Mixtape Memories at The Hospital Gallery

By london_alex Last edited 225 months ago
Mixtape Memories at The Hospital Gallery

mixtape.jpg

Remember the male member of the Eurythmics? Remember the co-founder of Microsoft? Did you know they founded The Hospital, a "private members' club in central London that is developing an environment and services for creative and like-minded people to work, collaborate and play"? Well, you know now and on in the gallery space of their club is an exhibition entitled "Anyone else isn't you" by Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard. (Who also keep a weblog here.)

There was a period in time when ipods didn't exist (yes, we are having trouble recalling those days as well) and before ipods and burning cd mixes - you made mix tapes. Just think of John Cusack's role in High Fidelity as the owner of a record shop who made mix tapes with excruciating detail to the playlist. It wasn't that serious when we made ours, but you get the idea.

The exhibition is described as,

"a 30 minute unscripted portrait of 12 young people talking directly to the camera about love and loss.

Infectious, accessible and striking, "Anyone else isn't you," takes the premise of home made compilation cassettes as a trigger to spark their subjects into talking candidly; dynamic pace of editing between each subject blurs narratives and heightens the subject's oscillations between confidence and uneasiness.

Anyone who has ever made or received such a compilation will understand the obsessive ritual of cautiously compiling song after song, creating a very personal soundscape, saying more to someone else than words alone could ever muster. Forsyth and Pollard describe the mix tape as "personally curated mnemonic archives".

The concept sounds incredible, but then again Londonist is a fan of taking the everyday concepts (love, hate, war, peace) and combining them with an element of pop culture to create a representation of life now - but we won't go off on a rant about that. Just go check this exhibition out and let us know what you think.

The exhibition runs until 2 July and visitor information can be found here.

Last Updated 27 June 2005