'moonbow margate aka moonbow jakes':
this piece was written in june 2011 before the cafe opened and laid out the intentions of the project. posted to the platform-7 blog written: 18th june 2011
18 cliff terrace, margate, ct9 4td
moonbow margate is a temporary café performance bar space in a derelict shop on a derelict parade in cliftonville, margate, within 4 minutes walk of the new £18m turner contemporary gallery... more

margate: a place of pixelations
cafe from the city until 25th june 2011
a presentation to the city and sea symposium, goldsmiths university of london, 10th june 2011

the idea of place is of particular interest to a number of knowledge traditions within the humanities, arts and social sciences; as is also the study of landscape. both place and landscape studies are predicated on the notion of contestation, symbolic, political and economic struggles ... more

'exploring the spaces inhabited by mahatma gandhi', artist saif osmani
using paint on textiles, the work explores a number of aspects in relation to poverty, community disunion, displacement and historical contexture. by linking the chalk found on the margate beachfront saif is attempting to forge links with gandhi’s salt satyagraha .. more

'matter' by jonathan polkest
many seaside towns often mask their own sense of community by immersing themselves in the idealized version of the tourist , even though tourism could be seen as a constructed ideal, created to benefit the same community it now deludes. seaside communities sprang up as they obviously benefited from their close proximity to the former superhighway for all material and intellectual cargo - the sea. the origins of seaside communities can often be reduced to a ...more

julian jacobson is one of britain's most creative and distinctive pianists and is currently a professor of piano and chamber music at the royal college of music. julian played before the café officially opened while it still in pretty bad repair. the lucky audience for this performance was, quite literally, those who just happen to be passing; marketing was a single chalk marker announcement on the window, admission free. having one of the countries leading pianist .. .more

krista uphill is a local margate legend and lead musician of famous local band 'the bubbleband'. krista kick-off the first live performance with a local bands and singers packing the cafe out

bran jones photographer
living and studying in thanet, bran discovered the moonbow jakes café in cliftonville while researching his beach photography project. bran was invited to photograph the amazing akleriah, a live interactive performance around the streets of cliftonville, margate and in the turner contemporary… more

artist: paul hazelton
paul is an international artist born and bred in cliftonville, kent. throughout the summer project, paul was pivotal to the success of the moonbow margate intervention. with many of the interesting artworks and performances that appeared having in some way paul’s prints on them… more

artist jonathan polkest
'Draw Me / Tedne Ve' booth, is an ongoing public portrait project by Cornish artist, Jonathan Polkest.
‘Tedne Ve' (which is Cornish for Draw Me) creates an instant portrait gallery by offering an opportunity for one person to draw another regardless of artistic ability. The ‘Draw Me’ is a camera obscurer built into a specially designed booth consisting of two compartments. On one side sits the subject whose image, via a lens and mirror, appears upside down... more

margate or cliftonville: who do you love?
a beautiful mosaic artwork, in the form of a giant mobile, that for many captured the communities of modern day margate and cliftonville. cliftonville and margate are two separate areas interweaved in a physical sense yet, as the moonbow margate art intervention found, distant in the sense of harmonic living. situated on the very border between the two areas ensuring a mix of customers from both neighbourhoods. what became apparent people in each...more

children of cliftonville were some of the first to investigate moonbow margate, many were desperately looking for adults to listen to them. mel simpson's face painting quite literally had kids queuing around the block, with many local adults having to take an interest in coping with the sheer numbers wanting their face painted

akleriah
the airy mix of experimental and classical music represents the feeling of margate; the sea with the seagulls and the half empty town, worn out cobbled streets and air of past glory, a decadent nostalgic feeling of what it might've been, of the ravishing past, of the emptiness now... more

soundscape by claire hazelton and dean wood
centred around the 1976 record, 'tony savage and dominic play the organ' (recorded live at the lido), claire hazelton and dean wood create a theatrical soundscape incorporating classical music, laptop, radio and culinary equipment (for a la monte young inspired interlude). looking back to the savage's lively cliftonville, the piece fluctuates between the melancholy of the lost cliftonville of now and the energy of the cliftonville of then
... more

ania bas 'recession cupcakes'
live art performance by ania bas invited people passing by to consider the perverse of seemingly expensive cup cakes a huge seller in a place of huge deprivation during a time of recession…more

soundscape by claire hazelton and dean wood
centred around the 1976 record, 'tony savage and dominic play the organ' (recorded live at the lido), claire hazelton and dean wood create a theatrical soundscape incorporating classical music, laptop, radio and culinary equipment (for a la monte young inspired interlude). looking back to the savage's lively cliftonville, the piece fluctuates between the melancholy of the lost cliftonville of now and the energy of the cliftonville of then...more

