ELIZABETH AN EMAIL AT BOOKS@LONDON-

STUDENT.NET

A STUDENT AT THE ROYAL VETINARY COLLEGE DETAILS HER ESCAPES FROM ANIMAL FARM INTO THE WORLD OF LITERATURE

READING LITERATURE, STUDYING SCIENCE

OUR GUIDE TO INDIE BOOKSHOPS

Tim Key is a comedian, writer and performance poet whose Fringe festival shows have brought him widespread critical acclaim. He is a regular on BBC Radio 4, starred in Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa and is back with another show, Single White Slut.

I hear your new standup, Single White Slut, sold out in the first venue and had to move to a second.Yeah, it sold out in Soho and now we’re taking it to the Arcola tent, which is great. Me and Tom Basden did Freeze (our double act) there in 2011 and really enjoyed it. It feels like it fits the show, that’s the thing – it’s kind of unglamorous, in a really good way.

What are you most happy about with this

new show?

The show came about from doing things a bit di�erently last year, deciding to go to Edinburgh very late, so it feels like it’s more thrown together – in a good way – it feels like there’s more fun to be had inside the show for me. There’s nothing overly scientific about it and there’s a lot of freedom. And some quite fruity surprises. It feels distinct from the last two. I have kind of a soft spot for it, I think.

Your stand-up performances are often built

around audience participation – or at least

a lot of interaction with the audience. Has

that ever gone badly for you?

Yeah, I guess so: it’s like my interaction with people in real life. There are going to be

times when it doesn’t quite work… it doesn’t quite come o� for you because of how you are – it’s the same on stage I think. I can’t say I feel particularly hard done-by – I have very nice audiences and they’re good at meeting me halfway. But obviously sometimes it works better than other times. Me and Alex Horne did a show in 2003 and he’s pretty peerless in terms of having a relationship with his audience – very nice and very enjoyable to watch – but once he gave a guy some milk to hold and that didn’t go down very well at all. Just goes to show sometimes it’s not meant to be. Sometimes you interact with someone and, well, they don’t like it.

o you studied ussian in he field and

ended up in Cambridge Footlights, how did

that happen?

Well, I finished in She�eld and returned home to Cambridgeshire. I needed to apply for jobs, and I wanted to do some acting. I picked up a student newspaper and auditioned for Cambridge Footlights for a pantomime, despite not being a student. On the back of that I auditioned for something else that they took to Edinburgh.

You make heavy use of Russian music in

your shows. In what ways do you think your

interest in Russia and Russian have affected

your comedy?

It sort of hung on in there, I think. Sometimes I willfully try and throw a bit of Russian in. I sort of see it as using my degree. I have a sort of residual fondness for Russia that I

think just subconsciously finds its way into my shows.

You’ve done quite a few Radio 4

documentaries about Russian history and

Russian culture.

Yeah, they do all seem to be about Russia! Someone asked me to do a Radio 4 documentary about the first lines in Russian novels about five years ago. I think one reason I ended up doing more of the documentaries is that I quite liked that first one. It was an interesting thing to do.You’ve got to do other things, and I quite like doing the odd Radio 4 documentary. I’m lucky – the first one went quite well so I keep getting the opportunity to do another.

As well as the documentaries, you’ve

worked in stand-up, TV, radio comedy,

theatre and writing. Do you have a

preferred medium?

Often your preferred medium is whatever you’re not doing at that time… if you’re trying to do a documentary, then you think “I’d rather just be walking on stage.” But then if you’re about to walk on stage, you’re almost definitely thinking, “I’d rather be making a documentary,” because there’s no immediate threat of an audience.

But, apart from those kind of bleak moments when you’re scared, I think it is nice to do a load of di�erent things. I suppose as a rule the hardest stu� is often that which you want to avoid, but it’s also

the most rewarding. I actually find all of it quite di�cult, though. To make a film would be quite di�cult, and I’m sure if I managed to finish one that would be quite rewarding!

ell there as the short film you did ith

Tom Basden in 2007: The One and Only

Herb McGuire Plays Wallis Island.

