The Colony Room (2008)
Hybrid project created for New Langton Arts, San Francisco
I was invited to conceive the first project in The Garage at New Langton Langton Arts in San Francisco, a 2,500 square foot raw, industrial space. The Colony Room was a celebration of the legendary Colony Room Club, London Soho’s notorious private drinking den run by Muriel Belcher and frequented by the likes of Francis Bacon in the 1960’s.
Loosely framed within Bacon’s “condition humano”: on the fragility of life’s violence, sexuality and isolation, The Colony Room installation – complete with Francis Bacon prints and ‘chandelier’ – was a bar, open two nights a week with a hybrid mix of performance, screening, reading and sound from guest artists including Ryan Trecartin, Annika Larsson, Tim Etchells, Tom Marioni, Bill Berkson, Marcella Faustin, Rubber 0 Cement and many more. A ‘Muriel’ cocktail was created for the occasion.
“The programming oscillated between extremely loud and energetic performances and intimate gatherings, around poetry readings, screenings, lectures or simply chatting and drinking….The overall experience at Colony Room these past two months was very similar to that of hearing the lyrics of Cocteau Twin’s Carolyn’s Fingers for the first time. It produced a particular effect, in between intimacy and estrangement” - Sharon Lerner, White Hot Magazine.