1966 Summer Ball
John Lauwerys recollects
London Smells
How smells helped build the city
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SUMMER 2015 NO. 42
Keeping you in touch with Goldsmiths
Happy Accidents
[and a lot of hard work]
In conversation with Rob da Bank
Patrick Loughrey Warden, Goldsmiths, University of London
Goldsmiths alumni are leaders and innovators. Whether leading major businesses or starting new ones, running public sector organisations or providing the contemporary cultural leadership that makes this country one of the most vibrant in the world. Goldsmiths alumni make things happen. As we continue to reconnect with alumni across the globe, our Alumni Ambassadors have organised and curated events that are varied and dynamic – a true reflection of our international community (pages 14 and 15). Goldsmiths alumni support the next generation of alumni. This year’s telephone campaign raised £105,000 – the largest total to date – in support of the Annual Fund, making a real difference to the lives of our students. Work donated by alumni earlier this year will enable us to build a new gallery on campus using the water tanks in the former Laurie Grove baths (pages 6 and 7). Our community is growing every year and this year we welcomed a host of new members at Graduation, including our inspirational honorands who we are proud to include in the Goldsmiths family (page 2). Along with our students and our academics, our alumni tell our story. Wherever you are in the world, don’t forget to get in touch with the Development and Alumni Office to share your news and to ensure you get to reconnect with Goldsmiths alumni near you. GOLDLINK 42
Editor: Mary Davies Assistant Editor: Minh Lam Design: zoebather.co.uk Photography: Bill Robinson (Pages 8-11, front and back cover). Alan Dimmick © greengrassi, London and Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver. Performed 01.05.15 in the Jeffrey Room, The Mitchell Theatre, Glasgow. Commissioned by The Common Guild, Glasgow (Turner Prize 2015 Shortlist Announcement: Janice Kerbel, DOUG 2014 – page 4). Goldlink
Mattymattmattmat (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons (Stuart Hall – page 3) www.hark1karan.com (Launderette – page 20). Michael Storrings (Dangerous When Wet – page 23). Anna Torborg (Tomorrow Never Knows – page 23). Shahram Nazeri and Manoocher Deghat (Iranian Classical Music – page 23). Gabriela Sperling (Terry Felgate – page 27). Update your details online at www.gold.ac.uk/alumni/update
Development & Alumni Office Goldsmiths, University of London New Cross, London SE14 6NW alumni@gold.ac.uk +44 (0)20 7919 7253 The opinions expressed in the magazine are those of the writers concerned and not necessarily of Goldsmiths. Goldlink is printed on paper accredited by the Forestry Stewardship Council.
On the cover
Rob da Bank, 2015 By Bill Robinson — see page 8
IN THIS ISSUE
02 Honoured by Goldsmiths:
Celebrating our honorands
03 News 06 Alumni Auction: For the Gallery at Goldsmiths
08 Interview: In conversation with
Rob da Bank
Reconnecting alumni
Hannah Fasching
14 Goldsmiths Reunite: 16 Showcase:
18 London Smells: How smells build a city
20 1966 Summer Ball: John Lauwerys recollects 23 Books 24 Side by Side 25 Life After 26 Gold Stories 28 Parting Shot Summer 2015 No.42
2 News
HONOURED BY GOLDSMITHS PJ Harvey and Lord David Puttnam are just two of the inspiring figures recently awarded Honorary Degrees and Fellowships at Goldsmiths.
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ach year at our Graduation Ceremonies, the University honours individuals whose achievements reflect values important to the Goldsmiths community. Other notable honorands from past years include: Sir Michael Caine; the Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre, Jude Kelly; Jools Holland; Columbia Records’ Chairman, Rob Stringer; and Placebo frontman Brian Molko. Internationally acclaimed musician PJ Harvey (pictured) and award-winning architect Dame Zaha Hadid were two of the six creative and visionary individuals who were awarded Honorary Degrees and Fellowships in September last year. Other recipients included journalist and writer, Neal Ascherson; Cartoonist, Martin Rowson;
Poet, Royal Society of Literature Fellow and Goldsmiths alumnus George Szirtes and human rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell. Liz Bromley, Registrar & Secretary of Goldsmiths, said: “They will now be a part of an institution that prides itself on empowering individuals from all walks of life to become visionaries, just like them.” During the February graduation ceremonies, legendary film producer Lord David Puttnam, New Wave musician Green Gartside, and top designer Margaret Howell were among the inspiring figures awarded Honorary Fellowships. Head teacher Sheena Gilby, who has just retired after 35 years
We’re proud to welcome this diverse, inspiring, and visionary group of people to Goldsmiths in education, was recognised for her commitment to children and their families in Greenwich, her support for Goldsmiths teaching students, and her contribution to improving nursery school provision in Uganda. Goldsmiths alumnus and composer Adrian Sutton was also honoured for his work, which includes the musical score to the West End hit, War Horse. Patrick Loughrey, Goldsmiths’ Warden said: “We’re proud to welcome this diverse, inspiring, and visionary group of people to the Goldsmiths family. They have made a huge impact on their immediate communities and worldwide and are true pioneers in their fields.”
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3 NEWS
MARY QUANT F
ashion designer and Goldsmiths alumna Mary Quant was made a Dame in the Queen’s New Year Honours list. Mary came to Goldsmiths in 1950, embarking on an art diploma course. In 1955 Mary opened her store, Bazaar, on the King’s Road, Chelsea and in 1966 was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her outstanding contribution to the fashion industry. The designer is an icon of the youth fashion movement of the 1960s and is widely credited with popularising the mini skirt. Commenting on the Honours, Dame Mary Quant said: “I am absolutely delighted to have been awarded this terrific honour. It is extremely gratifying that my work in the fashion industry has been recognised and acknowledged in such a significant way.”