That was a really enjoyable project. Basden had been asked to do it by a director called James Gri�ths. Fortunately he and I were tinkering away on it at the time. The director kind of grabbed us by the scru�s of our necks, was very enthusiastic and put a lot of time and energy behind it. That was four days in Aberystwyth with our own stu� and it was very enjoyable…. working with Basden is a delight and this director James is brilliant, so that’s right up there as one of my favourite things. Then we got nominated for a BAFTA for it, and Basden had a piss next to Andy Serkis, so... it really worked out. Ticked a lot of boxes.

o short film is the ind o thin you d li e

to do?

Well, I’d like to do more. Me and Tom obviously like to work together loads, so we’re always playing away on stage or thrashing stu� out.

Single White Slut is in the Arcola Tent

10th-20th March.

/ INTERVIEWED BY SAM GAUS / UCL / CONTRIBUTOR

theatre 15the smoke

TIM KEY, COMEDIANON THE FRINGE:

IMAGE: TOM BEARD

food

WITHOUT LEAVING THE BIG SMOKE

foodthe smoke16

It’s the time of year: cold, wet and generally miserable outside. But fighting this year’s February blues doesn’t have to be di�cult:

these burnt butter biscuits require a grand total of four ingredients, and take mere minutes to make. They’re also easy enough that, if necessary, they can be made at ridiculous-o’clock for emergency essay fuel. They’re warm, buttery and melt-in-the-mouth, and the

perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea.

INGREDIENTS Makes 12-15 biscuits100g butter100g caster sugar150g self-raising flour1 egg

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C. Melt the butter in saucepan, and keep on the heat until it turns a golden brown colour, starting to catch and burn at the bottom. Set aside for 5 minutes; meanwhile weigh out the other ingredients and beat the egg.

2. Cream together the melted butter and sugar, then mix in the egg. Stir in the flour until there are no white streaks and you’ve formed smooth dough.

3. Take small amounts of the dough and roll into balls (put your index finger against your thumb knuckle: about that size), then place onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. They’ll spread out a fair bit, so limit it to 6 per tray to avoid ending up with one giant biscuit.

4. Use the back of a fork to flatten the dough slightly. Then, bake them for 12-15 minutes or until golden.

5. Sprinkle with caster sugar, and let cool and harden on a wire rack. Dunk in cups of tea to your heart’s content.

/ BRYONY BOWIE / ROYAL HOLLOWAY / FOOD EDITOR

A couple of days ago, I emerged from Oxford Circus station to a bleak and blustery evening. Winding my way in and out of the bustling shoppers on Carnaby Street, I turned a corner and instantly knew that I had arrived at Pitt Cue Co. A long line of people, cowering into their scarves and stamping their feet in the cold, ran down the pavement. As I took my place at the very, very end, I heard the horrified whispers of “two hours”, “two hours until we get inside?”, “my god, two hours?!”

Although it was only 6pm and the kitchen had been open for a mere half an hour, this came as little surprise to me. For one, Pitt Cue Co has jumped on the infuriating no-reservations bandwagon that seems to be a prerequisite for any “trendy” food joint these days. Add to this the fact that the tiny establishment seats just thirty people at any given time, and you can see why the queue isn’t your average fifteen-minute procedure. And yet, despite this, Pitt Cue Co is so radically good that most meat-lovers are willing to su�er the indignity of waiting in line – if only to get their hands on the famed pork St Louis ribs, dark-crusted and cooked to melt-in-the-mouth perfection.

It was this precise image that I cemented firmly in my mind as I put up my umbrella, popped on my gloves, and settled down to stick out the wait. Luckily, there will always be those diners who are less committed than you, and in just over an hour my friend and I found ourselves seated at the counter by the window, somewhat cramped but thankful nonetheless that so many people had

dropped out of the queue in front of us. Elated with success, we ordered two highly potent bourbon-based cocktails and got down to examining our menus. But, search as we may, no ribs were to be found under the Meat section. My worst nightmare had been realised – this was one of those places where the menu changed, constantly in flux, inhabiting a liminal space between meats, if you will. What had been ribs yesterday was

smoked Cornish lamb rump and onglet steak today.

And then, a ray of hope! Under Extras’we found our saving grace – caramelised ribs. The whole a�air soon became a veritable meat-orgy, as

we dived variously into ribs, rump and steak. In all cases, the meat was exquisite, tender and juicy:

the knife slicing through it like butter. Of course, I’m all about getting each food groups into my diet, so there was bone marrow mash to take the edge o�. This may sound a little wrong, but it’s right on so many levels: rich, creamy and utterly moreish.

