Just back from a stay on the Suffolk coast exploring Hauntology (in Felixstowe – more of that to come). Open Iain Sinclair’s Pariah Genius in the pub and this is the first passage I read.
Legendary London writer Iain Sinclair takes us on a tour of his exhibition, Histories and Hauntings, at Swedenborg House in Central London. Histories and Hauntings was partly a re-staging of an exhibition that Iain Sinclair organised at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1974 with Brian Catling, Renchi Bicknell, Sam Torrance and others, Albion Island Vortex, but with the addition of subsequent works that continue the themes of that highly influential show.
Filmed by John Rogers December 2023.
Thanks to Iain Sinclair, Stephen McNeilly, and Victor Rees
Sunny day spent editing this illuminating video of a trek across Northampton with Iain Sinclair to the home of Alan Moore. How do I cut anything from this footage? Feels like a crime.
Screening of Unearthing Alan Moore at Swedenborg House, 23rd May. Extended YouTube version shortly afterwards.
“All I know is that place dictates the story. The petty interventions of humans are of no account. We raid the past to make the present bearable. But there is no present. Just images, scratches, blood colours. Chalk, oil, aerosol: legacy. And outliers to record it.”
P.61
Here’s the full unedited video of my wonderful conversation with Iain Sinclair at Hatchards Piccadilly on 25th January. The event was to discuss my new book, Welcome to New London – journeys and encounters in the post-Olympic city but we wandered as we’re wont to do and even had a chat about Iain’s latest book Pariah Genius.
Buy Welcome to New London: journeys and encounters in the post-Olympic city from Hatchards here
Iain Sinclair’s new book Pariah Genius is published on 25th April 2024
What an amazing night at Hatchards Bookshop on Piccadilly with the great Iain Sinclair talking about my book, Welcome to New London and getting a preview of Iain’s forthcoming publication, Pariah Genius.
After the talk and book signing, I wandered with a friend up to the Old Coffee House in Soho to remind myself of the glory of Brodie’s Beer (brewed in Leyton), sinking a couple of pints of Piccadilly Pale. It seemed the most appropriate place to delve into Iain’s ‘fictionalised biography of the afterlife of the photographer John Deakin‘.
The Buxton reference in the Truman’s mirror nicely echoed the discussion with Iain over the influence of the Buxton family in East London and their mention in Welcome to New London. Iain also recalled his time working at Truman’s with the sculptor and author Brian Catling in the 1970s.
Chuffed to be doing an event with Iain SInclair at the wonderful Hatchards Bookshop on Piccadilly, 25th January 2024. Get tickets here https://JohnRogersAtHatchards.eventbrite.co.uk