Category Archives: Art

Cabinet, Beaconsfield and a Spot of Tea

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For a number of years we’ve been trying to ascertain the function of that strange building that popped up at the back of Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens a few years ago. Resembling a posh persons’ house meets North Korean torture centre, it’s actually mostly dedicated to the very intriguing Cabinet Gallery. The current show somehow manages to make a connection between a horse drawn carriage and Oprah so it might be a bit of a stretch for some, but this place is definitely something for that pocket diary that we’ve been telling you get for years now. Check out the website for what’s on. 


As we were up in the lovely upper Vauxhall neck of the woods anyway, we checked out the critically acclaimed but rarely open Beaconsfield Galley. It’s open this Saturday (12th) and the next (19th) showing one large immersive work by Korean/Uk artist JinHan Lee called ‘Extended Realities’. The concept is an exploration of themes of virtual versus material art and how (or if) they complement one another. Very thought provoking and out questions the limits of how much we can take in without actually seeing it.


All that culture was proving exhausting to our lockdown addled  brains, so we popped into the wistfully eccentric Tea House Theatre for some tea and sandwiches. The sandwiches needed a bit of work (and if you’re reading this Tea House we’re wagging a coronation chicken stained finger at you) but the list of teas were endless and the cakes abundant. Check out their eclectic website for things that are going on there such as themed suppers, talks and kids stuff. When we visited they were even offering a course in….wait for it….picking locks! Another for that pocket diary that you’re on the very cusp of purchasing with your newly socially activated fingertips. 

Refugees and Al Weiwei at the Imperial War Museum

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Last week we visited our very own Imperial War Museum to see the extremely evocative and until recently long closed exhibit ‘Refugees: Forced to Flee’ and its related exhibit ‘A History of Bombs’. The latter was created by Chinese conceptual artist and dissident Al Weiwei, who himself was forced to flee China. A History of Bombs is a site specific illustration of the power of bombs and their impact on human lives. On the floor in the main gallery are illustrations and descriptions of bombs so small they can fit in your hand, and others so life shatteringly huge the snake up a staircase. It is a moving reminder of how the human race built up a mind boggling arsenal in the 20th century just to obliterate ourselves. The parallel between bombs and something else that has obliterated ourselves over the past 18 months can’t be overlooked. 

The brutal reality of bombs is one reason why people become refugees in the first place, and the intriguing Refugees exhibition delves into different global conflicts such as the German invasion of Belgium during WW1, ethnic cleansing during the Bosnian War and the treacherous Mediterranean crossings of the present day. The exhibit begins by the societies that people departed from and often the brutal choices involved in leaving your culture behind for a place of safety where you may or may not be welcomed. 

The main section of this exhibit is dedicated to the journey that refugees take, both physically and mentally, and efforts of organisations like UNHCR which are there to help them. This includes camps where people set up a vibrant temporary community in a sometimes harsh and unforgiving surrounding. The final section explores the somewhat ambivalent attitudes of countries who accept refugees, and their efforts to help them assimilate and to preserve their culture. 

Included in the exhibit is a 360 degree immersive film installation created by CNN depicting life in a refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece. 

While this exhibit might not be the most cheery way to spend a Bank Holiday, it certainly gets the grey matter jiggling after 16 months of watching ‘Homes Under the Hammer’. And it is open all next week during half term. Both shows are free but you must book in advance. Refugees runs until 13 June so get crackin’.

Damien Hirst at Newport St.

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We originally posted this in October 2020, and this thought provoking exhibit closed just a few days afterwards. Newport St. Gallery is opening on Wednesday of next week, again with little fanfare. Once Time Out (if they still exist) and others review this it will sell out very quickly and we cannot reccommend it enough. It is totally free and available for now, but not for long!  Book here.

Without a great deal of fanfare, on Wednesday Newport Street Gallery reopened with  a survey of Damien Hirst’s early work called ‘End of a Century’. The timing of this retrospective might be a coincidence or an intentional and very prescient observation of the world around us in 2020, as Hirst’s early work explored themes of death, healing, life saving medication, infection, and anatomy.  We checked out the show on it’s opening day. 