Pitt Cue Co is essentially one of those places where it is impossible to a) talk about the food without falling into outrageous clichés, and b) eat without accumulating a whole pile of sticky napkins by the side of your plate. A word to the wise, this is not a first-date – nor even a second-date – restaurant. Bring that special friend who doesn’t mind seeing you with barbecue sauce dripping from your chin.

/ AMANDEEP BAINS / KCL / CONTRIBUTOR

pitt queue co: worth the wait?

Bring that special friend who doesn’t

mind seeing you with barbecue sauce dripping from your chin

“

“IMAGE: BRYONY BOWIE

BURNT BUTTER BISCUITS

cheap and easy, the perfect bad weather pick-me-up

R E C I P E

IMAGE: SAMTHEFOODFAN.COM

travel 17the smoke

FLORIDITAThis is a slightly upmarket foray into Cuban food, located on Soho’s Wardour Street. It’s noisy and busy even from the outside, with bright neon signage. Loud Buena Vista Social Club style music pounds from the speakers in the darkly lit restaurant area. With live bands every night and a mean rum collection in the downstairs Rum Shack, Floridita is a great way to experience the luxury that Cuban culture has to o er.

CUBANAThis Cuban-Latino restaurant/bar in Waterloo is great for happy hour drinks. The pitchers of fresh strawberry mojitos are more than a little tempting at two for £16, and the spicy crab cakes with lime and mango salsa are just one of the notable tapas on o er. Everyone must try our adopted national dish, Pollo Criollo, chicken with black beans, rice and plantain. On Friday and Saturday nights the bar transforms into a dark and hot salsa and son bar, with live bands playing until 3am.

THE BUFFALO BAR This independent bar and entertainment venue in Islington becomes the number one salsa venue in London on a Monday night. Salsa Caribe, a promoting/salsa-instructing outfit runs a club night in tandem with salsa classes, a far cry from classes above a pub in Southend. They play Afro-Cuban music in an unpretentious and genuine atmosphere, ideal for those who wish to experience a little Latin heat as they learn. Starting at 7.30pm with the club open until 4am, classes are just £7 every Monday.

SADLER’S WELLS London’s premier dance theatre often hosts some of Cuba’s most promising dance talents. The Cuban National Ballet performed at the venue last year to rave reviews. It is always worth keeping an eye on their What’s On page to see what’s coming next.

/ INDIGO ELLIS / KCL / CONTRIBUTORIMAGES: CUBANA

WITHOUT LEAVING THE BIG SMOKE

How To Travel The World

#3CUBA

Wales is much like a second home to me. Every year of my childhood my family took o  to Snowdonia in the chilly month of October to stay in a cottage in a picturesque little village on the side of a valley. It didn’t take me long to understand why my parents loved it so much. Wales is a breathtakingly beautiful country with its boundless forests and its towering peaks; it’s a rambler’s dream and an action-seeker’s paradise. As a student in London, however, you might think the cold windy hills of Wales are a world away from the normal scholarly Mediterranean destinations such as Ayia Napa or Ibiza, and you would be right – but a holiday in Wales o ers much more than your usual pre-packaged shrink-wrapped getaway.

If as a kid you ran o  the beaten path, or you like a long walk before a hearty pub meal or find yourself engrossed in Countryfile on a Sunday night, then Wales might be as enticing for you as it has always been for me. From the award-winning westerly coastline of Pembrokeshire through the rugged depths of Snowdonia and onto the beautiful island of Anglesey, history has carefully scattered and placed bounteous amounts of castles, old relics, fragile villages and coastlines, old goat paths and mountain trails, and magnificent wildlife and countryside to explore. It is di�cult to capture the stunning natural splendour and inner beauty of a place like this on paper.

Hostel culture is as strong here as anywhere in Europe with well reviewed Youth Hostel Association hostels and camping barns in all the major cities and far out into the sticks. Betws-y-Coed Youth Hostel in the heart of Snowdonia and Caerhafod Lodge on the western tip of Pembrokeshire are both fantastic hostels recommended for students. You won’t have to sacrifice anything with a student holiday in Wales – room prices are cheap, the ale is strong and whether you’re a hiker or not, the locations are all beautiful. However, most travellers and holiday goers do visit Wales for its fresh air and open spaces. With thousands of miles of hiking paths, an abundance of rock climbing facilities and thousands of miles of winding roads and downhill trails and centres for the budding cyclist, Wales provides the finest outdoor experience to any action-seeking students. Coed y Brenin forest with its breathtaking scenery, miles of purpose-built mountain biking trails and fantastic facilities are a prime location for any thrill seeker.

