Premiering across the 2nd and 3rd of October 2008, Concrete and Glass is a unique event showcasing some of the best in music and contemporary art. The first of its style and scale to hit London, Concrete and Glass is a celebration of contemporary culture, fusing the realms of music and art in Shoreditch and taking the creative hub of London's East End as its inspiration.
With Tom Baker of Eat Your Own Ears curating the music, an exciting array of bands will be performing in over seventeen venues all within 9 minutes' walk from the epicentre of the festival, Rough Trade East off Brick Lane. Venues include: Hoxton Bar & Grill, Rough Trade East, 93ft East, Cargo, The Griffin, Tea Building, Favela Chic, Catch, The Legion, The Strongroom, Café 1001, The Macbeth, Zigfrid, The Old Blue Last, Electricity Showrooms, Plastic People, and Whitechapel Gallery with more to be announced. Line-ups range from the internationally acclaimed to the hottest new talents. Some stages will be co-hosted by John Kennedy (xfm), Time Out, Steve Lamacq (6Music), The Stool Pigeon, Young Turks, Drowned In Sound and Rough Trade Records.
Tapping into the unique infrastructure of spaces in the East End, the art strand is produced by Flora Fairbairn Projects. Known for curating site-specific exhibitions and installations in non-gallery spaces, Fairbairn has over 20 projects in the pipeline which will take place in disused warehouses and empty shop spaces in collaboration with curators, artists and galleries, ranging from Measure, Kinetica Museum, Arts Co., Reconstruction, A Foundation, Artwise Curators, Saatchi Online, Dominc Berning in collaboration with 11 Princelet Street, Riceboy and Artprojx to performance pieces by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard and a film installation by renowned film-maker Gerry Fox. In partnership with the Whitechapel Gallery and its Time Out First Thursdays', local galleries will be hosting late viewings. There will also be a site-specific group exhibition produced by Concrete and Glass of new work by emerging artists with the work being judged by a jury of art world luminaries. While launching over the 2 days of the festival, many of the art projects will continue on, running into Frieze weekend 2 weeks later.
The Saatchi Online exhibition will take place in Shoreditch and will feature the work of 20 London-based artists. These artists will be selected from Saatchi Online Magazine's weekly Critic's Choice and Top 10s.
More information will soon be posted on the magazine about this exciting opportunity for Saatchi Online artists.
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