Film about the work
Watch a film to find out how writer Caryl Phillips responded to a stay in A Room For London high above the South Bank, and how he collaborated with photographer Johny Pitts and Artangel to create a wider work, A Bend in the River.
Phillips wanted to challenge the iconic view that greeted him. From Big Ben on his left to St Paul’s Cathedral on his right, it suggested, he wrote, ‘a tradition that no longer really squares with the Britain that we deal with on a daily basis’.
Phillips invited photographer Johny Pitts to join him on a literal and figurative journey in which they would explore the many other ‘Londons to the east’. It eventually concluded in Tilbury, the Thames dockside some 30 miles away, where, between 1948 and 1962, ships arrived carrying immigrants from Britain’s former colonial territories, hastening the country’s transformation into a multi-cultural, multi-racial society.
Pitts’ photographs and Phillips’ writing evolved into A Bend in the River, a geographical slideshow which can be viewed here.
Built by Living Architecture and designed by David Kohn Architects in collaboration with the artist Fiona Banner, A Room for London is a one-bedroom, boat-shaped installation perched on top of the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. To hear Fiona Banner and David Kohn describe the project, click here.
You can explore the rest of A Bend in the River here.
A Bend in the River forms part of the Hearts of Darkness series, which contains new work inspired by stays in A Room For London, which you can see here.
Visit this page to explore the concerts from A Room For London which have also been featured on The Space.