So you’re on your way home from a walk, you’re covered in mud, freezing cold and are in desperate search of a

watering hole for the night. Home to plenty of fantastic pubs, festivals and great nights out, Wales o ers both sides of this holiday dilemma, and if you look in the right places it becomes a cultural oasis flourishing out from its own unique character. Swansea has a fantastic vibe. A city full of great bars, clubs and pubs, it boasts many great places for a night of drinking and dancing, from Revolution to Morgans Champagne Bar.

If you’re looking for a weekend of music, comedy and culture then look no further. Wales has been throwing great festivals since the original Eisteddfod in 1176, and now all the seasons are aplenty with festivals, both big and small, from the intimate Green Man music festival (below) hosting Ben Howard for its headline act, the great Laugharne annual arts weekend with previous headline performers such as The Clash and Patti Smith, the food festival circuit heavyweight Llangollen Food and Drink or the original festival of Welsh culture, the Eisteddfod, attracting around 150,000 visitors per year.

Welsh culture can be found in abundance in its festivals, its language and its people, and when the rain begins to patter on the window, there is no better place to find yourself than in a warm and merry Welsh pub. A cycling trip, a stag weekend or a festival hunt in this little corner of the world may not be as raving as a few nights in Ibiza, but it is more captivating, with heaps of culture, fascinating history, stunning natural beauty, in the palm of your hand. A holiday in Wales will not be one you will forget in a hurry.

/ PETER MOULDING / BIRKBECK / CONTRIBUTOR

little britain

IN THIS SERIES, THE SMOKE EXPLORES DESTINATIONS ACROSS THE UK

Wales has been throwing great

festivals since the original Eisteddfod

in 1176, and now all the seasons

are aplenty with festivals

“

”

IMAGE: GREEN MAN

IMAGE: PETE BUCKLEY

WALES

the smoke18

ASSEMBLY: SURFACE TENSION17 February, 7-9pmTate Britain£4

WISH YOU HAD BEEN THERE A screening of the documentary film on the seminal avant-garde composer and disco producer Arthur Russell18 February, 6.30pmOpen School EastFree

KODE 9, DJ RASHAD, SCRATCHA DVA Three legends from the Hyperdub imprint celebrate the label’s 10th anniversary18 February, 9pm Corisca Studios£5

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO + TAYLOR DEUPREE A set of noise and prepared piano20 February, 7.30pm St John-at-Hackney£15

INTERNATIONAL FASHION SHOWCASEExhibiting design talents from 30 countriesUntil 21 February180 The StrandFree

FASHIONED AT CRAFT CENTRAL25 British talents present wearable artworksUntil 21 FebruaryCraft CentralFree

CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL21-23 FebruaryThe Old Truman Brewery £16.50

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY, BY THE ROYAL BALLET22 February – 9 AprilRoyal Opera House From £5

POETRY SLAM WITH A.F HARROLD AND BRIAN CONAGHANA night of poetry, comedy and chaotic wordplay24 February, 6.30pmThe Water Poet pub£6

TIM KEY: SINGLE WHITE SLUT24 February – 8 MarchSoho Theatre£15

JAWDANCELondon’s beloved poetry open mic 26 February, 7.30pm Rich MixFree

DVS13 hours of pounding techno from one of the world’s greatest 28 February Corsica Studios£12

EXPLODING CINEMA28 February, 7pmOpen screening of video/films with no restriction on genrePeckham Liberal Club£5

WE ARE DINING CAMPAIGNA culinary celebration with demonstrations, competitions and giveaways Until 28 FebruaryWestfield LondonFree

THE ROMANTICS AND DREAMSAn afternoon of poetry readings, including works by Shelley, Byron and other Romantic poets Keats House, Hampstead1 March, 3pm Free

An evening of poetry readings by 21 of Faber Academy’s new poets, introduced by Jo Shapcott and Daljit Nagra The Troubadour 3 March, 8pm £7

RICH MIX READERSReading group with a twist: instead of reading beforehand, read aloud and discuss a poem/short story togetherEvery Monday from 3 March, 7pmRich Mix Free