ANNUAL FUND T
his year’s telephone campaign involved 29 students, working in shifts of 15 to call our alumni every evening over the course of three weeks. The campaign raised £105,000 in gifts and pledges which is the highest total to date. The Annual Fund makes a huge difference to the lives of students. Every penny raised goes to projects that benefit them, whether that is providing much needed help for students facing financial hardship to continue with their studies or providing funds for them to engage in extra-curricular activities. The experience of speaking with Goldsmiths’ alumni is as valuable as the fundraising itself. It enables the students to develop communication skills and confidence outside of traditional academia.
PIONEERING RESEARCH P
rofessor Heidi Mirza was one of eight winners at the 2014 Media Diversified Eight Women awards celebrating the achievements of women of colour across the UK. Recognised as one of the first black female professors in the UK, Heidi received the award for her pioneering research on race, gender and identity in education. Voters recognised inspirational women of colour who made significant contributions in their fields. Professor Mirza said: “It is an auspicious year to win as it is 30 years since black British feminism came to the fore and was named in British academia. I am proud to be part of a scholarly movement that has changed the way we teach and write about race and gender in the social sciences.”
Summer 2015 No.42
4 News NEWS
TURNER PRIZE L
ecturer in Fine Art Bonnie Camplin and Reader in Fine Art Janice Kerbel, who both teach on the BA Fine Art programme, were included on the shortlist of four for the 2015 Turner Prize competition. The prize is widely recognised as one of the most important and prestigious awards for the visual arts in Europe. Camplin was shortlisted for The Military Industrial Complex, South London Gallery. Kerbel was shortlisted for her operatic work DOUG commissioned by The Common Guild at Mitchell Library, Glasgow. With seven previous winners and nearly a quarter of previously shortlisted artists the pair continue the rich tradition of Goldsmiths in the globally-recognised prize. In a further link to Goldsmiths, arts collective Assemble has also been shortlisted. Assemble has been appointed to design the new public Gallery at Goldsmiths, due to open in 2016.
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FASHION RESEARCH UNIT T
he Fashion Research Unit – a new research group bringing together expertise and interests from across the Departments of Design, Media and Communications, Visual Culture, Sociology, ICCE, IMS, Computing and Art - launched at Goldsmiths in February 2015. The Unit’s formation marks the success of the recently introduced MA in Fashion, based in the Department of Design, which calls for creative practitioners – designers, writers, thinkers and curators – to actively seek to challenge traditional boundaries in the fashion world. The Fashion Research Unit’s launch event comprised of six speakers from inside and outside Goldsmiths, and addressed Critical Perspectives on Fashion Research & Methodology. Based for the first two years in the Department of Media and Communications, with Professor Angela McRobbie as Director, the Fashion Research Unit will aim to host monthly events.
GOLDSMITHS PRIZE A
li Smith was presented with the literary prize for her boldly original novel How to be Both. The book is published in two versions so that readers can encounter its two parts in a different order. The Prize is now in its second year and was created by Goldsmiths in association with the New Statesman to recognise published fiction that opens up new possibilities for the novel form. Culture Editor of the New Statesman, Tom Gatti, said: “How to be Both is a playful and profound book that pushes the novel into thrilling new shapes.” The Prize was created in conjunction with the Goldsmiths Writers’ Centre, headed up by acclaimed author Professor Blake Morrison, which hosts events aimed at encouraging new writing and stimulating debate about literature.
5 NEWS
NEXT-GENERATION PERC AT TECH GOLDSMITHS C G omputer scientists at Goldsmiths have been awarded £1.6m to lead an international team in the development of advanced gaming and music technology that adapts to human body language, expression and feelings. The success of first generation interfaces that capture body movement, such as the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Kinect, has demonstrated a public appetite for technology that allows users to interact with creative multimedia systems in seamless ways. The Rapid Mix consortium, led by Professor Atau Tanaka from the Department of Computing, will use years of research to develop advanced gaming, music and e-health technology. This allows start-ups to compete with major corporations, bringing knowledge from three leading technology labs to five creative industry SMEs, based in Spain, Portugal, France and the UK, using the research to develop prototype products.
oldsmiths has launched a new research group aimed at challenging traditional orthodox approaches to the study of economics and society. The Goldsmiths Political Economy Research Centre (PERC) brings together critical thinkers in political science, economics, sociology, anthropology, media and cultural studies to generate new perspectives on contemporary capitalism. PERC aims to blur the boundaries between economics and other social sciences, while breaking down barriers between economic experts and the public with accessible events, blogs and research papers. PERC has been established in parallel with the new Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) BA degree at Goldsmiths. This distinctive and critical degree programme offers an innovative perspective to students wanting to study the broader political economy unconstrained by the limits of orthodox thinking.
PROFESSOR STUART HALL T
he New Academic Building was renamed the Professor Stuart Hall Building in November last year. Scholars, artists and activists presented a series of events to celebrate Stuart’s lifelong work. Stuart Hall played a pivotal role in social change, and was internationally recognised as the leading figure in the field of cultural studies. One of Britain’s most prominent public intellectuals, he was also a uniquely gifted teacher and was awarded a Goldsmiths Honorary Doctorate in 1997. Goldsmiths Warden, Patrick Loughrey said: “Professor Stuart Hall was a public intellectual who held the highest values of integrity, creativity and criticality, values which Goldsmiths embodies today. Stuart Hall has been a crucial influence on our work at Goldsmiths and we are proud to dedicate this state-ofthe-art facility to his legacy.”
Summer 2015 No.42
6 Events
ALUMNI AUCTION
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Work donated by alumni who went on to become some of the biggest names in the contemporary art world, sold for more than £1.4 million at Christie’s earlier this year, to raise funds for a new gallery on campus.
