Category Archives: culture

Erno in the Elephant

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It may come a surprise that a post war high rise complex in Elephant and Castle is Grade II listed, but it is and we’re here to tell you how it happened. You’ve probably walked by Metro Central Heights a million times and never taken notice of it. It is fact the creation of Brutalist architect Erno Goldfinger, who was also the brains behind probably the most iconic high rises in Britain; Trellick Tower in N. Kensington and Balfron Tower in Poplar (pictured at bottom). In spite of this, he always considered his achievement in Elephant to be his most significant work. 

The building complex was christened Alexander Fleming House and when it opened in 1963 housed the Department of Health and Social Security. While many found the building soulless, the blocks were praised for their ‘clarity and vigour’ and for the added addition of public courtyards (not public anymore, but we’ll get to that) and green spaces between the juxtaposed buildings. It was also seen as an inspiration for the then mostly bombed out Elephant. Alexander Fleming House served the DoH dutifully for 30 years until it developed a nasty case of sick building syndrome and the civil servants were forced to flee to alternative premises. 

Luckily for our sick and unloved building, Goldfinger designed it speculatively and intended it for a variety of then unknown reasons. It lay empty for almost 20 years and was almost bulldozed (an attached Goldfinger cinema faced a sorry downfall in 1988) until it it was converted into 400 flats and rechristened Metro Central Heights in 2002. It was geared towards young professionals (that’s code for hideously overpriced) and the open public areas made not so public. Next time you walk by the complex you might want to reevaluate your opinion by looking at the angles, jutting windows, and over the railings into the courtyards 

Goldfinger was a notoriously fickle and humourless character, sometimes firing his employees on a whim and upsetting his snooty Hampstead neighbours by mowing down a row of Victorian cottages to erect his Modernist home (now a museum) at 2 Willow Road. One of these neighbours was none other than 007 author Ian Fleming. Unable to prevent Goldfinger’s builders from mowing down the cottages by traditional methods, Fleming exacted revenge in the only other way he knew how…..By naming his most famous Bond villain after the architect. 

The building still continues to totally divide opinion but, like it or not, was granted Grade II listing status in 2013. If you have a spare half million to toss around you can even be part of the experience. Apparently it has a pool. 

  • Trellick Tower
  • Balfron Tower

Deadname @ Gasworks Gallery

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If you visit us regularly here on the Runoff you’re aware that when a new show arrives at Gasworks Gallery in Vauxhall we like to check it out for you. If you’ve never been to Gasworks it’s located at the Oval end of Vauxhall St. and is perfect if what you demand from a gallery involves Styrofoam coffins or dolls that talk to you. 

The new exhibition at Gasworks is called ‘Earth is a Deadname’ by Rotterdam based artist Lou Lou Sainsbury. This show was commissioned by Gasworks and is an exploration of transgender life outside the limiting language of medicalisation. The exhibition revolves around a performance film which touches on aspects of intimacy, feelings of difference, chance encounters, and evolution. A giant cymbal also features on screen and over your head but were going to leave that interpretation up to you. There is also a bedroom cabinet in the room with a range of items telling us that the trans experience is a collective one of unmaking and making the body. 

The larger gallery is dominated by a large scale glass installation with fluctuating levels of transparency, again alluding to the trans journey. As the journey is rarely straightforward, imbedded in the glass are trapped cigarette butts, dried flowers and other debris. The exhibition is punctuated by flesh like texts on the walls which swell like scars or stigmata. All very thought provoking for a little gallery in Vauxhall, and time well spent. 

Earth is a Deadname is on now until 18 September and is totally free. Gasworks is only open in the second half of the week so have a look at their website. The amber resin on the floor is part of the exhibit, so in your leaving comments please don’t write ‘Sainsbury, clean up in aisle one’!!!!!  (we couldn’t help ourselves). 

The Treehouse and a Handy Website for Us All

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Over the past few months we’ve watched with curious excitement as a stylish but seemingly unnecessary structure has emerged in the middle of the Millennial playground that is Elephant Park. It’s called ‘The Treehouse’ and we’ve just checked it out. Let us tell you reader, we’re now more perplexed than ever. 

The Treehouse is constructed from sustainable timber and looks quite striking with its Constructivist sharp angles and stylish benches. When we climbed to the top we found ourselves, well, only slightly higher than people’s heads. It has some nice plantings and places to sit up top, but what we were hoping for was more along the lines of a giant slide or at least a small outpost of ‘Greggs’. 

The Treehouse is open now and is a quiet and shady spot during these hot days, and once mounted it rewards you with sweeping views of people eating their lunch in Sayer Street. If you want to go to the official opening party it’s on 22 July from 12 to 8 and features, err, yoga!  We can’t see any mention of free cakes or cocktails on their website but we might just pitch up anyway. 

Moving on, our slightly eccentric colleagues over at the Kennington Association have created a very handy website for new arrivals into Greater Kennington, which is also great for people seeking a bit of inspiration about things to do.  The very nice group of volunteers at KA run Lollard Street playground and do many other great things for our community such as a Secret Santa. So if you have any feedback for their growing website please be nice, as we know what you lot are like. 

