DOCSLIB.ORG

THE OMNIPENDENT the Omnipendent the Omnipendent Mortar, Stone and Such Secrets of the Museum Lawrence Weiner for Emily Tsingou Fine Art Raphael Cartoons at the V&A

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
THE OMNIPENDENT the Omnipendent the Omnipendent Mortar, Stone and Such Secrets of the Museum Lawrence Weiner for Emily Tsingou Fine Art Raphael Cartoons at the V&A THE OMNIPENDENT The Omnipendent The Omnipendent Mortar, Stone and Such Secrets of the Museum Lawrence Weiner for Emily Tsingou Fine Art Raphael Cartoons at the V&A Omni have worked for Lawrence Weiner many Somehow we avoided the quarantine and away The Raphael Cartoons, a set of seven full-scale As well as being of perfect quality, the signage times over the past 10 years for several galleries we were, in a van, heading to France to install an designs for tapestry in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel for such an important exhibit had to be very long and exhibitions including Blenheim Palace and iconic work by the master of text-based art! painted by Raphael (1483 – 1520), are considered lasting, and so silk screen was the natural choice. South London Gallery. A recent commission from one of the greatest treasures of the Renaissance. We produced a series of tests and placed full size Emily Tsingou Fine Art was to install a work by The Cartoons (from the Italian word cartone, heavy positional proofs ready for K2 Screen, our sister Lawrence for a private client based in the South of paper) were brought to Britain in the 17th century company, to screen print directly to the walls. Over France. Mortar Stone and Such was first exhibited by the Prince of Wales, later Charles I, and have the course of three days they worked through as part of Some Objects... Lawrence Weiner at been on loan to the Victoria & Albert Museum from information texts, donor panels and object labels. Marian Goodman Gallery New York in 1986. The Her Majesty The Queen since 1865. The finished result looks very impressive and has client had purchased the work at Sotheby’s auction been very well received by the V&A’s curatorial house and had received the digital artwork directly To mark the 500th anniversary of Raphael’s death, team who have lived and breathed the project over from the studio. The Raphael Court, home to the seven surviving the past year or so. Cartoons, has been extensively refurbished, The piece, around 9 metres wide, was hand greatly increasing the visibility of the works. The Photos: Ricardo Goncalves on behalf of Polimekanos painted directly to a curved wall, finished with painstaking restoration was documented by the unsealed Italian plaster, 8 metres from the ground. BBC for episode 2 of Secrets of the Museum. The stencils were made and a few technical details were ironed out at the Omni studio ahead of the For more information visit: For more information visit: install taking place. emilytsingoufineart.com vam.ac.uk Lockdown Winter Edition 2020 Lockdown Winter Edition 2020 The Omnipendent The Omnipendent Sublime Design These Days Martens & Martens & Pentagram Dan Mitchell at Brent Biennale 2020 In 2016 we worked with leading designers acoustic panelling that was suspended from ceiling Following the appointment of Brent as London THESE DAYS EVEN REALITY HAS TO LOOK Pentagram and design legend Karel Martens, on tracks. The sublime designs certainly transform the Borough of Culture for 2020 by the Mayor of London, ARTIFICIAL. A quotation from the J.G. Ballard book his large-scale installation Mountains. The 350sqm space and will provide a fascinating backdrop for the first Brent Biennale 2020, was commissioned, Kingdom Come, the artwork is a poetic intervention vinyl work in the Cancer Centre at Guy’s Hospital the occupants when normal service resumes. featuring work by 20 artists, inspired by the in a public space that is at the heart of civic life and went on to win the prestigious international award cultures, places and post-Thatcherite battleground decision making. in 2017 for Interior Design and Arts at the European Karel Martens book, Printed Matter is considered to a cultural North West London neighbourhood. Healthcare Design Awards. a classic in the world of design publishing and very Brent Biennale - until December 13th influential to generations of leading designers. First Omni were pleased to support the event, producing Photo: Thierry Bal It was a pleasure to work with Karel and Pentagram editions can set you back over £1000 but later These Days, by Dan Mitchell a vast 43 metre again, this time in collaboration with family member editions are quite affordable. long text-based work covering the glass facade Diederik, taking over the office floors of a major of Wembley Library, printed on a special light box City headquarters with their glass manifestations Photos: Pentagram vinyl. designs. Marten’s instantly recognisable motif was seen again here, multi-coloured patterns generated Dan has an insight on the borough, having worked from photographs of landscape scenery to create in Wembley Park for Brent Council in the early