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n Thursday 12th February, work donated by illustrious alumni, including Antony Gormley, Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas, Julian Opie, Sam Taylor-Johnson and Steve McQueen, went under the hammer at Christie’s to raise funds for the Gallery at Goldsmiths. The artists contributing to the auction represent a ‘Who’s Who’ of British art over the past 30 years and the works they have donated are a reflection of their generosity and of their affection and support for Goldsmiths as a place that educates and nurtures young artists.
Damien Hirst’s Ipratropium Bromide, which had an estimated sale price of £250,000-350,000, was sold for £542,500 while Sarah Lucas’ Nahuiolin (estimated at £120,000 - £180,000) reached £266,500. Antony Gormley’s sculpture, Another Time XX, sold for £194,500. The money raised by the donated works at the Post-War and Contemporary auction provides a significant boost to funds already raised, and brings us closer to the £2.8m fundraising target for the Gallery at Goldsmiths project. Designed by Assemble and
The artists contributing to the auction represent a ‘Who’s Who’ of British art over the past 30 years. Left Beautiful Spread Your Wings, Open Your Mind Painting, Damien Hirst
built around the Victorian water tanks at the Laurie Grove Baths in New Cross, the Gallery will provide an inspiring teaching, learning and events space for future generations of Goldsmiths students and the local community. The Gallery will host an international programme of exhibitions, residencies and projects, stimulating inventive and original work while simultaneously contributing toward new research. Dr Richard Noble, Head of the Department of Art at Goldsmiths, commented: “Through the overwhelming generosity of our illustrious alumni we have raised the incredible sum of £1.4m that will enable us to create a new centre for contemporary art in south London. “The Gallery at Goldsmiths will offer a unique, researchdriven programme of exhibitions, projects and residencies. The exhibition and events programme will reflect the dynamic culture of making and researching visual art at Goldsmiths by acting as a laboratory, generating new art works, new exhibitions and new research projects, benefiting a diverse audience including Goldsmiths students, local residents and the international art world. We are eternally grateful to all of the artists and collectors who contributed, and to Christie’s for their ongoing support.” To find out more about the Gallery at Goldsmiths and other fundraising projects at Goldsmiths, visit www.gold.ac.uk/give or email development@gold.ac.uk
Above Professor Richard Noble with Nahuiolin by Sarah Lucas
Summer 2015 No.42
8 Feature
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HAPPY ACCIDENTS [AND A LOT OF HARD WORK]
Rob da Bank (BA French Studies, 1995) talks Goldsmiths, music and the importance of being the first one there.
Why Goldsmiths? At the time I was totally insane about Manchester bands. Me, just like probably thousands of other 18 year-old kids, thought, ‘Wow, let’s go to Manchester,’ but I also applied to King’s and to Goldsmiths. I had no idea what moving to Manchester would have entailed. I probably wouldn’t be here, doing what I’m doing now if I’d gone to Manchester. It could have all turned out differently. At school I’d been rubbish at everything apart from Music Theory, English and French, so French was a default subject for me, and then I did History of Art with it. I met Josie, Mrs da Bank, in the first term. Nearly all of my mates are artists or filmmakers who ended up going to Goldsmiths or Chelsea, so we were all knocking around that arty scene, even if I was
doing French! I love art but music’s my thing. It was more exciting for me being in South London. Hanging out where the Ragga Twins recorded, meeting Fabio and Grooverider and going to dirty raves! What was it like coming back home after you’d spent time at Goldsmiths? I had a great time at Goldsmiths but it was just insane! We went clubbing three or four times a week, living the London life. Going to places that we couldn’t possibly afford, or blagging our way in. Standing in queues for hours to get into gigs. Then I would go back to our house in a little village and see my mates who were coming in from other places, and it was all cool again, but I was probably wearing some pair of ridiculous orange, camouflage trousers, with my head in a slightly different space. I was getting a massive Summer 2015 No.42
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education in more ways than one! I think Goldsmiths completely opened my eyes. I think it was, and it probably still is, one of the most culturally diverse and enriching places you could go to. I was getting an education studying French, and I was getting the musical education, the life education and the life skills. It was coming at me from all directions. I couldn’t have been happier. What music were you listening to when you were at Goldsmiths? When I started DJing I was playing funk and hip hop. Acid jazz was just big at the time. I specifically remember there was a record shop at the end of Deptford High Street, on the way to Goldsmiths. You’d set off from Rachel McMillan, and then walk down Deptford High Street, checking out the market, and then there was the record shop at the end. That’s where I bought the Ragga Twins’ debut album, which for me is one of the most important records in British music in the last 30 to 40 years. Musically, 1990-1995 Goldlink
It was more exciting for me being in South London. Hanging out where the Ragga Twins recorded, meeting Fabio and Grooverider and going to dirty raves!
