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Thursday 29 November 2018
Wednesday 28 November 2018
Tuesday 27 November 2018
Ant Farm : Inflatocookbook : a pneu-age techs book
A wonderful artefact of the age of experimental hippy architecture. Ant Farm prototyped temporary and inflatable structures, and during their lifetime published this how to guide for anybody who was interested and inclined. From the preface of the later 1973 edition: "The INFLATOCOOKBOOK was first published in Jan. 1971 by Ant Farm. It was our attempt to gather information and skills learned in process and present it in an easily accessible format. That INFLATOCOOKBOOK came loose leaf in a vinyl binder that we fabricated in our warehouse in Sausalito. The first printing was 2000 copies. The experiences that qualified us as ' Inflato-experts' occurred over an 18 month period in which we designed. built, and erected inflatables for a variety of clients and situations. Charley Tilford showed Ant Farm how to make fast, cheap inflatagles out of polyethylene and tape and support them with used fans from Goodwill. That was in the fall of 1969. The first one built was the largest, a 100'xl00' white pillow that was built for the ill fated Wild West Festival in San Francisco, then after being turned down for Stewart Brand's Liferaft Earth Event, finally had its day at Altamont. There followed a year in which we built numerous demo-inflatables at schools, conferences, festivals and gatherings around the state of California and beyond. ANT FARM at that time was: Andy Shapiro, Kelly Gloger, Fred Unterseher, Hudson Marquez, Chip Lord, Doug Hurr, Michael Wright, Curtis Schreier, Joe Hall, and Doug Michels. The INFLATOCOOKBOOK was written, designed, and put together by: Chip Lord, Curtis Schreier, Andy Shapiro, Hudson Marquez, Doug Hurr, Doug Michels with help from: Sylvia Oreyfus, Charley Tilford, and Sotiti Kitrilakis." Sits very well alongside the works of Archigram, Superstudio, Archizoom and Gruppo 9999 but with a west coast utopianism and DIY principles more often found in the Whole Earth/Dome building movement.
ARse : Architects for a Really Socialist Environment
Proper old fashioned (and scarce) Trot/Marxist architecture critique. With of course a cover criticism of the flamboyant Archigram (here as Archigoon), and pages of stories about tenant organisations, botched town planning, Mai 68 style posters from AA students, squatting Centrepoint, public housing, writings from Black Dwarf and Agit Prop, Durban, The Architects resistance. A strain of architectural theory absent in the main from current discourse.
Fragments of Mai 68
A stunning collection of 32 posters, with many less well documented examples, taken directly from the streets of Paris from May 1968 to late 1969. The Atelier Populaire was of course famous from it's inception, in particular work from the Ex-Ecole des Beaux Arts, some of which are represented here, along with many produced after the police occupation of the 27th June and move to PSU at 81 Rue Mademoiselle, along with examples from Atelier Populaire du Rel (23 rue de Richelieu), AP 14 Montparnasse, Robert & Cie - Paris, a non specified Comite d'action and the Comité d’initiative et de Coordination pour un Mouvement Revolutionnaire. Subjects range from the more general (workers unite, the fight continues, reject the future offered, general police brutality) to the specific (the Citroen walkouts, the state controlled ORTF, freedom for Inacio Palma, attacks on almost everybody in authority and information about specific events and meetings). What is often forgotten about the student revolution is the global nature of it's concerns- they are also represented here with statements against Nixon, for Cuba, The Mexican Movement, solidarity with Italian Strikers, anti Franco / Salazar and statements against imperialism, of course along with a lot of local pro-union sentiment, calls to action and support for the often justified French national pastime of being on strike.
The posters themselves represent a fascinating insight into a small snapshot of an influential time, where the power of media itself could be appropriated for revolutionary means with an impact that today would be impossible. Though image making and detournement are still used today by a variety of leftists movements with some success, the posters produced in and immediately after May 68 stand as the most striking and effective examples of media hijacking. The posters offered here have direct provenance, being taken from the streets at the time, and their underlayers offer a remarkable insight into their original context and usage.
Cheer Up it's Archigram
Extremely scarce catalogue issued for their exhibition at the ICA in 1973. "Cheer up - it's Archigram , is a cry to the world at large ...the world of architecture and those who have to experience architecture...a cry..." for goodness sake stop being so grim and unimaginative...the world is an imprefect place...and yes, there are many things that must be changed...and there are ways in which the old concept of "house", "city", "design", problem", "place", "space, "artefact" (and the rest) can be exploded, shaken, pummeled, and re-invented." Could easily have been a (small) issue of Archigram.