an illusion of depth. On another floor we flooded the 1990’s as a housing fraud investigator, witnessing glazing with giant abstract numbers spanning the the area’s transformation. His work uses the office partitions, all printed on optically clear vinyl. For more information visit: language of advertising slogans and campaigns, For more information visit: The pattern continued across specially fabricated martens-martens.com together with stock images to present the text: brent2020.co.uk Lockdown Winter Edition 2020 Lockdown Winter Edition 2020 The Omnipendent The Omnipendent Lost at Sea Iconclast Turner’s Modern World at the Tate Michael Clark at the Barbican One of Britain’s greatest artists, J.M.W. Turner lived enslaved people being tossed to their death by the The Barbican is currently host to the first major a rather stunning pink version. Do try and catch this and worked at the peak of the industrial revolution. captain of a ship so that he could collect insurance exhibition of dancer and choreographer Michael show if time and pandemic allows. Steam replaced sail; machine-power replaced money only available for those “lost at sea”. Clark. The critically acclaimed exploration of manpower; political and social reforms transformed Clark’s work presents a comprehensive vision of Michael Clark Cosmic Dancer - until January 3rd 2021 society. Turner’s Modern World at Tate Britain Unfortunately, the original painting was not available Clark’s career to date from his meteoric rise as a brings together major works from Tate and other for the exhibition and so Omni were called upon to young choreographer in the 1980s. The exhibition collections, including The Fighting Temeraire 1839 make a facsimile, printed on Somerset Rag paper showcases his unique multidisciplinary approach and Rail, Steam and Speed 1844. and mounted on board with edges painted to match that incorporates a wide range of influences. Film, the gallery walls. Tate built a wall with a recess for photography, and material from Clark’s practice Beginning in the 1790s, when Turner first observed the replica to be hung in, illuminating the void to is shown alongside his legendary collaborations the effects of modern life, Turner’s Modern create a frame of light around the image. across visual arts, music, fashion and film including World follows his fascination with the impact The Fall, Leigh Bowery and artists Sarah Lucas, of industrialisation. It shows how he became Turner’s Modern World - until March 7th 2021 Cerith Wyn Evans and Peter Doig. involved in the big political questions of the time: campaigning against slavery and making paintings Omni were delighted to be involved with this amazing that expressed the horrors of the Napoleonic Wars. show, producing and installing supergraphics, cut out figures, wallpapers, signage, and Covid signs. At first glance Slave Ship 1840 appears to depict A wallpaper was featured in the exhibition that we a beautiful sunset over a tumultuous sea. Closer For more information visit: had produced a little while ago, Tits in Space by For more information visit: examination reveals the horror of sick and dying tate.org.uk Sarah Lucas, a great favourite with Omni, this time barbican.org.uk Lockdown Winter Edition 2020 Lockdown Winter Edition 2020 The Omnipendent The Omnipendent and breathe... Wash your hands... Breath is Invisible at Westbourne Grove Keep your distance, Call Omni Breath is Invisible, a three month public art project experience responding to the Black Lives Matter It’s been a strange and difficult year but we have still Social Distancing the Omni way founded by Eiesha Bharti Pasricha and curated by movement. The piece comprises a 3D rendering managed to produce some very interesting work for Here are some of the graphics we created to keep Sigrid Kirk shone like a beacon in West London featuring actor Haroun Yamou, accompanied by some distinguished clients. We have also done our our clients and the studio safe. this summer with three artists appearing on the a soundscape inspired by Curtis Mayfield’s song To fair share of distancing and other Covid signage so large shop-front of 236 Westbourne Grove. Omni Be Invisible we are well geared up to supply any requirement. Get in touch to see how we can support you with were proud to print and install the vinyl for all three bespoke social distancing signs and graphics, and projects. The third and final installation, Invisible Life Force Products designed to protect here’s hoping we can wash our hands of this virus of Plants by photographer and artist Joy Gregory’s Several materials have been in very high demand soon. The first work of the three featured artists wasin this featured large scale prints exploring the narrative since the lockdown began. Omni have ample stocks space we breathe by Khadija Saye, a supremely and origins of plants and their relationships with of special Anti-slip Floor Laminate to make sure we talented artist who tragically lost her life, aged humans and ecology.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The ABC of Sheffield Music Nostalgia - SLIDESHOW - the Star Page 1 of 2