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was an amazing time. I was listening to Oasis, Blur, Radiohead, The Pixies, Mudhoney and the Levellers. It was very diverse. When did you become Rob da Bank? I wasn’t known as Rob da Bank at Goldsmiths. I did get that name while I was there but no one knew who Rob da Bank was, so it was just by the by. I needed a DJ name to put on a flyer for my club, Sunday Best, which I started in 1994, so I must have been in my fourth year at Goldsmiths. What was it like to organise your first Bestival? At the time, we sat in the pub, drank a lot of wine and thought, ‘Right, okay. We can do this, let’s make it happen,’ and six months later we were opening the gates! We drove around the south coast, and then got on a ferry to the Isle of Wight, found loads of really terrible sites, and then sort of stumbled across Robin Hill, which is where it still is. It was very accidental. I didn’t really plan to go to Goldsmiths, I didn’t plan to be a DJ, I didn’t plan
to set up a festival. I didn’t plan to meet Josie, I didn’t plan any of those things, and so it all kind of just happened. Sunday Best started towards the end of my time at Goldsmiths. That ran every Sunday for seven years and got a nationwide following. Radio 1 got in touch about this show called the Blue Room, which was an ambient, electronica chill-out show and that’s how my Radio 1 career started. You were also a music journalist at the same time. Does it take a lot of energy to keep that going? I still love it. You’ve just got to be careful that you don’t take these things for granted because they’re amazing things that I’m doing, it’s just that I’ve been doing them for a long time. That’s why I’m always looking for new challenges, and I’m never standing still, and also why I do three or four things at the same time. If I’d just been a DJ, by now I’d probably be at the end of my career. So I’m glad that I’ve got the festival, I’ve got the publishing company, I’ve got the record label, I’ve got the DJ gigs. Summer 2015 No.42
12 Feature Previous Page Taken at Nile Rogers show, Bestival 2014
Top Detail from Rob’s office
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Above Bestival at Robin Hill Country Park
Below Detail from Rob’s office, featuring his Festival Awards
Right Rob and Josie. Josie is Creative Director for Camp Bestival, Bestival and the Rob da Bank brand
How has the festival industry changed since then? When we started we were the first boutique festival. I think Josie even coined the term ‘boutique camping’. Now the word doesn’t really mean anything, everyone calls themselves a boutique festival. At the time it was all about attention to detail, going the extra mile, the budget being ploughed back into the site, rather than a spit-and-sawdust field, stage, bar, rock band. Suddenly there was this whole new wave of festivals that were comfortable to go to and still had great line-ups. I think we championed that, along with The Big Chill and Secret Garden. Even at the base layer, everyone now expects clean toilets, everyone expects well-marked out campsites, and everyone expects polite security. Bestival goes international this year? Yes, Toronto. I’ve had loads of offers over the last decade, and none of them have quite been right. They’ve got an awful lot of good music coming out of there. The Toronto scene is really buzzing and the best bit is you have to get a ferry to the island where the site is, so there’s a nice synergy between getting on the ferry to go to Bestival. We only do festivals where you have to get on a ferry to get there! How has downloading and streaming music affected the live festival music experience? Downloading and streaming has overtaken recorded music on CD and vinyl, and I think that’s incredible.
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It was very accidental. Just like I didn’t really plan to go to Goldsmiths, I didn’t plan to be a DJ, I didn’t plan to set up a festival. I’m talking about being able to go online and buy any record from any period of time. I know it’s caught out some record companies who didn’t catch up fast enough. More and more, the people I meet have really broad tastes. That’s good for festivals like Bestival, because we have too. Festivals have become a band’s main form of income. That does have a knock-on effect on what shows they’re then going to do, whether they’re going to do the O2, or whether they’re going to do Shepherd’s Bush Empire. What was the inspiration for setting up Earworm? Earworm is me and my manager, Ben. Once I knew I was leaving Radio 1, I thought, ‘What am I going to get my teeth into now?’ I’m obviously doing stuff on 6, I still love radio, but I definitely wanted new challenges and Earworm naturally fell into place. Two years ago
I took part in the Manchester International Festival, and that led me to music supervise and partially score a BBC drama about the Arndale bombing. We’ve got two films on the go for this year. Suddenly I’m a film composer, but I work with a lot of people to do that. I don’t fool myself that I’m suddenly going to become Bernard Herrmann overnight! What advice would you give to our students today? I hope everyone has as good a time as I did. It was a lot of fun, but I’ve also got a strong work ethic. With the festivals, we’ve worked really hard at it and there is also my motto, ‘Be the first one there. Always be early. Always turn up for work.’ Even as a student, I probably annoyed everyone else by getting up early! Goldsmiths is largely a creative, artistic place, so be a bit different. You have to try to find a little angle for yourself, because there’s no point in trying to be the next Damien Hirst. You can go down that route, because Damien Hirst is ultimately copying other people, but in his own clever way. You are so prolific, how do you relax? Josie probably says I don’t relax. I do, I love sailing, windsurfing, paddle-boarding, those things. I love drinking wine, seeing my mates. I’m kind of a stay-athome dad as much as I can be, we do a day or two in London, and then the rest of the time I’m doing the school run, doing baths and bedtime, and I love that. I’d easily swap it if I had the choice. Summer 2015 No.42
14 Feature
s h t i m s d l Go e t i n u Re Goldsmiths continues to reconnect with alumni across the world via a network of volunteers and a week-long series of events from Sao Paulo to Tokyo
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IN
April 2014 Goldsmiths Reunite, a new events series, was launched to reconnect with alumni around the world. The events held in Athens, New York, Berlin, Sao Paulo, London and Rome reunited more than 350 alumni and for many, it was the first time they had attended a Goldsmiths event since graduating. Alumni Ambassador, Amy Chrzanowski who joined us at Goldsmiths Reunite in New York, commented: “I wanted to connect with other alumni – both for networking but also to meet others who share that same connection with Goldsmiths. I was a bit homesick when I left London and I love reminiscing about my time in New Cross Gate.” In May this year, Patrick Loughrey, Goldsmiths’ Warden, hosted the first Goldsmiths Reunite event in Tokyo where alumni heard Professor Caroline Knowles discuss her journey following the global trail of the flip-flop. More than 100 local alumni joined him at the most popular event of the series so far.
Below Left Student Engagement Manager, Bonnie Southcott with New York Alumni Ambassador, Amy Chrzanowski
Alumni Ambassador Programme To coincide with this series, Goldsmiths launched the Alumni Ambassador Programme – a network of alumni volunteers who are the link between Goldsmiths and alumni in their region. With over 50,000 alumni based in 150 countries around the world, our Alumni Ambassadors enable Goldsmiths to be present in many places at once. Karina Griffith (MA Feature Film, 2007) is one of 30 Alumni Ambassadors who are already taking part in this new initiative. A Canadian curator and visual artist, Karina has been based in Berlin for over 10 years. Her work has screened at numerous festivals, and has been exhibited at museums and galleries in North America and Europe, including the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa and
the Marshall McLuhan Media Centre in Berlin. In 2013, she founded the Goldsmithskolleg, a group of alumni inspired by the interdisciplinary trademark of Goldsmiths who meet to discuss trends, facilitate interdisciplinary pursuits and create intercultural spaces.  Around The World In 7 Days In May a week-long series of volunteer-led events took place in 13 different cities, from São Paulo to Rome to Singapore. The series is a first in the university’s history and each event was managed by our Goldsmiths Alumni Ambassadors. Over 400 alumni registered to attend events in the final week of May which included the midweek alumni reception in Tokyo. In New York, alumni relived their student days by taking part in a traditional pub quiz, while in
Below Berlin Alumni Ambassador, Karina Griffith
I wanted to join for networking but also to meet others who share that connection with Goldsmiths.