In the first gallery we were introduced to one of Hirst’s trademark dissected animals; this one being a baby shark in formaldehyde. Moving into the main galleries you might think you’d just wandered into aisle three at Iceland, as there were several freezers stuffed with frozen cow heads (we asked, and they are real). Also on show were Hirst’s trademark medication cabinets and a variety of medical implements. After an enormous anatomical model we’re left to ponder the slightly humorous ‘Shut Up and Eat Your Fucking Dinner’ (pictured at bottom) which was fashioned as a butcher shop window featuring a variety of meats encased in formaldehyde. Is meat murder? 

On the first floor we got to grips with several of Hirst’s spin and dot paintings, with one actually spinning in the room. Surprisingly, there were several cubist inspired collages of found materials which Hirst created before he was a student at Goldsmiths, even then showing his early interest in mortality and resurrection. The most arresting work upstairs was ‘A Hundred Years’, in which a bloody severed cow head is being eaten by maggots who turn into flies who then get executed by  an insect-ocutor. We’re not making this up. 

Some of these works are almost 30 years old and don’t have the shock value they once possessed. But if your artistic taste embraces decapitated cow heads, meat, pills, blood, dead flies, and medical implements then this show will be right up your street. Vegetarians might want to steer clear. And lest you don’t give your mortality much of a thought during the pandemic, this show is a reminder of the profound fragility of organic matter. 

Getting Curious in Walworth

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We’ve experienced an inordinate amount of giddy thrill at the recent opening of Walworth Library and Southwark Heritage Centre in Walworth Road. Granted, when the biggest thrill of the day involves matching Tupperware containers to lids the threshold is pretty low. But this is a library with a difference. 

The library offers your usual library accessories in an open and quiet environment on several different levels. These include quiet places to read or work, bookable PC’s, a kids area, a curiously large travel section, and individual rooms to book. On our visit all of the seating was occupied as some chairs had been removed for obvious reasons. Intriguingly, set amongst the books are curios and artefacts from Southwark’s collection that very cleverly match the subject matter to the books around them. 

As we know you inhale your Runoff articles like a freshly baked brownie from Sally White’s, you’ll be aware that last year we wrote about the most curious man in Greater Kennington, Richard Cuming. The man collected everything from Egyptian mummies to rail tickets to harpoons. Upon the death of his son the collection was bequeathed to Southwark where it was mothballed for several years following a fire. A number of pieces have now been resurrected and form the backbone of the Heritage Centre It’s a fascinating collection of artefacts and artwork from around the world, interspersed with more recent history from Southwark’s past. In future the library will also have rotating art exhibitions. Check it out and maybe you can be the next most curious person in Greater Kennington.

Kenny, the Kennington Bowl Skatepark

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If you’ve ever walked into Kennington Park from the Kennington tube end you might have noticed a large concrete edifice on the right. It’s a rare survivor of what used to be in many parks in the 70’s and 80’s, a skatepark. Our unloved relic, affectionately known as ‘Kenny’, was one of the earliest and opened in 1978. Unfortunately, Kenny was fitted out with poor railings and skaters had the inconvenient problem of falling out of Kenny and injuring themselves (which we thought was half the thrill but there you go). It was opened and then closed by Lambeth for a number of years afterwards.  

Fast forward to 2012 and Converse arrived to refurbish and renew Kenny under their ‘fix to ride’ scheme, and this included resurfacing the concrete. While the spiffy looking Kenny was great PR for Converse, it wasn’t so wonderful for poor Kenny. After Converse had their moment the resurfaced concrete soon became chipped and cracked and it was worse than it was before. Lambeth were forced to send Kenny into skatepark purgatory. A Youtube video of Kenny in its Converse heyday can be found here. 

Fast forward to 2021 and the Runoff are having a socially distanced and intriguing conversation with Friends of Kennington Park Secretary Rita Sammons. The Friends, working in partnership with Lambeth, are currently undertaking exploratory work to restore Kenny to its former glory. Lambeth has funded an initial survey to inspect the concrete plates that hold up Kenny (which is why at the moment Kenny has a giant hole in him). If it is stable the goal is try to find a way to gently skim off the concrete that Converse left behind. 

Rita explained that the vision of the Friends and Lambeth is to create a skate area that can be enjoyed by everyone, not just skaters. The could include a viewing area or a ramp up to the bowl, enabling access to people who can’t climb the stairs. In addition to recreating a free amenity for all Greater Kenningtonians (well, those who don’t mind having broken ribs), Rita and the Friends are also trying to preserve a piece of local history. One of the best features of Kenny is some very fine retro street art on the sides. Here is a sample but there are plenty more for you to discover. 

