On The Horizon dance performance explored the universal struggle of venturing into the unknown, in expectation of something better, as Margate hoped the opening of its new Turner Contemporary gallery and offshore wind turbines would stall its decline, and usher in a more prosperous period. Originally posted on Wix blog 26 November 2011, 20:18 Performance Sunday, 25th September 2011, across Margate, Cliftonville and Lido complex. On The Horizon A continuation of previous work

The Dead Rat Orchestra is now an established trio, a staple of the European folk scene with a reputation for introducing experimental sound to a wider audience, however when invited to Margate in 2011 the band were still perfecting their art and the intervention proved pivotal to their future direction. Originally published on Wix blog 22nd October 2011, 19:16 OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA The Dead Rat Orchestra (DRO) performed two gigs at the Lido bringing remarks of ‘incredible’,

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

Reimagining Ladies Tights examined the importance women place on tights and hosiery and the role these seemingly innocuous items play in how many view themselves and other women, with few realising the enormous environmental damage these garments cause. The article that follows is the press release for the project launch in May 2013, the large number of stories collected can be viewed on the project Tumblr site here. Collecting old tights and stockings, public washing, creati

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

Mixing classical instruments with audio equipment, this swirling soundscape captured Margate’s overpowering fetish for nostalgia in 2011, fluctuating between the melancholy of the lost town of now and the energy of the seaside resort of the 1970s. Originally posted on Sep 8, 2011 7:07 pm | view here Introduction Centred around the 1976 record, Tony Savage and Dominic Play the Organ (recorded live at the Cliftonville Lido), Claire Hazelton and Dean Wood create a theatrical sou

Margnification, by the conceptual art collective Akleriah, was a live street intervention that challenged the perception of the space in which the performance took place; as if the wind had blown away the sadness leaving nothing behind but the physical remnants of Margate. Let’s change the rhythm of the clock! – Akleriah Originally posted Aug 4, 2011 7:04 pm | view here Thoughts The airy mix of experimental and classical music represents the feeling of Margate; the sea with t

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

John McKiernan is this week's Londonist Out Loud Podcast guest discussing The Tights Ball and other Platform-7 abstract performance art interventions with N Quentin Woolf on London Bridge train station's platform seven Click to Listen Londonist Out Loud is presented and produced by N Quentin Woolf. This week’s show focuses one man and his tights. John McKiernan of Platform 7 has collected thousands of pairs of used tights and rolled them into a ball. The pair talk at London B

Train Journey, From Ramsgate to London, Saturday 10th May 2014, beginning 11.55am Through the reoccurrence and duration of journey spent idle in non-place such as a train carriage we are often inclined to either be ruminating on past events (where we have come from) or speculating on the outcomes of future events (where we are going), we rarely take the opportunity to be present here and now within the moment, within the journey, receptive to the nuances of the soundscape tha

Taken from John McKiernan's Re-imagining Ladies Tights blog post, 20th March 2014 Public Tights Wash: Swiss Cottage, Camden Outside Swiss Cottage Public Library On Saturday 15th March 2014, students from the MA Music Theatre course at The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama joined Re-imagining Ladies Tights artists Anna Kompaniets and Lenka Horakova to create the Swiss Cottage public tights wash. This is the first of three street interventions with Royal Central, supported

Silent Cacophony was a series of public performance art interventions across London, England and other international cities on Remembrance Day 2013 exploring how people reach their opinion on war and conflict. Artists were asked to respond to locations that had experience sudden explosions during war. Harry Vendryes wrote a piece of work specifically for an attack on Covent Garden during the First World War. The home of Disney's The Lion King musical, the Lyceum Theatre is in

RE-IMAGINING LADIES TIGHTS CATFORD AND ACROSS LONDON BOROUGH OF LEWISHAM GATHERINGS: age UK, Lewisham & Southwark, 10 Catford Broadway, Catford, SE6 4SP Collecting old tights and stockings, public washing, creating yarn while storytelling, a promenade photoshoot before producing something new, this project will re-imagine how women perceive these easily discarded garments. When women wear tights or stockings, how do they view themselves? How does it make them feel and how ar

Almost a century on, how do people today interact with the Remembrance 2-minute silence? What does it mean to them? Television news bulletins show the UK coming to a halt, people taking a moment to consider the atrocities of war, yet is this true reflection of what takes place? In 2012, Platform-7’s created the ‘no man’s land’ Remembrance event across 10 London Underground tube stations and the disused Eurostar at Waterloo on Remembrance Sunday. Before the event began, all t

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