With the Turner Prize in Margate about to be announced, this post republishes the 2013 paper on the Turner Contemporary’s first months, as observed from our Platform-7 art intervention, Moonbow Margate in Cliftonville during Summer 2011. Art-led regeneration in Margate: learning from Moonbow Jakes Café and Lido Nightclub intervention ABSTRACT This paper considers whether a new iconic landmark – the Turner Contemporary – is likely to be a successful vehicle for the regeneratio

Waste Agency was a 4-month art performance intervention in a disused HMV record store in the City of London, the UK’s financial heart and the World’s insurance and derivatives capital, exploring why we built an economy based on consumption and wastefulness. Originally posted 3 Oct 2014 8:10 pm | view here Introducing The Waste Agency Nestled between London’s two latest skyscrapers, the Leadenhall Building aka `The Cheesegrater’, and 20 Fenchurch Street aka `The Walkie-Talkie’

An intervention in an old Blockbuster Video, closed after being looted during the London 2011 riots, exploring the politics of the videocassette and its impact on the functioning of society, the environment and consumer behaviour. First published 24 Apr 2019 11:12 am, view here Video Player 1970s Tapescape Catford | Intervention I took place over a three week period in March 2012, seeking to understand how the rise of the video player from the late 1970s began to change the w

The Moonbow Margate art intervention began quietly with a photography exhibition in a derelict cafe, behind dirty windows. Tensions were running high locally, with a large amount of vocal opposition towards the new Turner Contemporary art gallery. What follows was posted on the Platform-7 website before the project began in earnest, to set out the intention of the intervention. This blog post was originally posted on Jun 17, 2011 6:58 pm, view here Introduction The Golden

Moonbow Margate** was an abstract art performance intervention in a derelict cafe in Cliftonville, investigating the impact of the new Turner Contemporary art gallery and the role art-led regeneration has on a local community. Background Moonbow Margate was 3-month temporary performance intervention in a derelict cafe situated on a long-time neglected and disused parade of shops in Cliftonville, Margate, on the East Kent coast, England. Less than 5 minutes walk away was the

Moonbow Jakes Coffee Bars were created in derelict spaces across South East London from 1998-2009, becoming a Mecca for artists, performers academics and creative people seeking a safe, bohemian, relaxed space with live performance, exhibitions, talks, record store and an outdoor theatre. At The Forefront It is difficult to believe now in London, but in 1998 there were no Starbucks in the UK, Costa had three stores and Café Nero had only just opened their first outlet. Platfo

The second in the series of investigations into how opinions on conflict and war form, using short abstract live art performances as a medium to engage during a lightening storm in a darkened cemetery. Taking place in Brockley cemetery during in darkness and a lightening storm, the audience weaved through poets, dancers, musicians and installations along a narrow path, giving a taste of the foreboding that might be sensed when heading to a battlefront. Background This event f

Up The Line was the first in series of live experimental art and installation performances that sought to understand how people reach opinion on war and conflict. Taking place during darkness in Brockley and Ladywell cemetery, a designated nature reserve, hundreds of visitors weaved passed poets, dancers, musicians and installations along a narrow single track path. Background Inspired by the passing away of Harry Patch, the last British survivor from the World War One trench

This essay discusses a live performance on war and conflict, in a cemetery during darkness, which challenged the audience to consider their attitude to war and conflict and the role symbols and stories used by charities and nations play in influencing public opinion. For Up The Line 2009 event page, click here Originally Presented to Goldsmiths University of London, (May 2010) and posted June 2010 Index Introduction Brief Outline of Event Creating an Abstract Background to th

A Tribute to Jazzman JC John Clarke (1948 – 2018) Last Sunday, I left one of my long rambling phone messages on Jazzman’s home telephone. A top record producer friend Asier d'Opakoa had been in contact as he had ‘hired the most wonderful microphone for recording voice’ and he wanted to capture some of London’s most important poets for posterity, not to publish, just for the poets to have for themselves and use as they pleased. Jazzman was the first to come to mind, his love o

The Confusing Voices Of Free Thought Thoughts inspired by the ideas and words of Mr R Banks, Metadesigners and Platform-7 Image: Courtacy of Metadesigners.org We’re going to build a machine To represent society With wires as Individuals Who refuse to conform to the rules. They will not behave according To expectation And will not respond well To repression. But if we leave them alone They will more than Self regulate They will achieve beyond established Limits. The work is th

THE RITUAL OF 2-MINUTES SILENCE 7 Dec 2012 Creator of “no man’s land”, John McKiernan ruminates on life as a series of interconnected contrived rituals 2-minute silence at Embankment, videographer Patrick Hoelscher* Play disrupts ritual. Whether internalised or on a field, play develops ways of understanding that cannot always be structured in the everyday. Play allows thoughts, methods and processes to be conducted through the relative safety of game or make-believe. Whe

John McKiernan, the creator of the “no man’s land” discusses his personal concerns and thoughts one week before the live performance across 10 London Underground tube stations. When setting out to create an abstract event like ‘no man’s land’, one hopes that it will ascend what it set out to achieve without it turning into game play or dalliance, and something original emerges. The intention of the event was to, in some way, mimic the experiences of those creating plans and