Positions by Eva Stenram at Siobhan Davies Studios

Siobhan Davies Studios on St George’s Road is one of Kennington’s best buildings. It plays host to modern dance, yoga, pilatestherapies, and visual art, and the current art exhibition – Positions by London-based Swedish artist Eva Stenram – is the best one we’ve seen there.

Siobhan Davies Centre - kenningtonrunoff.com

This is Arrangement (after Irving Klaw), featuring reframings of risqué 1950s photos of Bettie Page and other pin up models:

Eva Stenram - Arrangement (after Irving Klaw) at Siobhan Davies Studios - kenningtonrunoff.com

This is part of her Score for a Sequence of Poses, again using pin-up photos as its inspiration:

Eva Stenram - part of Score for a Sequence of Poses at Siobhan Davies Studios - kenningtonrunoff.com

This print is available to buy, unframed, for £60:

Eva Stenram - Elastic at Siobhan Davies Studios - kenningtonrunoff.com

There are also a series of 1960s pin up photographs where Eva has digitally removed everything except one leg – eerie, and worth seeing in person.

Positions is open till March 22nd and admission is free. Eva will be leading a tour of the exhibition a week today, March 12th, from 2pm to 3pm.

Another current exhibition at the Studios addresses the age old question “is it art, or is it mould?”. It’s both! This is Lichen Colony by ceramicists Alison Proctor and Phoebe Cummings:

Photo by Robyn Caberet

Photo by Robyn Caberet

Ice Skate Vauxhall – 2 for 1 tickets tonight

Vauxhall Spring Gardens has now reverted to its earlier name, Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, and this Christmas it’s starting to live up to its name again as it plays host to a big ice rink, Ice Skate Vauxhall:

The Ice Rink, Ice Skate Vauxhall - kenningtonrunoff.com

When we went on a cold Sunday night it was a bit of a ghost town, but it has had a lot of press since then so might have started to fill up. Anyway, we used to skate at Somerset House most years but it has been too full in recent years to really enjoy the skating, so there’s something to be said for a modestly popular skating rink.

If you go tonight, December 17th, you can get two for one tickets by entering 241VX1 into the ‘promo code’ box when booking tickets at www.iceskatevauxhall.co.uk.

There is also the UK’s largest real Christmas tree maze, which costs £4.50 to enter, so we didn’t:

The Christmas Tree Maze, Ice Skate Vauxhall - kenningtonrunoff.com

And there’s a bar with outdoor seating, selling much needed hot spiced cider and mulled wine:

The bar, Ice Skate Vauxhall - kenningtonrunoff.com

There are various food options including a converted Routemaster bus selling fish and chips, and The Swing Grill selling toffee apples amongst other things:

The Swing Grill, Ice Skate Vauxhall - kenningtonrunoff.com

It doesn’t get much more Christmas-y than that.

Open House Kennington

Open House London is this weekend and the following Kennington places are participating:

Arts Lav (more info here)

Beaconsfield (more info here)

Lambeth Palace, but all the tours are booked up there

Mobile Gardeners Planting Station, which is the new incarnation of the Mobile Gardeners Park in the former Shell garage, 137-149 Walworth Road, SE17 1JZ. Help them construct the garden on Saturday from 1pm. More info here.

Morley College (Sunday only)

Perronet House (Saturday only – more info here)

Roots and Shoots (Saturday only)

Siobhan Davies Studios (Saturday only – more info here)

The Cinema Museummore info here

Coming Thursday for 3 days - The Cinema Museum - kenningtonrunoff.com

Sidewalk Stories at Hotel Elephant

Last night we went to a screening of a wonderful, moving film, and it’s coming to (near) Kennington on Friday.

Sidewalk Stories is a largely forgotten silent film from 1989 that inspired the director of The Artist. Imagine The Kid by Kennington’s own Charlie Chaplin, but set in the New York of Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing. It features great performances from writer/director Charles Lane and his very cute young daughter, and a truly impactful ending.

Read more about the film here and buy tickets for the screening at Hotel Elephant on Friday at 8pm here.

Carnival del KERB at The Paperworks

OK, The Paperworks is technically outside the borders of Kennington but it’s nearby, it’s run by North Kennington’s own Corsica Studios, and it’s great so we’re including it here.

It’s a temporary, outdoor street food, bar and music venue in a long-disused space owned by Peabody.

Carnival del KERB at Paperworks - train tracks - kenningtonrunoff.com

With a train line running along one side and the remnants of a factory at the other, it looks like something Secret Cinema would have built to host a dystopian film screening, but it’s not – the iron protruding from the brick wall is authentic industrial debris that has been there for decades.

Carnival del KERB at Paperworks - kenningtonrunoff.com

It’s open Friday to Sunday evenings and tomorrow sees their third of four markets by street food specialists KERB (there are also more limited street food options on Saturdays and Sundays). We went along last Friday, when it was Time Out’s no. 1 thing to do in London. There were craft beers, ten or so food stalls, live music and DJs with a Latin flavour, and a cool crowd leaning young but covering all ages.

Once the weather gets cold the plan is to convert it into more of a covered space, then eventually flats will be built here, so make the most of it while it lasts.

Tomorrow’s event runs 5pm to 11pm  at The Paperworks, 48-50 Newington Causeway (north of the Southwark Playhouse, on the other side of the road).

Kennington apocalypse at Beaconsfield: We Are History by John Timberlake

We love Kennington, we love big art, and we love the apocalypse, so the current show at Beaconsfield Art Gallery could almost have been designed with us in mind. We Are History by John Timberlake features a giant painting of West Kennington in three parts, with a mushroom cloud behind. “The perspectival position suggests that the target may have been High Wycombe”. Damn it, we were thinking Clapham.

You are encouraged to take photos and the installation really comes alive when you take photos of people walking in between the three parts. We’ve not done that because we wanted to preserve our anonymity, but you should:

John Timberlake - We Are History at Beaconsfield Gallery - kenningtonrunoff.com

The show is open until August 30th, Wednesday to Saturday, 11am to 5pm. Get along on Wednesday. Thursday or Friday lunchtime and you can sample the wonderful food of the Ragged Canteen, the third best restaurant in Kennington.

Kennington architecture features in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition again this year

Apartment tower, West Kennington, London by Keith Williams Architects. Behold those children transfixed by its beauty:

Apartment tower, Vauxhall, London by Keith Williams Architects in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition - kenningtonrunoff.com

The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition is open for another week, until August 17th.

Here was Kennington’s contribution to last year’s exhibition, which is being built at present.

Zeitgeist at the Jolly Gardeners – the only place to watch the World Cup Final

If you’re going to be in London rather than Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, there’s only one place to watch the World Cup Final – London’s premier German gastropub, Zeitgeist in North West Kennington.

Zeitgeist at the Jolly Gardeners - kenningtonrunoff.com

 

Zeitgeist is located at The Jolly Gardeners pub on Black Prince Road, which has 120 years of history as a pub. In common with every Kennington pub of a certain age, Charlie Chaplin’s dad used to drink there, and scenes from the films Snatch and The Calcium Kid were shot there. Since Zeitgeist moved in, the colour theme is black, inside and out – not so jolly anymore. But the schnitzel, schweinebraten, leberkaes, and German beers like Weihenstephaner and Krombacher will soon cheer you up.

They will be showing the World Cup Final on their 4 x 3 metre screen and their 60″ TV. Pay £10 in advance and you will get guaranteed entry, a shot of Vodka Brause and a Currywurst/Bratwurst roll. More info from their black website.