At the moment the Friends are not undertaking a fundraising campaign for Kenny but this might change. For more details and to get involved email skatebowl@kenningtonpark.org/. For other things the Friends are doing have a gander at the flyer below. 

2021_FoKP_Make a diff_08.04.2021_PMDownload

Ragged School in Lambeth

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By the second half of the 19th century the rural idyll that was Vauxhall was well and truly over and replaced largely by desperate folks looking for work, and they brought their kids. Ragged schools were charitable organisations that popped up to educate destitute (hence the name ragged) children who were not allowed in traditional schools. A very significant one existed in what is now Newport St. 

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Local gin/vinegar (that must have been some pretty foul gin) magnate Henry Hanbury Beaufoy funded and founded the school, opening it in 1851 and dedicating it to his wife. Like other Ragged Schools, our Vauxhall branch taught reading writing, bible studies and even ways to emigrate. On the pastoral side, the children were fed and children without parents lived there. A visitor at the time noted – 

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“The attendance in the winter averages about 400 boys and girls every Sunday evening. The gentlemen who manage the Ragged School do everything they can to instruct and encourage the children in well-doing; they make them presents of Testaments and Bibles and give them occasional tea parties. In fact, everything is done to improve them in the school. The patience of the teachers is surprising. The girls are better behaved than the boys; they are the children of very poor people in the neighbourhood, such as the daughters of people selling fruit in the street, and such like, and found several children of street-beggars there”. 

As the Ragged School was built to address the migration of people, the beautiful edifice above also met its fate due to people moving. It was unfortunately flattened just a few decades after its creation as it fell victim of a Vaxuall/Waterloo rail line extension. Curiously, a bit of the building was left standing and is now home to the great but almost never open Beaconsfield Gallery, and its Ragged Café. The school was restablished by Henry’s nephew Mark Beaufoy (the Liberal MP for Kennington at the time) and rechristened as the Beaufoy Institute in Black Prince Road. This building has had many incarnations but it survives. 

You might find it intriguing that the handsome Doulton adorned Beaufoy Institute building below wasn’t just turned into luxury flats when a school there closed a number of years ago. This is again the legacy of the Beaufoys. Lambeth respected the Beaufoy wish that at least half of the land be sold to a non profit organisation. So the old car park in the back was sold to Bellway homes, and the institute is now inhabited by the Diamond Way Buddhist Centre. 

Getting Classy in Vauxhall

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Twelve months ago the most optimistic of you lot said ‘great, I’m going to use this lockdown period to get really fit/do an online course /Run 15 times around Kennington Park’. But even in this era where time seems to be a meaningless concept, you haven’t actually done any of those things. Well here’s your chance to finally tick something off your list……getting into classical music. 

‘Classical Vauxhall’ returns on 18 – 21 March and can be streamed for free on these dates. It will of course be virtual this year, and we have trusted colleagues who went to the live events in 2020 and said it was amazing. Festival Director and the brains behind it Fiachra Garvey is joined by artists Jess Gilliam (saxophone), Zeynep Özsuca (piano), Elena Urioste (violin) & Tom Poster (piano), Hanna Hipp (mezzo-soprano) and Emma Abbate (piano). We’ve never actually heard of any of these people -BUT – we have seen some of their work on YouTube and it’s remarkable. Jess and her Sax is here   

The press release for this event intriguingly states that the performances will be set in closed venues ‘live in Vauxhall’. That got our grey matter working…where?  Perhaps Gentlemen’s Sauna ‘Chariots’ (doubtful as all the water would wreak havoc with the instruments)?   Notorious nightclub ‘Fire’ (the acoustics under a railway arch must be awful)? With a bit of research we discovered they will be held in the most more rarefied environments of St. Marks Church and Brunswick house, so easy on the eyes as well. 

The streams are free and will also give you a change to learn more about music in Vauxhall and the history of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. Book here: http://bit.ly/CVaux-2021

The Elephant (not) in the Room

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If you’re the astute sort you’ve probably noticed that the famous statue that used to adorn the primary entrance to the ‘now past tense’ Elephant and Castle shopping centre has been removed. And if you aren’t astute then trust us, it ain’t there anymore. We’re here to tell you more about the Elephant and if we’ll ever see it again. 

