audience for Lynda Morris at CHELSEA space

Following the success of her talk ‘The Book as Artwork’, last week Lynda Morris kindly reprised her lecture Drinking With Gilbert & George 1972 - 1976 as part of our exhibition Lynda Morris: Dear Lynda…

Lynda Morris with an early image of Gilbert & George

The talk was originally given for the Art Historians’ Conference in Edinburgh some five or so years ago and the title was deliberately mischievous in the context of a scholarly gathering. Both of Lynda’s lectures will be available to hear in the Talks section of our Dear Lynda… Exhibition Archive

G&T with G&G

In the spirit of the lecture title and in homage to early Gilbert & George works such as Gordons Makes Us Drunk 1972, Gordons gin and Schweppes tonic water were served to the CHELSEA space audience.

Gagging order: Peter Murray Angela Brady and John Nolan want to shout about the architects and engineers of the 2012 Olympics Stadia

Whilst we have made liberal use of brand names here, to do so at the 2012 Olympics is quite another matter unless you are one of the official Olympic Partners. This has caused some consternation amongst the press and public and one group who have felt particularly frustrated are the British architects and engineers who designed and built the inspiring stadia and related architectural and sculptural aspects of the London Olympics.

RIBA Olympics Name Drop

In order to address this issue the President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Angela Brady, along with John Nolan, the President of the Institution of Structural Engineers, and Peter Murray the Director of New London Architecture led a protest by the architects and engineers who designed and built the Olympic buildings. Contractual rules have meant that they have not been allowed to promote their role in London 2012 and the protest aims to pursuade the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) to do more to promote the great architectural and engineering work achieved for the London Olympics.

CHELSEA space's Caitlin Smyth (far right) alongside Amanda Reekie supporting the architects and engineers of the Olympics outside RIBA headquarters in London

CHELSEA space sent along Caitlin Smyth to support the architects and engineers at the RIBA HQ, linking up with our good friend Amanda Reekie of Stratton and Reekie PR.

Drawings and photographs for the 1951 Dome of Discovery from the archive of architect Ralph Tubbs

Architecture and architects have played an integral role in the programme at CHELSEA space, indeed, our next show opening on 11th September is entitled Dome: Ralph Tubbs and the Festival of Britain and celebrates the architect of the iconic 1951 Dome of Discovery that was sadly demolished and sold for scrap by the incoming conservative government under Winston Churchill in 1952. Other CHELSEA space shows celebrating architects include FOHN in 2005, When Marcel Met Motley in 2006, Will Alsop: Towards in 2007, Alvar Aalto in 2010, Gerrit Rietveld and Ideal Home both in 2011, and Max Clendinning: Avant Craft in 2012.

artist/cyclist David Ferry in The Life Room at CHELSEA space sponsored by Village Hotel Group and Technogym

CHELSEA space had its own problem with the naming of sponsors and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games when we did the exhibition The Life Room in 2009. The show, which brought together the art school life drawing room and a fitness training facility in one space, was kindly sponsored by Village Hotel Group and Technogym , because of the obvious connection to sport and as a nod to the forthcoming Olympics we applied for the Cultural Olympiad Inspire mark and were successful! However, on reading through the documentation it was clear that we would not be allowed to acknowledge the companies who had generously enabled us to curate this project (in the event Technogym did get the contract for the Olympic training facilities as they did in Beijing, but it was not confirmed at the time of the exhibition).

The Life Room at CHELSEA space

Beyond the obvious difficulties of being prohibited from acknowledging the support we had received it was important to the curatorial premise of the show that The Life Room was an authentic gym, where logos and branding are part of the aesthetic, and so CHELSEA space Director Donald Smith took the decision to turn down the LOCOG Inspire mark and remain outside of the Cultural Olympiad.