Last night’s opening of ‘City Streets and River Paths‘ went well, and I didn’t get much time to take photographs, though there were quite a few others doing so, with a number of great photographers and artists present. The picture above of Hilary Rosen speaking at the show was made while I was waiting to make my own speech, and perhaps isn’t one of my best efforts, and only shows the fringe of the audience listening to her.
I went a quarter of an hour before the opening began, meaning to take some installation pictures, but hadn’t quite finished the job when I was interrupted by people arriving. But they do give a reasonable impression of the hanging, though not really showing the space.
The Street Gallery is a very wide corridor along the street front of University College Hospital at pavement level, its north-facing front being almost entirely glass. The whole length is visible from the street, though you would need binoculars to get a good view of the pictures. During most of the day it is a busy corridor, with people going along it to a canteen, the hospital pharmacy and other areas from the reception area, but it is wide enough for people to stop and look at the work on the wall without creating an obstruction. It really is a nice area for an exhibition, and I think the work looks good on the wall.
The gallery area is three separate lengths of wall, which I’ve shown in the 3 installation views. We could have chosen to hang our work separately, but tried to mix it together in a way that emphasized some of the commonalities between our work while preserving our identities with clear blocks of work – so my 12 images are in two groups of three and one of six pictures.
At the opening, after an introduction by Guy Noble of UCLH Arts and Heritage, Hilary talked mainly about how we had come to collaborate together, which was followed by a rather longer speech by me on “my adventures with panoramas” – which will in new course appear, with some illustrations, as a post here. I’d written it in my head lying awake in the early hours of the day, but as so often had forgotten some of the more striking phrases by the time I scribbled it down after breakfast. I should really have jumped out of bed and written it down in the middle of the night. It was mainly stories of some of the things that have happened to me, but did have a little about the history and different ways of working to create panoramas, including the impact of the digital revolution.
It was great to meet again so many old friends – including several I’d not seen for a few years – and to meet a few new people. One of the advantages of showing with another artist for both of you is that you each attract your own group of friends and contacts. Of course many of those invited were unable to come – with quite a few out of the country as well as those with prior engagements, who sent messages promising to come and see the show at a later date. They have plenty of time, as the show doesn’t close until 30 July and is open at all hours.