Zurich alumni spent the night at Cabaret Voltaire, the home of Dadaism. Other gatherings took place in Athens, Berlin, Chicago, Cologne, Denver, Dublin, Frankfurt and Oslo. Mary Davies, Alumni Relations Manager, said: “We are so grateful for the support of our Alumni Ambassadors. They have demonstrated that wherever life takes you after Goldsmiths you remain part of the Goldsmiths family.” Discussing the future of Around the World in 7 Days, Mary commented: “We now need many more alumni volunteers to get involved and help us expand this series even further in 2016 and beyond!” If you are interested in becoming an Alumni Ambassador for Goldsmiths, please email alumni@gold.ac.uk Summer 2015 No.42
16 Showcase Hannah Fasching
BA Design, 2015 The subject of Design graduate Hannah’s project The Intertidal Cinema is the coastal community of Burnham-on-Sea, which has fallen subject to tidal flooding.
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As a response, a three meter wall now stands along its coastline, returning waves back to the sea. Hannah asks, “Can the temporary spaces that occur naturally in the environment provide us with a new way in which
design can operate?” The project addresses this superimposition of human structures over natural forces by transforming the wall into a piece of social infrastructure. It operates in this intertidal zone, between high and low tide, where
17 inhabitants experience the extremes of the environmental conditions. Forming a new relationship with this infrastructure aims to transform architecture into a resistant social platform.
The Intertidal Cinema was exhibited at the 2014 BA Design degree show and also took place as part of the 2014 London Design Festival. Her current project The Deep Ford is an extension of The Intertidal Cinema.
hannahfasching.co.uk To see more examples of Goldsmiths student and recent graduate work, visit www.goldsmiths-degree-shows. co.uk
Summer 2015 No.42
18 Feature
s l l e m S n Londo Dr. Alex Rhys-Taylor, Department of Sociology, explores how smells helped build the city and how they remain integral to our attachment to it today
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ompared to the visual aspects of the city, or even the audible city, a great deal less thought, consideration and design is given to smells of city life. But smells clearly matter. They can shape how we move through cities, who we sit next to, who we don’t. They mark out different parts of the city from each other, as well as different city dwellers. They are integral to our emotional relationship with cities and our attachment to specific places. And finally of course, smells of the city conjure vivid memories. All of this becomes particularly noticeable when, for whatever reason — and there are many — one loses their sense of smell. In terms of sensory loss, people clearly place smell loss at
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the bottom of those that matter. But to lose the sense of smell is to lose one of the key ways in which we anchor ourselves in culture and social relations. And make no mistake; smell has its part in social relations. In terms of a city like London, a mixture of symbolically dirty and really dirty smells have characteristically been placed downwind (in the east), in a way that enabled the development of more refined atmospheres up west. Both Marx and Engels, for instance, were keenly aware of the sensory divisions in the city. As they saw it, the sensory deprivation of the East End, the heat of furnaces, the smoggy air, the poor sanitation, were precisely what made possible the perfumed airs of the gentle west of London. In this sense, class relations really did have an explicit olfactory element to them. Even those ‘working class smells’, smells that weren’t actually a toxic product of their environment (say the smell of the ubiquitous herring the working classes ate), were increasingly banished from upper class homes for their mere association with a ‘dangerous’ class. Today things smell very different. Sewers and sanitation are ubiquitous. London is no longer an industrial city. That means healthier air. It also means a lot less of the powerful aromas associated with the various industries that marked out various inner city boroughs in the past: vinegar brewing and biscuit baking
in Bermondsey, matchstick making in Bow, the heady mix of plastics and chemicals around Hackney Wick. The demise of industry has also come at the same time as the demise of the clear-cut class and cultural distinctions that came with it. But the smell of London tells us a great deal about the city, its boroughs and its residents today. Walking through Shoreditch to the City at lunchtime, for instance, in between the yogic exhalations of cigarette smoke, in places it smells a lot like Hanoi: starchy rice steam, red basil and chargrilled meat fumes. The presence of Vietnamese restaurants in the city’s east is an important legacy of the final years of the Cold War. But its ubiquity on the street is testament to the ways in which, over recent years, Vietnamese food has established a central place in the new urban street food scene. This smell, and our relationship to it, is an important way in to understanding the relationship between Asia and Europe within urban culture today. Walking south through Shoreditch towards the glinting towers of the City, you can also smell a new city being born. The concrete, solvents, wet paint and sawdust that accompany the northward expansion of the financial quarter. At one point however, the smell changes briefly. The change is signalled by a pile of sleeping bags and cardboard pillows where people cluster to sleep rough under the new London Overground bridge. We don’t talk about it, but as much as class distinctions aren’t as obvious to the nose as they once were, abject poverty still has a smell. Spicy, dusty, beery and a clear smell of urine. For all of the visual triumph of the City’s gleaming towers, you can’t hide the smell of our society’s failings. Not soon after that bridge, smells become more predictable,
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But when you get out of New Cross Gate station, there’s no missing the heavy fog of jerk chicken. more regular. The sweet milky and nutty air of coffee shops. Fogs of sushi vinegar. Musty, spicy colognes for him. Floral and fruity perfumes for her. Other areas of the city also have their own distinctive signatures. Neighbourhoods like New Cross are cursed by having a heavy road running through a very narrow space. This both washes smells away and clouds them out with heavy particulate matter. But when you get out of New Cross Gate station, there’s no missing the heavy fog of jerk chicken cooked on an oil drum. On a sunny day, with your eyes closed, it could be Kingston, Jamaica. New Cross is also well known as a village of students, artists,
