Alice in Hackneyland – Alice Doesn’t Live Here Any More at The Star Of The East, Hackney, East London – April 2024 – We need to rush this up onto the website, this is only happening for one short sharp weekend, caught it earlier today, it ends tomorrow, time is of the essence. Thankfully we spied the names and such up on the window of the old pub last weekend, previewed it as one of our five recommended art things on the strength of previous Alice in Hackneyland encounters, we haven’t encountered Alice and her pinkness for quite a while, apparently she doesn’t live here any more, quite a few don’t and this show is a bit of a  glorious throwback, a reminder of how it once was in more creative artist-led times in this part of London.   

We were promised “an immersive exploration of memory through objects and spaces set within a Victorian house that was once formerly a pub until its closure in 1983”. We spied the artist line up on the window of the old pub a couple of nights ago while walking home from a gig, a Jesus and the Zealots gig if you must know, and managed to track down some information ahead of time. Alice has never been that big on communication with her fellow Hackney-based artists, we have tried a number of times. Her social media talked of “an exhibition of installations, performances and artworks in which visitors are invited to reflect on the bonds we form with people, belongings, physical spaces and environments. It aims to recreate and re-establish these bonds through our connections to the familiar and the act of imagining and reimagining narratives past and present”. No sign of any performance when we were there not long after lunch time, I guess that happened later on, what we did find was two floors of treasure, of Alice’s familiar distinctive instinctive pinkness (it was good to see it again), of all kinds of found objects that we were told “offer a window into the past, by re-contextualising objects that resonate with history into new forms and connecting with space, prompting contemplation on how our dialogue with objects evolves over time and on the profound impact of physical environments on memory and emotions. The audience is encouraged to engage with the house and the exhibition as they delve into and reflect on their own experiences and contributions to the tapestry of human connection”.

“Expanding on this theme, the exhibition was curated using an unconventional approach. Each artist was given the freedom to choose an area of the house that they were drawn to or spoke to them, with the opportunity to either display or create new site-specific works from materials left within the house” and I really don’t want to spend time writing a piece when really you just need to go experience it for yourself. We’re here in the Organ basement on Saturday evening and there really is no time for words, far more important to get this online in time for you to hopefully have time to go this Sunday…

“This exhibition has been curated by artists from the Alice in Hackneyland collective. The collective originated here in Goldsmith Row in 2019, but none of its current members reside here any more”. Goldsmith’s Row is at the Shoreditch/Hackney Road end of Broadway Market, not far from Hackney City Farm. I thought it was brilliant, I thought it was exciting, I loved being in the rooms and the way they’ve used the space, the stories hinted at, the objects, the blurred lines, the pink paint, I wonder who used to room on the second floor and if she left a forwarding address. Those CD spines were to be admired, the books casually left, the bed, the bath, the clothes on the floor, the hats, the pink, loved the whole thing, the one big whole, it was a throwback, we need more of this, we need our Hackney back…   (sw)    

Featured artists: Alexandra, Rod Kitson, Paterson Falls, Christopher Rinthalukay, Luke Anthony Rooney, Jonathan Roson, Jared Swift, A.M Williamson, Monique Humphreys, Ruben Sonnoli.

Find Alice at 83 Goldsmith Row, Hackney, E2 8QR – Shoreditch side of Broadway Market – The show happens on Saturday 27th and 28th April 2024. Opening times 11am until 6pm – more info via their Instagram

As always, do click on an image to see the whole thing or to run the slide show…