Summer Fun in Greater Kennington and Beyond

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Its summertime and we’re on board to tell you about two free (and we love free) festivals and the first is this Sunday (the 10th) in Kennington Park. We attended the Kennington Park Festival a few years ago and departed quickly after feeling like we’d just crashed a poorly attended family reunion. However, thanks to the guilty conscience of Berkeley Homes it is now properly funded and looks to be back with a vengeance. This is a family friendly event so one can expect face painting, non scary clowns, organised games, music, dancing and of course some pretty yummy looking food stalls. 

If you’re a regular reader you’ll be aware that we greatly caution against leaving Greater Kennington. However, if you do so just once in your life you could do a lot worse than attend the fantastic Lambeth Country Fair. This massive soiree accommodates over 100,000 people and includes a mind boggling selection of food stalls, bars, loads of music and stages, real life farm animals, and a fun fair. And the best bit is that the activities reflect the diversity and eclectisim of Lambeth. Our favourite bit is the competition where people carve their garden veg into famous people or pieces of anatomy. This bit of the Fair is so heralded that its been written about in Time Out

Lambeth Country Fair is next weekend (16 and 17 July) in Brockwell Park. Our top tip for this fandango is that if you happen to own a car don’t use it as you’ll still be looking for a parking spot come Christmas. Plus, you won’t be able to enjoy all the great craft beer on offer. 

North Lambeth Parish Fete

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The North Lambeth Parish Fete is coming up on Saturday and if we weren’t on a team building retreat (more on that later) we wouldn’t miss it. It’s  the new incarnation of the dearly departed Cleaver Square Festival. Fortunately it’s now much larger thanks to the intervention of Daniel Cobb and none other than Jesus Christ himself. 

While we may have never been to this Fete, we have been to the gardens of Lambeth Palace and they are stunning, extensive and almost never open to the public. The price of the ticket itself (£4) justifies a wander around.   According to our sources, the Fete is more kid friendly than its Cleaver processor and is known for its dog show and features prizes, including fastest sausage eater and least obedient (we assume these prizes are for the dogs and not humans). There is also face painting, live music, and races for the kids. And if you don’t like kids there’s a Pimms tent to keep you sane. And if you do have kids there’s a Pimms tent to keep you sane. And there are a number of local food stalls available looking pretty delish to us. 

The Fete is this Saturday, (25 June) from 12-5. To whet your appetite we found this totally manic video on YouTube. Did somebody say ‘free coffee mugs’?

And we would be absolutely thrilled to join you for this event but, alas, we will be on a team building long weekend at Glastonbury which will prove memorable. Or perhaps unrememberable. Look out for our pics on social media and please don’t hate us. *drops mic and leaves the room*

Cricket for the Cricketless

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If you’re a regular Runoff reader (and if you are, congratulations) then you might be aware that we are not the sportiest of offices. Just last summer during our staff picnic in Kennington Park, a young man asked Phil from accounts to kick his ball back and Phil suffered a panic attack requiring medical intervention. Having said that, we know there is a world class Oval pitch in beloved patch and we recently checked it out for you. Sort of. 

Our overall mission at Kia Oval was to see if cricket was a fun event for people who aren’t actually that interested in the game, in case someone invites you. The demographic was an eclectic mix of white middle class thirty somethings who apparently had just come from work, and usually in small groups. That doesn’t define us but we fit in nevertheless. There are a number of activates to busy yourself other than watching the game such as a raffle, catching a ball to win £1000, or finding the best looking player and simply Googling ‘shirtless’ after their name. For the uninitiated it is also interesting to notice the huge amount of security on the pitch, perhaps anticipating the moment when Tarquin flings an orange slice out of his Pimms. 

What surprised us most about our trip to the Oval was the vast selection of quality food and drink available. The street food stalls were organised by the uber on trend street food specialists ‘KERB’, and we saw stalls selling souvalki (which we recommend), pizza, curry, pies, venison burgers, jerk chicken and other fare. On the drinks front there was a vast array of lagers and ciders available, in addition to wines and even a cocktail bar. As you might expect from a sports venue this stuff doesn’t come cheap, with a wrap costing £9 and a pint coming in at £7. However, you can bring you own food (but not booze). 

The event we attended was T20 cricket and there are future dates listed here. It was on a weekday evening and was all over by 9:15. While you might not want to attend with a group of people who don’t know what they are looking at, if invited by a fan it’s a fun to learn more about the sport. 

And through all of the excitement, Phil finally overcame his phobia of objects being hurled at him by catching a T-shirt thrown from the boot of a Kia Sportage. 

Queens Jubilee at IWM

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The Queens Platinum Jubilee is getting nearer, and if your state of mind is along the lines of ‘well this is all very exciting but I can’t be bothered to leave Greater Kennington’ then we have something you might enjoy. The Imperial War Museum has just opened a compelling exhibit of the Queen in wartime and it is set out over three sections. 