outsiders and hedonists. As a consequence, the pubs are well used daily, and late in to the night. Even those that have been recently spruced up, New Cross House, the Rose Inn, by 11pm smell like the dives of yesteryear. And by the morning, they all smell of the pine, lemon and chlorine carried on the steam of cleaners’ mops. In New Cross, located on the flood plains of the Thames don’t forget, it is also not uncommon to catch the smell of damp which saturates the area’s older brick work, and permeates the clothes left to ‘dry’ in it. Perhaps the most evocative smell in New Cross, however, is that of the launderette. Starchy, floral linen. Such a common presence in the past
decades of the city, and still a quintessential smell of cities in Asia. It is through such smells that our experience of the everyday connects us to other places, and other times. We regularly critique, comment upon and historicise the visible architecture of the city. We campaign for facades of historical or aesthetic import, and against the impositions of ugly buildings. Rarely, however, do we think seriously about the olfactory atmospheres of the city. If we did, maybe we could tell better stories about who we are today. Maybe we could protect the atmospheres that are valuable to us, to our communities, and actively engage with the increasing re-odourisation and manipulation of smells that takes place as part of the production of New London. Maybe we could start to notice a bit more what was going on right beneath our noses. This article is based on a feature originally published in londonist.com Summer 2015 No.42
20 Feature
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21
SUMMER OF
66
John Lauwerys (B.Ed, 1970) is the former Secretary and Registrar of the University of Southampton. His long and distinguished career began here at Goldsmiths where he was the sabbatical President of the Student Union from 1967-68. In May 1966, with the help of fellow students, including John’s future wife, Paula Jones, he organised the first all night Summer Ball at Goldsmiths. In his own words, John recalls how it all came to pass.
T
he whole idea seemed so improbable but also so exciting. Why should all night Summer Balls be exclusive to Oxbridge colleges? Why shouldn’t we have such an event at Goldsmiths in New Cross despite not having a river to punt down? That was the proposition put to a General Union Meeting early in 1966 by a wonderfully eccentric student called Hugh Walwyn-James, himself a pure ‘Brideshead’ character. The meeting gave overwhelming support to the proposal without worrying about the possible financial risk to the Students’ Union. The first ever all night Summer Ball was planned for May that year and a small organising committee whose membership included the effervescent and experienced former Union Social Secretary Bob Raynesford. He booked a brilliant list of groups headed by the Kinks, who at the time of the Ball were no.1 in the Hit Parade with ‘Dedicated Follower of Fashion’. The other top attractions were Humphrey Lyttleton and his big band, The Bonzo Dog Do Dah Band and the then little known John Cleese. We had set the price of a double ticket at £4.10 shillings (£4.50 for those who don’t remember old money!) to include a buffet supper and a light breakfast, a considerable price for students at the time. However the cost of mounting the Ball was high with the Kinks charging £400 for their one hour appearance although John Cleese came a little cheaper at £35 for his cabaret act! Summer 2015 No.42
22 Feature Page 20 Poster advertising the Goldsmiths Summer Ball in 1966
Right John and Paula (by then married) at the Goldsmiths Ball the following year when John was the SU President
The cost of mounting the Ball was high with the Kinks charging £400 for their one hour appearance. John Cleese came a little cheaper at £35 for his cabaret act!
We had to sell at least 450 double tickets to break even and they sold slowly at first. As the date of the Summer Ball approached sales picked up and we just passed the break-even point before the ‘big day’. The College easily accommodated the thousand who came and the solid construction of the Main Building ensured that there were no complaints about noise from any of the neighbours. The plan was for there to be music playing in parallel throughout the three locations, the Great Hall, the Small Hall and in the Quadrangle outside the Refectory. In addition there would be a continuous film show of 1920/30s classic comedy films for those in need of a rest! The buffet was to be served at Midnight in the main Refectory with a light breakfast available at 5.00am for those who hadn’t flagged out earlier. The evening and night of 20/21 May proved to be warm and dry which made the music in the Quadrangle a great success. The reverberating rhythm of the Trinidad Steel Band was quite magical. In fact all the acts proved to be very successful – the only difficulty was that there was so much to experience and it just wasn’t possible to be everywhere at once. The buffet was excellent and even included poached salmon as the centrepiece, quite a treat in the mid ‘60s before the days of farmed salmon. And the diners Goldlink
were serenaded by an ensemble playing gypsy music and entertained by a snake dancer! The only problem was that people were so hungry soon after the Ball started that they began queuing well before service was due to start at midnight and that widespread hunger resulted in the choicest foods running out early on. There were some vocal complaints about these problems including one from a loud student, who the organisers were pretty sure hadn’t bought a ticket but who we were told later had managed to gate-crash by climbing through a lavatory window! But these were minor glitches in what proved to be a truly memorable event, never perhaps to be repeated on quite such a scale. In the ‘60s it was still possible for student unions to book the absolute top groups at just about affordable prices and there were hugely talented musicians performing at the time. One of my great favourites which played at the Ball was the Bonzo Dogs, whose members included Neil Innes, a former Goldsmiths art student. Their music was not only hugely enjoyable but they put on a real performance with explosions, crazy props and outrageous antics. I wonder who among Goldlink readers might have been there...
23 BOOKS
DANGEROUS WHEN WET
TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS
SEOUL SURVIVORS
Jamie Brickhouse Lying on an ER gurney following a failed suicide attempt, alumnus Jamie Brickhouse was more terrified of Mama Jean flying in from Texas than of the alcoholic trauma that landed him in the ER. Dangerous When Wet is his darkly comic memoir about his struggle with alcohol, his complicated relationship with Mama Jean and his sexuality. As Wally Lamb says, “Move over Augusten Burroughs. You’ve got company.”
