Moving from its usual location at The Mandrake Hotel, Minor Attractions art fair recently hosted its first summer art festival from May 28-30, split across seven different London venues. For three days, attendees of the Summer Sessions were able to immerse themselves in London’s experimental art scene and connect with the emerging creatives that keep the culture churning.
Over the weekend you could dance, listen, watch, recite, see and learn of ideas and creations that you may have never before encountered. With the majority of tickets for events being under £10, a now rare find in London, the Summer Sessions were a perfect opportunity to break away from your regular venue rotation and stomp some place new, from foundational spaces like St. Moritz Club to newer spots like Avalon Cafe.
The beauty of this festival was in its intimate focus on the art and its artists. This wasn’t about branding or networking or image, simply learning and engaging with a small slice of the breadth of creative communities that define London.
These were our thoughts on a few events we saw over the weekend.
(Intro by Edith Matthias)
Intermissions
by Edith Matthias
In a brief moment of respite from the sun, I caught a glimpse of the limitless possibilities of what can be created straight from one’s bedroom. Tucked in Bloomsbury’s Horse Hospital, a venue championing underground art, the audio/ visual showcase titled Intermissions was an inspiring blend of sound design, film, video game, and performance.
As recipients of the FLAMIN Fellowship by Film London, many of the artists turned to the archives to develop their concepts and pieces. One humorous and profound use of archival material was by Andy Zhang with the online game Minesweeper, whose repetitive nature, she said, offered comfort and simple enjoyment. We watched as Zhang clicked numbers on the screen, surprisingly captivated despite the game’s visual starkness.
“I am drunk, and my throat sucks, but I will sing it because I love you,” says the voiceover in the film by Artist Harmeet Singh Rahal before breaking into a ballad, which, when overlayed with animation and archival film, spoke of resistance and cyclical histories.
My favourite moment came from Ama Dogbe, in her experimental video game titled “Museum of Memories,” where users can explore a range of abstract spaces, including 3D scans of her own kitchen. Throughout her world, players are guided with voice-over, which Dogbe used as an opportunity to explore what Ghanaian accents exist in AI. The space was playful, thoughtful, and offered a different use of video games as a creative format.
Innovation, skill, and artistry filled the room that afternoon, leaving me excited to explore where these artists will take their work, to continue blurring the line between mediums and creating new matters of their own.
On The Rag
by Roisin Teeling
On The Rag’s special London issue opens with a cover story arguing that London is in a rizz recession. Writer Rahel Stephanie’s diagnosis is that the city has the drip, the posture, and the curated nonchalance, but not the presence to match. London is too self-conscious to be in a moment without analysing it. “Instead, what we have is negative rizz.”
Reading Club took place on 29 May at The Glove That Fits in Hackney as part of Minor Attractions’ Summer Sessions, where three collectives shared a bill across a night that ran from 8pm until 2am. It was a room with brick walls and red neon strip lighting where nobody was performing for each other, and three collectives who between them have spent years making literature feel like somewhere worth being on a Friday night.
Soho Reading Series, Casual Encountersz, and Die Quieter Please – the last of which began, as origin stories go, as a drunk night at the Boogaloo with co-founders Frankie Faccion and James Martin — brought out readers including Yoel Noorali, whose debut collection The Kingdom turns NHS admin into surreal comedy, and Oskar Oprey, whose fiction and criticism appears in Artforum and The Fence, alongside work from Gabrielle Sicam reading for Casual Encountersz.
For the first time, Soho Reading Series opened the floor to an open mic, where anyone who’d prepped a piece could read alongside writers with actual books out, which felt democratic, a little risky, and something you’d only try given the space on a night like this.
Stephanie ends her On the Rag piece: “If London has rizz, I haven’t seen it. But I’m open to being proven wrong.” Reading Club had a room full of people dancing, strangers listening to each other read and for some, the chance to possibly get up and try it themselves — I’d call that a start.
Cantilever Launch Party
by Connie Fletcher
Cantilever is a new independent music streaming service. Aaron, the one man band behind the company, compiles carefully curated albums and articles for listeners to explore. On Saturday, Cantilever hosted their official launch party to celebrate their ongoing success.
The event saw The Social packed out, with a crowd overspilling into the back bar. Even in the midst of London’s heatwave, the debut managed to draw a room full of people into a basement venue in Soho.
One thing that stands out most about Cantilever is their ethos that less is more. By working with independent record labels and prioritising quality over quantity, they ensure that featured artists are given a platform and paid a fairer share of royalties. Streaming services are frequently criticised for exploiting up and coming artists, something which Cantilever is hoping to rectify.
Their users are encouraged to listen deeper and soak up what is available knowing that they will be updated with new and refreshing music each month. The gig itself featured a lineup from artists and bands Dana Margolin, Shaking Hand, 1000 Rabbits, Evelyn Gray and DJ Poppy Richler. The lineup struck a unique balance between melancholic acoustic sets and energised performances, blending genres rather than sticking rigidly to one. 1000 Rabbits particularly attracted attention, radiating atmosphere into the room and creating a buzz amongst the audience through their dramatic stage presence. Their music felt emotional but playful.
Contrastingly, Shaking Hand, who hail from Manchester, brought an industrial and urban feel to the audience, kicking off the night right. The event attracted a mixed crowd of creatives, friends and family and music fanatics, all present to support the bands and Cantilever alike. Having to upgrade venues due to a demand in tickets, The Social provided an exciting but intimate setting for this diverse lineup.