‘babble - what is language?’
art installation by rebecca glover and claire stanhope
with poetry response by isabel white, jazzman john clarke and
an exploration of language and understanding through installation art and poetry

choreographer and dancer mel simpson presented ‘'on the horizon'’, a site-specific collection of living sculptures through the streets of cliftonville, margate old town and the lido sands… more

darren sperring, trained as a dietician and worked in hospitals and surgeries throughout england while pursuing his art practice. the concept for the exhibition ‘what is food?’ initiated from discussions on darren’s humorous observational practice on how people consider their diet and how and what they eat.

local celebrity, gordon clarkson, discussed the history of the lido and his years as a worker and performer to an audience of over 70 people. this highly successful event led to many emotions surfacing about the lido, cliftonville and greater thanet. committees were formed and new alliances appeared. how this has developed is unknown as at the beginning of 2012.

cliftonville based artist, clare pattinson created a series of innovative food menus which were designed specifically for the hand made menu holders as part of the ‘what is food?’ exhibition at the lido in margate, and also specifically for the dining club of margate

the dead rat orchestra (dro) performed two stunning gigs at the lido bringing remarks of 'incredible’, ‘raw’, ‘ancient stirrings’ and 'primitive'. using a multifaceted arrangement of improvised sounds within a rigid musical structure, the dro brought a challenging set to an audience unaccustomed to such complex arrangements. the reception in which the bands music was received shows there...more

a limited series of twenty-five pieces of artist rebecca locke's work gold junk could be won from the penny pusher arcade machine at cliftonville amusements over the weekend of september 23/24/25 and her short film, gold junk pt.2 was screen at the lido over the weekend.

local children demanded a disco, so the were told to organise it and they could have a disco. over 100 showed up for the saturday afternoon event that had kids dancing, playing and just enjoying themselves

paul hazalton discusses his work for the lido exhibition, what is food was originally planned for the old greasy spoon café opposite the lido but ended up at the golden garter bar at the lido. the change of venue, which was a much larger and a completely different kind of space, necessitated a change in the scale of the work... more

the amazing local resident Ginny Debert was crucial to the impact of the whole interventions success, her humour, hard work and amazing cooking opened opportunities for the project and the whole local community . Without Ginny and the project may well have fizzled out

lurca 30 years of experience as an artist and technician proved invaluable in getting the project in the lido up and running. lauren came from london for a month to help curate the shows 'what is food' and 'cliftonville now'

two people who invaluable help throughout the project, including washing, painting, driving and all round helping made kept the project going when it could have faltered.

artist maureen 'mo' black lived in cliftonville and became heavily involved in making the project the success it was. pictured here with the beautiful mobile 'cliftonville or margate: who do you love?' artwork made by 40 local people

local thanet gazette reporter tom brown only came to report on the project and ended up rushing to help whenever possible. a huge social conscience no one wants to see cliftonville luck change than tom

jace the ace offered to change the locks in the lido and ended up working everyday throughout the project for the payment of cups of coffee. a man who will do anything for anyone, the moment you meet jace the ace you know how he got his name.

Louise and Joe were stalwarts of the cafe and, always around, offering to drive and pick up stock, help out despite having their own business in the old town, great people

local artist paul hazelton got involved with the project from the beginning, paul has his own page on the website. sophie was a huge supporter of the project as both a local resident and through her role as leading Margate Art Culture Hertiage (MACH)

poet in residence isabel white wrote about the project in verse and encouraged others to become involved in poetry lead events, one of izzy's poems was later published in the thanet gazette

claire, polly and dog lucy were regulars who ended up helping out in many many ways throughout the project and were big promotors of the project

andre was a local teenager who asked for work and ended up helping in the kitchen and helped in organising events

tereza travelled from london just to help clean the filthy cafe and prepare it for opening

local celebrity krista uphill gave platform-7's moonbow margate creator john mckiernan a crash course in thanet, its people and its politics

Paul was a big supporter of the cafe and went on to DJ in the lido where he had his hardest ever gig, playing for over 100 local kids who knew the music they wanted... v.funny