Poetics of the Motorway

Will Alsop | Edward Chell | Jennifer Cooke | David Lawrence

Friday 27 July, 6-8.30pm

July LAST Fridays

Listen to a full recording of the evening’s event here 

The history, influence and poetics of the English motorway system – where romance and squalor, personal and political, private interests and public space collide – will be under discussion at this event. The conversation between Will Alsop, Edward Chell and David Lawrence is complemented by a sonic poetry performance by Jennifer Cooke.

Talk and readings celebrate the recent launch of In the Company of Ghosts: the Poetics of the Motorway, a book created by artist Edward Chell and poet Andrew Taylor, through their common interest in the physchogeographics of the motorway. Copies available for purchase at the special price of £10 (rrp £12.95).

The event will launch a screenprint by Edward Chell, produced exclusively as a donation to Beaconsfield’s Fraternise fundraising scheme in an edition of 30:

Buttercup – Ranunculus repens: Dust A20(M), 2012, screenprint, micro-particulate matter gathered from motorway on Somerset white. Price £240 inc. VAT. Click here for more information.

Listen to contributors discuss In the Company of Ghosts: the Poetics of the Motorway on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme from Tuesday 17 July: Searching for poetry on the M25 

This event forms part of the South London Art Map July Not the Opening Ceremony LAST Fridays. Find full event listings and plan your itinerary here. Pack in some culture before the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony broadcast starts at 9pm…

July’s Bankside Afterparty takes place at Cul de Sac Gallery, open 6pm till late.

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Images: Book Cover (detail): In the Company of Ghosts: the Poetics of the Motorway, 2012, edited by Andrew Corkish.
Conceived and co-edited by Edward Chell & Andrew Taylor.
Edward Chell, Buttercup – Ranunculus repens: Dust A20(M), 2012, screenprint, micro-particulate matter gathered from motorway on Somerset white