The Royal Albert Hall presents LOAD, a street art experience and one of its edgiest and most unique exhibitions yet.
Graffiti artists commissioned by the Royal Albert Hall, in partnership with the young urban collective and creative pioneers Daydream Network, will transform the walls of the Hall's Loading Bay, usually used for getting in over 350 shows a year, into a gallery of street art and graffiti artwork.
Depicting the life story of the Royal Albert Hall's 138 year history, LOAD will take a graphical journey through some of the most memorable moments in the Hall’s existence as well as displaying murals of the most iconic figures to have graced the Hall’s stage, including stunning images of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Muhammed Ali and Pavarotti. These legends will be depicted in 10 feet pieces of art in the industrial backdrop of the Hall’s Loading Bay. The Royal Albert Hall will be seen as never before!
You can view it when attending the free open day on Monday 22 June from 12 noon - 9pm. Simply turn up to view the exhibition - there is no need to book.
Free entry.
Load is kindly supported by The Wonderland Collective, Sound by Design, Tuborg, Sailor Jerry Rum, Media Structures Ltd, Caspa Marketing Ltd, Raymond Gubbay Ltd, Your Wall, THePETEBOX, NAPT, Layth, TCT, Montana, DJs Young & Positive, Time Out and Leith's.
In Africa it's believed that forests listen,
leaves and bushes curl back like ears, trap
wind and whispering with willows and
gossiping marigolds, swap our stories
like seeds.
Here, the saying is that walls have ears,
their flat fronts make for staunch stunts
that catalogue all that passes: pen stroke
to pressed notes, strained wrists to break
beats, violin strings; the walls know it all.
If the Royal Albert walls could speak, theirs
would be a lofting speech, a tongue toiled
from 1871 and an awe struck Queen at its
opening. A suffragette's scream would shred
the curtains and un-chill Churchill's steady
stream. Einstein's voice and Ali's shuffle
would scuffle Ol' Blue Eyes singing his
way past Beatlemania, if the walls could
speak, Hendrix's last guitar rift rippling
Shirley Bassey, tickling Pavarotti's throat,
would curl into Elton John's piano and
the back flips & front kicks of Cirque du
Soleil would rain thunder-like, carve an
audio way spilling Killers, ballerinas and
the thousand other artists who've passed
through, imagine; if the walls could speak,
Tonight, a new slant would change its speech:
The loading bay, toiled by graffiti writers,
hands cultured by concrete and dreams,
would join the speech in spray-can-speak:
tongue of felt-tip, breath of aerosol, accent
of back streets, back packs, hoodies and
the swift fingered skill that makes streets
thrill, would tweak the speak of the Royal
Albert Hall and the urban jungle would
bend to listen, power lines like vines,
tower block like bushes would carry news
of how after 138 years, a new voice was
formed in the heart of London, a new
language, and thus a new age had come;
a new language, and thus a new age...
© Inua Ellams 06 /09 www.phaze05.com