There is going to be a very special launch event on Saturday September 20 as part of this year’s London Design Festival. Illustrator Matthew Frame and I have been collaborating on The Ruins, an elegant stand-alone publication that combines his sharply inked panoramic images with some of my sharply inked panoramic writing. Matt’s subject is 1950s dystopian sci-fi movies, drawing upon scenes from the likes of The Time Machine and This Island Earth. My text, written at his request in response to Matt’s illustrations, is a section-by-section reworking of Walter Benjamin’s ‘On the Concept of History’ considered from the perspective of Beyond the Time Barrier, a 1960 B-movie involving a US jet pilot who finds himself in the divided future of...2024. It is the latest in a short series of reworkings I have undertaken of this key Benjamin essay, which was only published after his death by suicide. The book has been beautifully designed and laid out by Patrick Fry and is absolutely gorgeous. It is being published in a limited edition by Jaune Press, so get them while you can.
The Howling will be performing. Matthew Frame will be speaking. There will also be a chance to play videogames and to experience ‘Paradise’, an amazing site-specific installation by the sculptor Max King.
And there will, of course, be you.
Here are the details:
Where – Free Play City, 199 Eade Road, Harringay Warehouse District London N4 1DN
When – 20 September, 19.00-22.00
Admission – free, no ticket required, but you are requested to RSVP via this link, which contains a lot of useful extra information.
Pictured above: some views of The Ruins by Matthew Frame and Ken Hollings, design by Patrick Fry
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