    The ABC of Sheffield music nostalgia - SLIDESHOW - The Star Page 1 of 2 The ABC of Sheffield music nostalgia - SLIDESHOW Video See all the bands in our slideshow Just like old times: Heaven 17’s Glenn Gregory and Martyn Ware, top right ABC’s Martin Fry and, above, Phil Oakey « Previous « Previous Next » Next » ADVERTISEMENT Published Date: 15 December 2008 By John Quinn A MAJOR pop music event took place on Saturday night. But let's ignore The X Factor. Several thousand Sheffielders did, instead opting for a night of not-just-nostalgia with three of the best-known acts ever to hail from around here – The Human League, ABC and Heaven 17. Whatever entertainment Simon Cowell's crew provides, one negative effect is spoiling the suspense and potential surprise of the race for the Christmas number one single. However the crowd at an impressively almost-full Arena preferred to hark back to the days when the festive chart-topper could be made by a weird synthesizer group whose singer had responded to a split in the ranks by recruiting two teenage girls with no musical talent except the ability to dance and sing. Well, sort of... The city's music scene at that time consisted largely of electronic experimentalists, some of whom suddenly discovered they could write pop songs. Very good pop songs at that, which sold by the bucketload until the tide of fashion changed. The acts still exist, albeit after several line-up changes each, and occasionally release albums to diminishing returns, so whoever decided to combine all three pulled off a masterstroke.
    [Show full text]
  • Intouniversity Works with Universities to Provide Local Learning Centres Where Young People Are Inspired to Achieve
    IntoUniversity works with universities to provide local learning centres where young people are inspired to achieve. IntoUniversity Oxford South East Annual Report Prepared for Christ Church, Oxford and the University of Oxford 2019/20 Chief Executive Introduction I am very pleased to be able to thank Christ Church, Oxford and the University of Oxford for their support of IntoUniversity. Our work is only made possible by the generous support and investment from partners such as yourselves and I am delighted to present this report on the performance of IntoUniversity Oxford South East for 2019/20. This report provides details of delivery to young people that took place prior to the national lockdown. In March we took the difficult decision to close temporarily all IntoUniversity centres and they remained closed for the rest of the academic year. Inevitably, this means we did not reach all of our targets for 2019/20. For further information, please see programme output tables Dr Rachel Carr OBE at the back of the report. Despite the centre closures, we were determined to continue providing support to our students remotely, and we immediately embarked on a response to the lockdown, quickly adapting our offer of support; you can find more information on how we did this later in the report. We are delighted that our centres were able to re-open for our young people in September for the 2021/21 academic year, with strict social distancing measures in place. The COVID-19 crisis was certainly an unprecedented challenge, but much has been achieved by IntoUniversity in the 2019/20 academic year.
    [Show full text]
  • Reed First Pages
    4. Northern England 1. Progress in Hell Northern England was both the center of the European industrial revolution and the birthplace of industrial music. From the early nineteenth century, coal and steel works fueled the economies of cities like Manchester and She!eld and shaped their culture and urban aesthetics. By 1970, the region’s continuous mandate of progress had paved roads and erected buildings that told 150 years of industrial history in their ugly, collisive urban planning—ever new growth amidst the expanding junkyard of old progress. In the BBC documentary Synth Britannia, the narrator declares that “Victorian slums had been torn down and replaced by ultramodern concrete highrises,” but the images on the screen show more brick ruins than clean futurescapes, ceaselessly "ashing dystopian sky- lines of colorless smoke.1 Chris Watson of the She!eld band Cabaret Voltaire recalls in the late 1960s “being taken on school trips round the steelworks . just seeing it as a vision of hell, you know, never ever wanting to do that.”2 #is outdated hell smoldered in spite of the city’s supposed growth and improve- ment; a$er all, She!eld had signi%cantly enlarged its administrative territory in 1967, and a year later the M1 motorway opened easy passage to London 170 miles south, and wasn’t that progress? Institutional modernization neither erased northern England’s nineteenth- century combination of working-class pride and disenfranchisement nor of- fered many genuinely new possibilities within culture and labor, the Open Uni- versity notwithstanding. In literature and the arts, it was a long-acknowledged truism that any municipal attempt at utopia would result in totalitarianism.
