rike and henny are having a great time

(all footage by rike and henny. editing by rike. no animal was harmed in the making of this film, i hope...) (plus: they both jump a lot higher by now, they told me...)

on the radio...

sheer poetry

can there possibly be a more poetic view of deptford than jason mcniff's song 'shadow ships of deptford' which i stumbled upon at transpontine's blog, a place that already in the past has been the source of much joy and enlightenment. 

but isn't it just grotesque to imagine i'd listened to this beautiful tune in what must pass these days as my hometown, hanover, and dreamt up a place like the creek? in my very first years in london, deptford seemed to be a haunted place - the more i tried to get away from it, physically by living in hampstead and highgate instead of greenwich, the more it caught me, first by working in a theatre production where all of a sudden rehearsals were scheduled to the albany and then i was asked to find props and costumes on deptford market, and where i was not only unable to understand a word spoken, but also terrified by everything and everybody. i remember when a pair of shoes for our main character had an asking price of one £ and i volonteered a fiver just to not be hussled. not good for the company, as they soon realised...

but it wasn't until i put on my own production that involved a study of peter the great and his ship building tuition in the deptford docks that i started to embrace what was so worlds apart. certainly i could imagine peter testing the great british dentistry on his own men in the docks, and the rubbish and dirt were just consequences, shadows, indeed shadow ships...

first solo

very proud to announce the opening of the first (!) solo show of one of our favourite artists, and friend and neighbour, paul de monchaux, at the piper gallery in fitzrovia, from tuesday onwards. paul's studio is five houses down the road from ours and many times have we peaked through the doors of his basement studio, until he opened a big new space in the back of the garden, which is just the place were we could spend the rest of our lives. paul's sculptures are intriguingly smooth, with sleek surfaces that make you want to hug the cold stone, and of genuine beauty. every time we walk around his creations we secretely pray that one day we will be rich enough to be able to afford a piece, SILENCE (above, from 2007), a slave worker memorial at the jersey war tunnels, would do nicely for starters. Click here for an article in the guardian.

where we are now...

click here for the story...

i'm the producer - get me out of there!!!

oh dear - it seems that our worst fears ARE becoming a reality (show) as a swift look onto darling pamelchen's facebook page revealed her new photo, which can only mean that the super tough job as executive producer (if i get this right) for germany's version of 'i'm a celebrity', which is running for a few more days and apparently broke all viewing records, is simply getting to her. get her out before it's too late! pam, halt durch - wir kommen!!!

the rest is noise

we spent an interesting afternoon at the southbank centre, first to hear a lecture by james macmillan, whose work we will now explore a little further, followed by a film production on young musicians and how they see music in their lives, and where of course our little darling had participated, to give her account of musical influences at home and abroad... i first sat a little nervously - what could possibly be her first memory of music - mum's untalented go at lullabies? or, worse?? but in the end her answers were rather interesting, and the same can be said about all the kids, as the film provides a little window into their relationship with music. installed at the southbank foyer, the film will run for the whole year as part of "the rest is noise" festival, and will also be uploaded on the website, we were told, from monday onwards. will keep you posted..