The first gallery is a selection of 18 large format photographs outlining the Queen’s journey through conflict, from growing up in WW2 and more modern conflicts, to sticking decorative pins on people. The Royals in Wartime section is more of a dedicated route around the IWM exploring the Royal Family’s long connection to the armed services and the key role they’ve played in terms or morale and logistics over the years. The Royal Family in Wartime is the third exhibit and it features 53 photos outlining out the Royals commitment to the armed services over the decades, from directly serving in the army, to Elizabeth serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) in spite of being told not to. Well done..

The exhibit has mostly been pulled together from the millions of items the IWN have in storage, and this is what they always do very well. This vast resource enables curators to carefully select items that even predate the Queen (if that’s even possible). 

‘The Queens Platinum Jubilee at IWM London’ is open from today until 9 June. Entry is free but nabbing a timed ticket is recommended. However, if you’ve forgotten to book, or you’re just lazy, turning up is usually fine as they haven’t checked our tickets recently. 

Getting Crafty @ City&Guilds

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Another high point on the Greater Kennington cultural calendar takes place this weekend and we’re here to tell you about it. City and Guilds in Kennington Park Road are taking part in London Craft week on Friday and Saturday and it looks as if they are hosting a number of free (and we love free) events and demonstrations. 

Various studios around C&GLAS will be open exhibiting a range of crafts and showing how stuff is made. In the paper studio students and tutors will be on hand to show paper related demonstrations and discuss paper conservation. In the printmaking studio, the head of printmaking will be hosting several (sadly now booked) workshops but others will be on hand giving demonstrations of different kinds of printing such as intaglio. We’ve been in this studio, and it is a fascinating space. Outside, students will be giving demonstrations of wood and stone carving and you can even have a go at carving yourself! Apparently there is a carving competition among students as well. This sounds frighteningly dangerous, but somebody losing a half a finger could be interesting nevertheless. 

The press release enticingly mentions a free talk and tasting event sponsored by Fabal Lager (we’ve never heard of them either) on Saturday afternoon which sounds fun. Indeed, we reached out to City and Guilds to see if they were having a launch event featuring free wine and canapés which might just influence our review. Their response was ‘no’, but we’ve picked up the pieces of our shattered dream and moved on with our lives. 

No ticket is required for this event, just turn up. 

Keith Cunningham at Newport St. Gallery

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The latest offering over at the Newport Street Gallery is the work of little known and exceptionally gifted artist Keith Cunningham, who mysteriously gave up painting just a few years after he started. Cunningham was on the periphery of the London Group of artists who among their number included Frank Auerbach and Leon Kosoff and the Group were intrigued by Cunningham’s powerful, if not at times gruesome and sinister, subject matter. 

At least there’s no queue for the toilet

Cunningham was certainly a man with something to say, but not very interested who heard him, as many of these 70 works accumulated in his studio as opposed to being seen. He used a very dark and tightly controlled palette of colours with think coats of impasto, giving the works that are not under glass a 3D element, with the added drama of huge brushstrokes. In this manner he captures commuters, rabbits, and even squid. 

At the moment there is an epic retrospective of Francis Bacon’s work at the Royal Academy (north of the river if you dare) and in way Cunningham’s depictions of blood crazed dogs, skulls, and angst is an interesting counterpoint to the great man’s work. It’s possibly not a coincidence that they’re being staged at the same time. 

As you move through the well organised exhibit Cunningham’s  work begins to tilt more towards abstraction and huge blocks of colour. The painting below is a still life. However, it rather reminded us of Phil from the accounts team when he fell over outside the Tommyfield pub after downing eight pints of cider at our Christmas party. 

‘Keith Cunningham, the Cloud of Witness’ is on now until 21 August at Newport Street Gallery and is totally free. 

Vito Project at the Cinema Museum

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Under the guise of ‘better late than never’ on this, the last day of LGBTQI+ history month, were here to tell you about some interesting films coming up at our very much loved and very much at risk Cinema Museum in Kennington. And by ‘at risk’ we mean ‘we better start going soon or it’s gonna be a Taco Bell’. 

The Vito Project is an LGBTQ+ Film Club which has a series of Spring screenings exploring queer representation in classic Hollywood flicks. The first of these is the Hitchcock Film ‘Rebecca’ with Laurence Olivier. There’s a conversation afterwards and it allows film buffs and their admirers a chance to discuss the coded queer meaning in the film and other films of the era. And there’s a bar in the cinema. It’s on 20 March and tickets can be purchased here. On 1 May the next Vito film will be ‘Tea and Sympathy’ directed my Vincente Minnelli (tickets here) followed by ‘Compulsion’ with Orson Wells on 31 May (tickets here). This will also involve a bar and lively chit chat afterwards.

A couple of Runoff fans went to Vito a dew years ago and confirmed that it’s very thought provoking for anyone interested in film.  The Cinema museum is a wonderful Aladdin’s cave of film and film related ephemera and your ticket allows you to pass through some of the corridors that are usually open only by appointment. And the auditorium is a fun mess of mismatched chairs and sofas. And did we mention the bar? 

Some of the screenings are a bit far from now but this is gives you the perfect opportunity to buy that lovely pocket diary we’re always bullying you into getting. Here’s one in sparkly gold