Eddie Robson In the late 22nd century the city of Loreto, a faded trading outpost hanging in the atmosphere of Jupiter, has become a magnet for bohemian types. Eddie Robson (MA Creative Writing, 2003) follows the intertwining stories of Ashton Lang, a psychically gifted student; Winter DeMattis, a struggling artist but successful party girl; Magic Alex, a minister in a Beatles-worshipping church; and artificial savant Tomas Darrell.
Naomi Foyle Seoul Survivors, the debut novel by Naomi Foyle (MA Creative and Life Writing, 2005), was named by The Guardian as ‘among the best of recent SF’. A meteor is heading for Earth, and in the mountains above Seoul, Korean-American bioengineer Dr Kim Da Mi is working to save the human race. Splicing science fiction with horror, erotica and noir, and drawing on the author’s travels in SE Asia, this is a high-octane cyberchiller.
IRANIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC: THE DISCOURSES AND PRACTICE OF CREATIVITY
THE LAST GREAT ADVENTURE FOR BOYS
MUSIC ALL THE WAY
Laudan Nooshin Laudan Nooshin (PhD Ethnomusicology, 1996) explores the ways in which musicians talk about creativity and the practices by which new music comes into being. The book examines how ideas about tradition, authenticity, innovation and modernity in Iranian classical music form part of a wider social discourse on creativity and national and cultural identity.
Bob Lawrence The Last Great Adventure for Boys by Bob Lawrence (Foundation Art and Design, 1978) follows Bob, who loves nothing better than watching Charlton Athletic, listening to Radio Caroline and spending time with friends who study at Goldsmiths. Coincidence and luck soon take him to the pirate radio ship and plunge him into a funny and sometimes terrifying adventure centred around love, hate, fear, joy, guns and betrayal. Sex, drugs and rock n roll is just the half of it!
Brian Astell From council house to cathedral, Music All the Way is Brian Astell’s (Teaching Certificate, 1961) story of a life in music. It follows him from Dagenham County High school sharing music classes with Dudley Moore, three years in the Coldstream Guards Band and on to Goldsmiths College to train as a teacher. Brian went on to pursue a varied career in music as teacher, singer, orchestral player, organist and holiday music host.
Summer 2015 No.42
24 Retrospectives
SIDE BY SIDE Goldsmiths Alumni Ambassadors play a pivotal role in how we continue to remain connected to alumni around the globe. Our international volunteers also help us to bring our global community to life by taking part in new initiatives such as ‘Around The World In Seven Days’ – a global series of alumni events which all took place in the same week of May 2015.
LILIAN BADO Alumni Ambassador, São Paulo. Lilian (MA Contemporary Art Theory, 2012) is a producer at Fundação Bienal in São Paulo, Brazil. This year, Lilian is producing the Bienal Touring Programme in collaboration with other institutions and museums in Brazil. Lilian also runs her own exhibition project: Minefield, a temporary exhibition of arts, performances, music, literature and film by national and international creators.
LUCIO CASELLATO Alumni Ambassador, Rome. Lucio (MA Screen Documentary, 2011) worked as a video reporter and cameraman while attending Goldsmiths. After graduating Lucio worked for Dida Media, filming corporate videos for clients such as the LSE, the British Sociological Association and many others. Lucio now studies at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Italy’s national film school.
Tell us about your time at Goldsmiths
Why did you become an Alumni Ambassador?
Tell us about your role in ‘Around The World In 7 DayS’?
LB: I studied Brazilian art from a western philosophical perspective at Goldsmiths. Taking advantage of the academic resources and the strong support of professors, London offered an ideal context to further my understanding of the art scene and its impact. Afterwards, I was able to work at the Biennal Foundation and run my own independent and innovative curatorial project.
LB: My learning experience during my MA was important for my professional development; it was an opportunity that very few people in my country have the chance to experience. I wanted to share this experience and acquired knowledge with others wishing to work in the arts in Brazil. This role helps me to maintain contact with Goldsmiths and preserve a sense of community.
LB: ‘Gold in a Minefield’ is part of my curatorial programme. In May, we exhibited works by Goldsmiths alumni and local artists. Working with alumni creates and maintains bonds while expanding our networks. The goal is connecting people: ‘Minefield’ links alumni from Goldsmiths with alumni from Belas Artes University and it links London to São Paulo.
LC: Goldsmiths deeply influenced the kind of person and artist I am today. Tony Dowmunt was an inspiring teacher. Open to any definition of documentary and film, he would see these as forms of art that had to be discussed and re-created every time one embarks on a new project. My fellow students were amazing people and filmmakers, I miss them dearly.
LC: To keep in touch with the people that make Goldsmiths such a unique place. Having moved back to Rome, I felt the need to secure the bonds that tie me to London and its thriving arts scene. The approach is more traditional in Italy, and not in a bad way. I wanted learn a lot from another country while still being myself and cherishing my roots.
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LC: I thought it would be great to combine the Goldsmiths art world with Italian traditions. That is why we chose a cosy restaurant where we could showcase work from Goldsmiths. Katie Comerford, my fellow ambassador, had the idea of ‘bringing a little bit of New Cross to Rome’. Art makes you hungry, one must always keep that in mind while organising an event!