Sunday 25 November 2018
Thursday 22 November 2018
Sunday 18 November 2018
Sunday 11 November 2018
Thursday 8 November 2018
Wednesday 7 November 2018
AtomAge (complete run)
John Sutcliffe is a legend in fetish circles. Aside of creating fetish wear (he really was the first), he made costumes for Allen Jones' work, Marianne Faithfull in Girl on a Motorcycle, was stocked at Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm MacLaren's Sex, and his bespoke clothing was featured in various stage and screen endeavours, though not the Avengers as had commonly been said, it is likely however he made them. His story- as far as rubber and leather is concerned- begins in 1957, where unable to find a motorcycle outfit for a lady friend, he tasks himself with making one. Thus began a highly successful bespoke leather business, making clothing for women which up until that point hadn't existed and was a roaring success with both women who rode motorcycles, and kinks. Knowing the tastes of his clients and after initial hesitation, he started producing rubberwear in 1967 to complement his leather goods, by which time the business had grown and he had to move it from his Hampstead flat to premises in Covent Garden. It was not until 1972, at the suggestion from one of his regulars (and Atomage writer) Helen Henley that he started a magazine, initially to normalise, and popularise the idea that leather and rubber could be worn for both utility and pleasure. Initially printed in a run of 800 copies, and available by mail order from his workshop, Atomage featured his own creations, articles by husband and wife Robert and Helen Henley and order forms for clothing and future issues. It went on to feature the Mackintosh club, diving, utility wear, masks, wading, mudlarking and every other type of clothing fetish that existed or had yet to be categorised, with a correspondence system for readers and a lot of pictures of readers in their favourite clothing, thus effectively giving birth to a social circle, and a burgeoning scene. By issue 13 of the magazine regulars were complaining about the fetish heavy content, so a supplement was created to focus on the more kink oriented aspect of the publication. Atomage continued happily alongside the clothing business until 1980, gaining stockists and new fans year on year, until Sutcliffe set his sights on the international scene, and rechristened the magazine Atomage International, with a larger A4 format, and 2 further magazines focusing on Bondage and Rubber respectively. Disaster struck in 1983, when a prudish member of the public send a copy of the Sutcliffe published Story of Gerda to the police, resulting in a raid, confiscation of his entire stock, and the destruction of the printing plates for all his material. Greatly diminished, he relocated to Park Royal, where he continued to make clothing until his death in 1987. Aside of the odd item of cherished clothing in personal wardrobes, and a flourishing scene that Sutcliffe helped facilitate, Atomage is all that is left of his legacy. It's a real insight into a private world shared by few, where rules of engagement are quite different to mainstream society, and the extremity of the clothing and (to most people) odd behavioural codes contrast strongly with the often mundane contexts they appears in. Suburban semi's, gardens, road lay-by's and home made dungeons all appear in the fantasy pages of the magazine, along with all sorts of people, some ordinary, some not so. To the unacquainted reader it is very much a parallel world, populated by almost recognisable fantasies and cultural tropes. Very much an enthusiasts publication Atomage somehow managed to span a gap between the Avant Garde cultural practices of the Sixties and Seventies and the desires of thousands of ordinary people all over the world. “He was one of the apostles of fashion. I mean, he was one of the important designers of the 1960s that revolutionised everything – he freed fashion from its applied traditional constraints. Before John came along the idea of a woman wearing leather was a shocking one. John was one of the movers of the Carnaby Street scene, and fashion never really looked back after this magical period.” Robert Henley.
Tuesday 6 November 2018
Atomage (complete collection)
John Sutcliffe is a legend in fetish circles. Aside of creating fetish wear (he really was the first), he made costumes for Allen Jones' work, Marianne Faithfull in Girl on a Motorcycle, was stocked at Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm MacLaren's Sex, and his bespoke clothing was featured in various stage and screen endeavours, though not the Avengers as had commonly been said, it is likely however he made them. His story- as far as rubber and leather is concerned- begins in 1957, where unable to find a motorcycle outfit for a lady friend, he tasks himself with making one. Thus began a highly successful bespoke leather business, making clothing for women which up until that point hadn't existed and was a roaring success with both women who rode motorcycles, and kinks. Knowing the tastes of his clients and after initial hesitation, he started producing rubberwear in 1967 to complement his leather goods, by which time the business had grown and he had to move it from his Hampstead flat to premises in Covent Garden.
It was not until 1972, at the suggestion from one of his regulars (and Atomage writer) Helen Henley that he started a magazine, initially to normalise, and popularise the idea that leather and rubber could be worn for both utility and pleasure. Initially printed in a run of 800 copies, and available by mail order from his workshop, Atomage featured his own creations, articles by husband and wife Robert and Helen Henley and order forms for clothing and future issues. It went on to feature the Mackintosh club, diving, utility wear, masks, wading, mudlarking and every other type of clothing fetish that existed or had yet to be categorised, with a correspondence system for readers and a lot of pictures of readers in their favourite clothing, thus effectively giving birth to a social circle, and a burgeoning scene. By issue 13 of the magazine regulars were complaining about the fetish heavy content, so a supplement was created to focus on the more kink oriented aspect of the publication. Atomage continued happily alongside the clothing business until 1980, gaining stockists and new fans year on year, until Sutcliffe set his sights on the international scene, and rechristened the magazine Atomage International, with a larger A4 format, and 2 further magazines focusing on Bondage and Rubber respectively. Disaster struck in 1983, when a prudish member of the public send a copy of the Sutcliffe published Story of Gerda to the police, resulting in a raid, confiscation of his entire stock, and the destruction of the printing plates for all his material. Greatly diminished, he relocated to Park Royal, where he continued to make clothing until his death in 1987.
Aside of the odd item of cherished clothing in personal wardrobes, and a flourishing scene that Sutcliffe helped facilitate, Atomage is all that is left of his legacy. It's a real insight into a private world shared by few, where rules of engagement are quite different to mainstream society, and the extremity of the clothing and (to most people) odd behavioural codes contrast strongly with the often mundane contexts they appears in. Suburban semi's, gardens, road lay-by's and home made dungeons all appear in the fantasy pages of the magazine, along with all sorts of people, some ordinary, some not so. To the unacquainted reader it is very much a parallel world, populated by almost recognisable fantasies and cultural tropes. Very much an enthusiasts publication Atomage somehow managed to span a gap between the Avant Garde cultural practices of the Sixties and Seventies and the desires of thousands of ordinary people all over the world. “He was one of the apostles of fashion. I mean, he was one of the important designers of the 1960s that revolutionised everything – he freed fashion from its applied traditional constraints. Before John came along the idea of a woman wearing leather was a shocking one. John was one of the movers of the Carnaby Street scene, and fashion never really looked back after this magical period.” Robert Henley.
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