GREAT SPITALFIELDS PANCAKE RACEGrab three friends, a frying pan and a good costume for some pancake flipping fun4 March, 12.30pmThe Old Truman Brewery Free ARTISTS’ FILM CLUB:

6 March, 6:45pmICA£5

CHURCH 3RD BIRTHDAY Church celebrate 3 years of success with Redshape, Dauwd and Rumah7 MarchCorsica Studios£8

W W Poetry readings by the five Poets Laureate: Carol Ann Du¢y, Liz Lochhead, Gillian Clarke, Paula Meehan and Sinead Morrisey Queen Elizabeth Hall7 March, 6.30pm £12 

DARREN JOHNSTON: ZERO POINTThe choreographer blurs bounaries of dance, theatre and visual arts8 March, 4pmBarbicanFree

HAPPY DAYS Beckett’s surreal masterpieceUntil 8 MarchYoung Vic Theatre£10

GEOGRAPHIES OF CONTAMINATION Until 19 MarchDRAFFree

STREET FEASTThe beloved food traders, bars, DJs returns with a new venueEvery Fri & Sat until 21-22 MarchHawker HouseFree before 7pm, £3 after

THE MISTRESS CONTRACTUntil 22 MarchRoyal Court Theatre£10

A DIALOGUE WITH NATURE: ROMANTIC LANDSCAPE FROM BRITAIN AND GERMANY Until 27 AprilCourtauld GalleryFree

WHIRLYGIG CINEMA: MUSIC VIDEOS5 March, 7pmHackney Attic£5

KINO/FILM: SOVIET POSTERS OF THE SILENT FILMUntil 29 MarchGRAD Free

GIORGIO DE CHIRICO Until 19 AprilEstorick Collection£3.50

THE DUKE MITCHELL FILM CLUB: SHAW BROTHERS TRIBUTE24 February, 7pmPhoenix Artist ClubFree

RICHARD HAMILTONUntil 26 MayTate Modern £11.30

days and nights

FREYA ROY A 17-y-o jazz-inspired singer songwriter, the next big thing 1 March, 3.30pm Proud CamdenFree

EVENTS

19the smoke

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Twenty-two years ago at Goldsmiths College, two students

contemplate life, the universe and everything amidst discarded

coffee cups and cigarettes, oversized hats and chunky boots: a

typical students’ union. Though we have to admit it, Goldsmiths

students were always the coolest.

Philip Meech captured these two students pleasingly in series. His

current projects are a far cry from the student union, with models

sporting the likes of Prada and Yves Saint Laurent; however, his

photojournalism retains the same gentle subtlety evoked by this

pair. We spoke to him about his experiences of working at London

Student.

Firstly, what did you study, and where?

I was actually a student at the University of Westminster, Harrow campus, studying photography, film and video. A few of us photographers approached London Student to propose a collaboration and we ended up as regular contributors, even though we were from a di�erent University [Westminster is not part of the University of London]. In fact I think I spent more time at ULU than at my own SU.

What was it like working on London Student?

It was great working with other like-minded people who were serious about getting into journalism, and I think the experience I gained in doing this played a big part in helping me land a job on a national newspaper when I graduated (I worked at the Independent for 7 years).

I learned about how to shoot to a brief on a tight deadline, which was very di�erent to the types of projects we were given on the degree course. Several other people from London Student at that time also went on to become photographers, journalists, editors and even went into TV presenting.

What are your memories of being a student in London at the time?

Things were very di�erent back then – none of us had mobile phones, and the internet was in its infancy – I had just about heard of email, but had never actually used it!

Do your recall anything in particular about this shot?

I can’t remember much about the specifics of the story that I shot the picture for – just that they needed shots taken in Goldsmith’s SU. I do remember that I bumped into an old classmate from secondary school who was studying there!

How has your career developed since your time at London Student?

I have been a photographer since graduating – after spending a number of years as a press photographer and photojournalist, I have now moved into shooting fashion, with regular trips to Milan and Paris – you can see a little biography on my website: www.philipmeech.com

/ INTERVIEWED BY GABY LAING / KCL / ARCHIVE EDITOR

IMA

GE

: P

HIL

LIP

ME

EC

H

6 FEBRUARY 1992

FIND US ON FACEBOOK BYSCANNING THE QR CODEWWW.FACEBOOK.COM/THESMOKELSTWITTER: @THESMOKELS