The original

When the Elephant and Castle pub closed for redevelopment in 1959 the metal statue was removed and then given a second lease on life as the centrepiece when the new shopping centre opened in 1965, above. Unfortunately it vanished in still mysterious circumstances a few years later and the centre was left without a mascot. Fast forward a few years and our current elephant was fashioned as a fibreglass replica and given pride of place. For over four decades it grew as a loveable mascot of Elephant. Frequently repainted in red and pink, over time it settled into a more grey patina, more suitable for a proud pachyderm. 

The statue has been removed for several months as it is apparently undergoing a million pounds (??!!) in renovation work. According to developers Delancey “We have been keen to keep the Elephant in the local area and are now therefore pleased to announce that the Elephant & Castle statue will be moving to its new home in Castle Square”.  We think this is builder’s parlance for ‘we wanted to get rid of it but Southwark told us we had to keep it’. Castle Square is a surprisingly spiffy little square behind the old shopping centre and is the current but temporary home to many of the centres’ former tenants, as seen below. 

If you have a preoccupation for statues that go missing from one place and then turn up somewhere else, first of all you might want to seek professional help. If the condition persists, have a look at our intriguing article about the mighty South Bank Lion that adorns our fair side of Westminster Bridge. 

Royal Doulton in Vauxhall

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We humans were not built to spend six hours a day on ‘Zoom’ calls (which we are thinking about renaming ‘Co-Vid’ calls) and if you’re working from home it is always good to take a brisk walking break. We recommend having a gander at one of the most striking buildings in our area, the former Royal Doulton Pottery building now known as ‘China Works’.

Royal Doulton was established in Vauxhall Walk but moved to the corner of Black Prince Road and Lambeth High Street where this Gothic wedding cake was erected in 1876. This building is a survivor of a vast Doulton complex which was in use until the 1950’s. The building is cast in red brick with polychromy and an array of terracotta highlights. It was intended as a living advertisement to show off the Doulton product. 

This particular building was used as a museum and art school, and the relief above the door (called a ‘tympanum’, and aren’t we smart) depicts a group of people inspecting some terracotta pots, and a woman with a cat painting one. By the 1870’s Doulton was moving in a more decorative direction with the aid of Lambeth School of Art, which is now City & Guilds of London Art School in Kennington Park Road. It should be noted that almost all of the painting and decorating of the pots was undertaken by women, and was a rare and early example of a skilled craft which women could access. 

The area around the Doulton Factory is about to undergo some very profound and very controversial changes. We don’t make judgements on planning issues on KR but judge for yourself. The building is, thank god, listed and currently occupied by one of those workspace outfits which recently have been popping up like head lice. So our gothic confection is going nowhere, but it might suffer the indignity of having a ‘Franco Manca’ stuck into it one day.

Gasworks Gallery (breathspace)

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This review was written before ‘Lockdown fois deux’ was announced on Saturday evening, but it will invariably still be around when we are allowed to visit cultural institutions again, so put this in that little pocket diary we’ve been telling you to keep for the past two years, and think of it as something to look forward to. 

The exhibit at Gasworks is the first UK solo exhibition from Buenos Aries based artist Eduardo Navarro and, according to our guide, (breathspace) was originally scheduled to premiere in April. Navarro’s plans were meant to transform the gallery into a living, breathing organism in the shape of a gigantic lung. The lung was meant to encourage visitors to synchronise their most vital functions with one another ‘offering a space for collective meditation and oceanic breathing’. 

Given that sharing breathing and bodily functions isn’t exactly…lets say, ‘on trend’ at the moment, in a post lockdown Buenos Aries Navarro decided to relocate this work inside his head. The 100 drawings featured in the exhibition represent a synthesis of the body and what he found in his home at the time, reminding us that our homes and bodies are not somewhat differentiated display lockdown and we are compelled to rely on inanimate objects. Through a little portal you’ll find a video display of pulsating quantum physical lights, maybe alluding to the idea that society won’t be destroyed no matter what is thrown at it. 

The central feature of (breathspace) is a tiny stuffed humanoid creature on a stool. It reminded us a little of something a three year old niece would give you for Christmas, requiring you to say ‘well, isn’t THAT something?’. Apparently, at a time of social distancing the doll serves as a metaphor for a loss of communication and loneliness. The doll is fitted with a microphone and at certain times of the day Navarro himself speaks through the doll and communicates with people. If that had happened we would have probably run into the street in screaming panic. To see the doll actually talking to people click here….

(breathspace) is not open now and will not be open for the foreseeable future. But write it down for a random date in January and prepare yourself for a bit of fun.