Cieślewicz’s ‘Forefather’s Eve’ (occasional notes on posters)

This poster produced by Roman Cieślewicz in 1967 has become an iconic image in the history of the People’s Republic of Poland. Designed … More

Speaking about exhibitions

Last night I went to a talk – of sorts – at the RCA called ‘Spoken Exhibition’ which represents ‘historic’ … More

Sounding the Body Electric – art, cybernetics and electro-acoustic music in Eastern Europe in the 1960s

    Neo-Constructivist, light and kinetic art, cybernetic design, concrete and electro-acoustic music were fields of high creativity and experiment … More

Boiling the City

At the Łódź Design Festival last weekend, I saw this exercise in data visualisation and sonification. Culling data pulled from … More

Love Among the Ruins

In autumn 2008 Kobas Laksa and Nicolas Grospierre invited visitors to the Venice Architecture Biennale to stay at the Hotel … More

Socialist recreation? Amateur film and photography in the People’s Republic of Poland and East Germany

This piece was published in a book which is very difficult to find, so I have posted my contribution below.

Unmonumental monuments

This text appeared in the catalogue for the Steirischer Herbst festival, Graz, 2010

Personal Search

Here is a discussion of an undeservedly obscure Polish film, Rewizja Osobista / Personal Search, 1972. It was commissioned by the … More

Manhattan’s Doubles

This article was written a few years ago when preparing the Cold War Modern exhibition at the V&A. It first … More

The Art of Cybernetic Communism

This article is due to appear in a book in Poland. It has been a long time in production so … More