September started with a fab book launch event at The Horse Hospital for BOOM a potted history of New London Underground and Exploding Cinema. It has been compiled and edited by founder Duncan Reekie and makes for entertaining review. Now available ‘print on demand’ or out of a box at the Next Show
It’s a grand work of affection and passion for this best in class open access screening club and those whom share the love for it’s quirky stature and playful improvisation ! The 320 page full colour compendium charts the progress of the collective from it’s earliest moments in the Brixton Cooltan factory through to todays epic monthly screenings around London and the South East. A dozen or more short films of each show are listed alongside critical imaginary and whitty provocations in A6 cut-up photocopy booklets, spectaular poster art and period photographs of member past and present, all feature in this great book, a winning formula!
Back at Spectacle the packing up of it’s huge collection has become a weekly gathering, such that now, almost everything has made it’s way out to the meanwhile leased Watermans Art Centre. Thousands of catalogued Umatic, Betacam, High8, VHS, even Super8 reels boxed up alongside vintage VT playback and digitisation equipment plus project paper based documentation wrapped for future purposes as yet unknown.
Most of the impactful interviews, urban reviews and insightful films that fill many terabytes of drive arrays, will continue to inform and illuminate on the state of play for community action and social politics, once we identify suitable long term hosting and support.
At the end of September TB traveled out to Bristol for ANIMA with James Braddell, to where Henry Rolls exhibited his gorgeous OptiKinetic sculpture at KIT Form on the ground floor of Jamaica Street Studios in Stokes Croft.
Not only was it a chance to hear from Henry about progress since we all last met up in Limehouse Town Hall but to catch up with Matthew Olden at Waterside Arts Centre . There in a nice co-incidence we met Snoozie from BEEF Darkroom also based at Jamaica Street Studios. She kindly showed us around and introduced the crew there busy setting up for the Exhibition opening!
This clip gives a glimpse of the grace and beauty of this new work, an investigation into planetary gear systems and long playing cycles of light projection that we first met to discuss for installation in the entrance hall of LTH early in 2024. Although timelines have stretched out we are still hopeful of some future consolidation of ideas there.
It has been many years since last visiting Stokes Croft with Heath Bunting when The Cube Cinema was in it’s earliest incarnation as Backspace began in 1996. As long as 1990 ago when BRAG Agency first got going, it was the Bristol based ME band that seemed most likely to breakthrough the POP barrier to greater fame with their celtic sensibility and breathtaking ‘Harmonise or Die’ on PopGod records. We often think of them and all the inspiring energies spinning around that continue to interlink us.