25
Life After Goldsmiths
Caroline Wigmore & Jen Green MA Musical Theatre (2011)
Left: Caroline Wigmore Right: Jen Green
Van Winkle - a folk musical started as a dissertation project at Goldsmiths where Caroline Wigmore and Jen Green first started collaborating. The S&S Award named it among the top three “best, yet-to-be produced new musicals of 2014”. They are currently working on a commission for Youth Music Theatre (YMT) for their 2015 season. CAROLINE: Developing Van Winkle has been a really interesting journey which all started as a dissertation project at Goldsmiths. I had wanted to do something with the story of Rip Van Winkle, by Washington Irving, and to do so with American folk music as the idiom. There were many steps in getting the show to the point it is at now (and it still has a way to go). It’s really exciting to be working on a commission for YMT. Jen and I have been quietly working on The Bachelor Girls for several years now, which tells the story of 3 young women adjusting to a new world after WWI. For these young women, marriage, motherhood and a home life wasn’t necessarily possible, and they forged the way for working women. JEN: Our MA course was relatively small so it was inevitable that we would meet through that. We’re very similar people with completely different backgrounds. This is a really important thing in a collaboration – if you have different strengths and expertise then your work together will be more compelling than your individual efforts. The first time we worked together properly was on the first iteration of Van Winkle – A Folk Musical. Caroline needed an MD for her dissertation presentation, and I was really pleased to be able to help out – and we’ve been working together ever since. We’re really enjoying collaborating with YMT on The Bachelor Girls, as well as being an incredibly pertinent story for young women today, it’s also a wonderfully fertile period in terms of musical style.
Summer 2015 No.42
26 People GOLD STORIES
Sam Hall
International DJ & Broadcaster
Sam Hall, better known as Goldierocks, has presented The Selector, a two hour cross-genre new music radio show, since July 2009. Made on behalf of the British Council and produced by Folded Wing, the show has 4 million listeners and is syndicated to 44 countries around the world. 2012 saw Sam DJ the opening ceremony of the London Paralympic Games in the Olympic Stadium to an audience of 85,000, including the Queen. Sam studied BA Drama and Theatre Arts at Goldsmiths. “My closest friends still are people I studied with. Being surrounded by really feisty, strong, intelligent and playful women, gave me the courage and freedom to really challenge myself. At Goldsmiths I presented a show on Wired FM, wrote for Smiths Magazine and started my own club night, showcasing new bands. I gave artists like Bloc Party and Mystery Jets some of their first ever live Goldlink
shows. I didn’t know exactly how I was going to make a living out of it all, but at the time, I just had to be part of it. I remember the exact moment I thought, ‘yes I’ll start DJing’ – it was watching Rob da Bank DJ in the Students’ Union. It was so eclectic, mixing up world beats with classic dance music, old with new; he was skilled and had dramatic impact but the experience was uplifting and fun, playful even. I thought, ‘yes that’s the kind of DJ I want to be’. DJing the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games London 2012 was a really triumphant moment for me. Day to day, my greatest achievement is inspiring and empowering other women. It’s a tough industry, one that is still hugely imbalanced as far as gender equality and we need more women’s voices to be heard to help the global shift, so the cultural evolution can continue.”
27 GOLD STORIES
Adrian Sutton
Terry Felgate
Olivier Award-winning composer Adrian Sutton is the man behind the music for the critically acclaimed productions of War Horse, Coram Boy and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. His score for War Horse has been described as “an orchestral cinematic epic”. Adrian studied a BMus degree at Goldsmiths and became an Honorary Fellow in February 2015. “Goldsmiths was a very special place to study music, and for me that was all down to the Electronic Music Studio. It was precisely because the College had a Fairlight CMI that it was my first (and only) choice when I came to apply for universities. That was certainly a risky strategy, but it paid off! What I realised in subsequent years was that the studio element, combined with the rigorously academic nature of the degree and its strong focus on 20th-century music, gave me the perfect foundation for my career. To this day, those two elements underpin what I do; I would never have achieved what I have without the simultaneous strands of a) mastery of studio technology and b) exposure to and absorption of 20th-century musical literature.” I’ve previously provided music for adverts and worked with the satirist Chris Morris on the sound design for Brass Eye, but these days I’m mostly involved in music for theatre.”
BA Sociology graduate Terry Felgate credits his time spent as Students’ Union Social Secretary as setting him up for a successful career in the music industry, where he’s worked as Marketing Director of Parlophone, Managing Director of EMI records and a consultant for BMG Artist Services. Terry is also the co-founder of the festival, OnBlackheath www.onblackheath.com. “I was lucky enough to have identified and been introduced to a career within the music industry through my time working as the Students’ Union Social Secretary. I greatly enjoyed my Sociology course, and there are many learnings that have helped me in future work; most specifically when looking to understand audiences, and analyse data. I studied alongside such a wide-ranging group of fellow students, whom all shared a desire to learn and embrace new experiences. I worked at EMI for 15 years, leading and developing release campaigns for artists including Blur, Radiohead, Coldplay, Kylie and many others. As MD for the EMI Records label I was responsible for securing new artist deals with Hot Chip and Sigur Ros. OnBlackheath returns for its second year on 1213th September and will feature Elbow, Manic Street Preachers, Madness, Kelis, Anna Calvi and Laura Mvula.”
Composer & Sound Designer
Music Industry Executive
Summer 2015 No.42
28 Parting Shot
Goldsmiths Staff 1918
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This photo of Goldsmiths staff was taken just 14 years after Goldsmiths joined the University of London. It was sent in to us by T.H. Abbott, whose parents both attended Goldsmiths. His father Tom attended between 1906-1908 and his mother Dorothy Abbott (née Wadmore) attended a full decade later. Pauline Abbott, his sister, is also an alumna and left Goldsmiths in 1953. Discussing Goldsmiths staff today, our Warden, Patrick Loughrey said: “You will find our staff behind every success at Goldsmiths – the accolades, alumni successes and the research that has changed lives. Our staff were the driving force behind this organisation at its inception and continue to be so to this day.”
NEW S H T I M S D L GO I N M ALU T N U O C S I D Return to Goldsmiths to do a Masters and receive a fee discount of up to 30% See our website for further details: www.gold.ac.uk/alumni-fee-discount