Pigeon Soup

1997. Most of the buildings ANNEXED occupied through these years had some problem with pigeons. At No.1 Hoxton Street we realised after some months, that the water we used for the copious cups of tea we were drinking came from a roof-top tank of water which was in fact dead pigeon soup.

Hans Ulrich Obrist asked us for a contribution for his survey of the 1990's London Art Scene (Life/Live, at Musée d'Art Moderne Paris), outlining Annexed's efforts. We sent him information about problems with pigeons.

THE BENEFITS TO BE OBTAINED FROM BIRD CONTROL


Prevention of Defacement
Droppings deface and accelerate the deterioration of buildings and statues.Stone is particularly susceptible to acid secretions produced by the fungi that live in the droppings from roosting birds.


Reduction in Maintenance Costs
Nests and droppings block gutters.


Prevention of Fouling
In wet weather droppings make pavements and staircases dangerously slippery.
Droppings may fall on pedestrians.


Elimination of Noise and Smell
The noise made by pigeons annoy people in hotels.
Pigeons' nests and droppings produce objectionable odours.


Removal of Insect Infestation
Pigeons and their nests harbour an impressive variety of insect pests.


Hygiene
Birds commonly transmit diseases which are dangerous to people.It is simply unpleasant and unhealthy to have the general level of hygiene lowered by the presence of birds and their droppings.

More Light More Power

1994. I had a studio at 30 Underwood Street, Shoreditch, which had been set up by Martin Richman, now a lighting designer, and Simon Hedges (Sid), the charismatic gallery director, now of F-ISH. Things were happening here. We were joined by BANK, an influential artist group, who opened Mellow Birds (or was it called DOG?), an irreverant gallery showing some now well known artists. Mute Magazine also had a presence here.

Hoxton and Shoreditch were pretty run-down and the only pub was the Bricklayers Arms which closed on weekends. But there was a tangible energy... loads of little galleries springing up, property was very cheap or free, everything was DIY, Factual Nonsense, Plummet (a gallery in a tower block), BANK, Curtain Road Arts, Gallerette etc. all of which was pretty well documented by Hans Ulrich Obrist in Life/Live. There is very little photography from this time, no digital cameras, very few computers, not much internet.

Jonathan Hatt and myself, Michael Croft, both had shows at Underwood Street, got talking at a Sebastain Boyle magazine launch at Underwood Street (something to do with Sarah Kent's pictures of dicks) and decided to get our own building to put on shows.

That building was 1 Hoxton Street owned by The London Borough of Hackney, abandoned and forgotten. Daniel Yamoah of the Property Division kindly allowed us to occupy it until sold (that was 2 years later). 1995 and Annexed was born. Built in the 1920's as the Electricity Showrooms, the building had the the motto 'More Light More Power' which was the title of the first exhibiton.

www.annexedindustry.com

Money from Art?

Where were we to get money? We were poor. Luckily 1 Hoxton Street had become a dumping ground for Hackney Council. The basement was full of replaced aluminium road signs among other sellable junk. Scrap aluminium fetched a good price. Lots of things, like spotlights were scrounged off, I mean sponsored by, for instance Concord Lighting. Private views were sponsored by Bombay Sapphire and J&B Whiskey. So we put on a few shows, attracting the attention of magazines and newspapers. The Evening Standard's ES Magazine ran a 3 page feature, called Money from Art, by Luke Jennings, with full page photo ...

...and this one in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Magazin 1998, photographed in the long gone Drysdale Street timber yard.