Above image: The burning of the wicker chicken

On Sunday night, in a pleasant cider-haze, I stood in an industrial yard in the depths of East London surrounded by people dressed in inventive and outlandish attire. Everyone around me was singing raucously and banging makeshift drums in anticipation. A giant wicker chicken was about to be burned. I could not think of a more fitting end to the weekend.


Rewind 48 hours and I was walking through the same yard for the first time, my friend beside me commenting gleefully “it’s like a post apocalyptic World where only the artists survived!”

With 624 studios and apparently more artists per capita than anywhere else in the World, Hackney Wick’s numerous warehouses and ex factories play host to artists, musicians and ‘creative types’ who open up their studios and run fetes, exhibitions, live music stages and pop up events for the whole weekend. The thing that is most notable about the festival is it’s laid back sense of community, everybody working together to make it happen.

On the opening night at the Forman’s Smokehouse Gallery we saw I See Myself There Where I Am Not, an exhibition that brought together ‘the work of 10 artists who examine the various ways art is used as a heteropological accessory, a mode realised by the gaze of the viewer.’ Pieces that stood out for me included Greta Alfaro’s In Ictu Oculi, A video that showed a lone dining table in the middle of nowhere that a swarm of vultures suddenly happens upon, David Ferrando Giraut’s collection of found LP records with covers depicting dereliction and Cry Wolf, by the same artist, an image that manages to be romantic, personal and horrifying all at the same time.

After the exhibit, on the astro-turfed roof terrace with the Olympic stadium in the background, we spoke to Laura May Lewis, one of the founders of Hackney Wicked, who told us about the festival’s origins, how it stays afloat with next to no budget and what she hopes the future of the fest will be.

Hackney Wicked 2010 Laura May Lewis Interview from RRTV on Vimeo

Stepping off the train the next day we came upon a performance artist with a gaggle of people watching him, he seemed to be in character as some kind of prophet of doom, “see” said my friend “apocalypse.” For the rest of the weekend our festival base became Queens Yard, an area with tall victorian warehouses rising up on either side, foreboding factory chimneys as its backdrop and a stage at the end backing onto the bright graffti covered canal. On Sunday this area saw Fete For The Wicked, a bazaar with artist run stalls, food, drink, a live music stage and the odd wandering performer. Two memorable musical appearances were a beat boxer and an electro - country singer in a mad wig. We didn’t catch the names of either but that was part of the ramshackle charm of things.

One of the best things about the festival was wondering around the open studios, getting an insight into the many artists’ practices and seeing a wide range of work in different mediums. At Mother Studios, Francisco Ortega's vivid oils stuck in the mind with their recurring subtle imagery of brains, skulls and teeth.

Micro Pages: An Artists Book Project by Abigail Thomas was a fascinating favourite of mine, a carefully collected series of selected artists’ books on a reel of microfilm which was accessed on an old reader, the aim of which was to start a conversation about the issues surrounding the display of artists’ books.

In its third year The Tomorrow People at the Elevator Gallery showcased new work from emerging artists from across the nation. Picks included Ben Woodeson’s electric drills that would start up on a seemingly random timer to cause spinning springs to jerk alarmingly across the floor and a hammer to beat a plaster wall in the corner of the room and Michelle Hannah’s Let there Be Light, a powerful digital back lit photo print of a strange white figure in a suit with a blinding light emerging from it’s face.

Hackney Wickipedia presented by Gadjes Collective in the Blue Building showed art inspired by the local surroundings. From a oversized postcard reading ‘Greetings From Hackney Wick’ to a silken gilt chair with a embroidered 3D map of the the surrounding locale, responses to the area went from the melancholy to the downright cheeky.


Image above: Hackney Wickipedia

As the Sun began to fade on the Sunday night we got some grub at the Counter Café (highly recommended) before a final mooch about, meeting other festival goers and residents along the way.

Fellow first timer to the festival Gregory Maule told me: “What I’ve loved about all of this is that it feels like a celebration… many other festivals these days have an agenda, they are highly organised, corporately funded gigs, thats not to say I don’t enjoy them too, but this feels like the people in the area are celebrating their creativity and community. You don’t feel like you are being watched by security guards and told what brand of beer you can drink and where. Also, the weekend has a sense of absurdity and humour, it doesn’t take itself too seriously, that’s what I like. Right, where’s this wicker chicken?”

Hackney Wicked 2010 Sunday Evening from RRTV on Vimeo

For more information on Hackney Wicked visit http://www.hackneywicked.com/