British law firm Charles Russell Speechlys, which supports the exhibitions at Somerset House’s Terrace Rooms, has produced a short film about PRINT! Tearing It Up, the show which I have organised at the gallery with SH senior curator Claire Catterall.
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Tags: Anarchy In The UK, Charles Russell Speechlys, Claire Catterall, Mushpit, Peace News, Somerset House, Suzanne Marriott, Viz

//The PRINT! Mind Map currently in the Terrace Rooms of Somerset House. Photo: Doug Peters/PA Wire//

//First rough draft, February 2018//

One of the most popular elements of PRINT! Tearing It Up – the celebration of independent magazines currently at Somerset House – is the giant mind map of British publishing which occupies an entire wall in the Terrace Rooms gallery.

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Tags: Architectural Review, BLast, British Journal Of Photography, Claire Catterall, Doug Peters, Omni Colour, Rhys Atkinson, Scott King, Somerset House, The Spectator

Here’s a clip of me being interviewed about PRINT! Tearing It Up, which is free to visitors to Somerset House in central London until August 22:

Tags: Deluxe, Fuck Brexit, Mushpit, Private Eye, Somerset House

“It’s like reconstructing the debris of old pop paraphernalia… what’s exciting about it is that you no longer need to buy guitars. You can choose a friend up the road, put your decks together with a beatbox and make your own records, demoralising [sic] the pop myth and beginning to find a way of using material yourself .”

On November 19 1982, the UK’s national weekly youth music programme The Tube included a segment marking the occasion when the terms (and concepts of) “scratching”, “break-dancing” and “hip-hop” were introduced to a mass British audience for the first time.

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Tags: Adam & The Ants, Afrika Bambaataa, Bond's, Funkapolitan, Gaz's Rocking Blues, Grandmaster Flash, Jools Holland, Meard Street, Melle Mel, Michael Holman, Nick Jones, Sugarhill Gang, The Clash, The Gargoyle, The Tube, Tom Dixon, Wham, Zulu Nation

//Relation of Aesthetic Choice to Life Activity (Function) of the Subject, Billy Apple, 1961-2. From Tate Britain//

I’m indebted to Tate Liverpool curator Darren Pih for the connection between a photograph which appeared in ARK 33 – the edition of the Royal College Of Art magazine which was the subject of my last post – and a contemporaneous work by the artist Billy Apple.

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Tags: Andrew Wilson, ARK 33, Barrie Bates, Billy Apple, Darren Pih, David Hockney, Keith Branscombe, Lady Clairol Instant Crème Whip, Royal College Of Art, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool

//Wild youth: Scenes of abandon from Twist Drunk/Drunk Twist in Ark 33. Photos: Keith Branscombe//

//Cover, Ark 33, Autumn 1962. Photography: Keith Branscombe//

The publication of issue 33 of the Royal College of Art’s magazine ARK in the autumn of 1962 hit the moment in terms of the turbo-charging of contemporary youth culture.

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Tags: ARK, Bill James, Brian Haynes, David Clarke, Derek Boshier, Don McCullin, Dougie Millings, Eric Mottram, Geof Reeve, John Stephen, Keith Branscombe, Marc Bolan, Mark Boxer, Mark Feld, Pauline Boty, Peter Blake, Royal College Of Art, Shashi Rawal, the Beatles, Town

Two short films representing the voices of independence in the Somerset House show PRINT! Tearing Up are available online and for visitors to the exhibition.

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Tags: Alpa Depani, Eleanor Scott, Eye, John L. Walters, Marsha Rowe, Nick Logan, Rhona Ezuma, Romp, Spare Rib, THIIIRD, Time Out, Tony Elliott

As well as the Newsstand (see last post), PRINT! Tearing It Up features three listening booths where visitors to the exhibition can hear podcasts featuring some of the greats of British independent magazine publishing.

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Tags: Alpa Depani, Elisabeth Krohn, Marsha Rowe, Nick Logan, Rhona Ezuma, Romp, Sabat, Suspira, THIIIRD, Time Out, Tony Elliott

//Visitors to the show browse Newsstand magazines this week. Photo: Somerset House Trust//

//The kiosk on which our Newsstand is based was built for the news vendor at Sloane Square station 30-odd years ago//

Traditional newsstands figure among my favourite examples of London street vernacular architecture (if indeed they qualify as architecture – I’m no expert).
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Tags: Alex Arts, Anthony Gordon, Claire Catterall, Eoin Donnelly, Kathryn Flett, Lindsay Baker, Nick Logan, Scott King, Somerset House, Somerset House Trust

Katie Deighton and Jenny Cleeton from online media news outlet The Drum took a trip around PRINT! Tearing It Up last week.

Read their piece here – the accompanying film report is below.

PRINT! Tearing It Up is at the Terrace Rooms gallery, Somerset House, until August 22. Full details here.

Tags: Jenny Cleeton, Katie Deighton, Somerset House, The Drum