    [Show full text]
  • Grenfell Mediawatch Report: What, Where, When Justice?
    Grenfell MediaWatch Report: What, Where, When JUSTICE? The Government RBKC Councillors Decision-making Accountability Responsibility LFB Risk Assessments Fire Safety Residents Listening Policies and Procedures Job Descriptions Communication Building Regulations Materials Regulations Reporting Guidelines Action Death Toll Public Health Fire Emergency Protocols Ballots Salaries Budgets Investments Criminal Investigations Paperwork Media Reporting Fuel Poverty Tax Consultants Lawyers Developers Panel Members Experts Meetings Living Poverty Action Homelessness Mental Health Fraud Freedom of Information Fines Public Inquiry Select Committees Deniability Housing Community Ownership Location The School Community Spaces Charities Volunteers Community Initiatives Cost Sentencing Representation Public Money Hierarchy Bureaucracy The Law Amendments Pain Judgement Numbers Reparations History …. to name a few…. 72 June 2019 In remembrance of the Grenfell Tower community Including those that lost their lives, the survivors, family and friends About Grenfell MediaWatch Grenfell MediaWatch (GMW), is a group of volunteer Citizen Journalists formed in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017. Our group is unfunded and includes volunteer members from North Kensington and across the UK. Using our collective skills and grassroots experience, we use the tactic of monitoring and critiquing national, regional and local media to counter the misrepresentation of community issues. Together we collect, analyse, report and share information by creating openly biased content, in service of the community. We are committed to Malcolm's "make it plain" philosophy. This report was produced by the Grenfell MediaWatch team of Amma, Angie, Anu, Dawn, Isis, Jay, Oleander, Sophia, Toyin Please credit any content use to GMW and contact us if you would like to provide feedback or collaborate.
    [Show full text]
  • Media Release Tune Into Nature Music Prize Winner
    Media Release Tune Into Nature Music Prize Winner LYDIAH selected as recipient of the inaugural Tune Into Nature Music Prize Yorkshire Sculpture Park is delighted to announce the winner of the Tune Into Nature Music Prize, originated by Professor Miles Richardson from the Nature Connectedness Research Group at the University of Derby and supported by Selfridges, Tileyard London and YSP. The winner LYDIAH says: “Becoming the winner of the Tune Into Nature Music Prize has been such a blessing, I’m so grateful to have been given the opportunity. It’s definitely going to help me progress as an artist. Having Selfridges play my track in store and to be associated with such an incredible movement for Project Earth is something that I am very proud of and excited for. I’m able to use the funding to support my debut EP, which couldn’t have come at a better time! The Prize is such a great project and the message is so important. I can’t thank Miles, Martyn and everyone who supports it enough.” Twenty-one year old LYDIAH, based in Liverpool, has been selected as the winner of the Tune Into Nature Music Prize for her entry I Eden. The composition is written from the point of view of Mother Nature and highlights the dangers of humans becoming increasingly distanced from the natural world. LYDIAH will receive a £1,000 grant to support her work, the opportunity to perform at Timber Festival in 2021 and a remix with Tileyard London produced by Principal Martyn Ware (Heaven 17), who says: “I thoroughly enjoyed helping to judge some exceptional entries for this unique competition.
    [Show full text]
  • Khadija Saye
    THE ART NEWSPAPER Number 292, July/August 2017 47 Obituary Khadija Saye A series of self-portraits by Khadija Saye (1992-2017) are now on show in the Diaspora Pavilion, a collateral event in this year’s Venice Biennale, the opening of which the artist attended in May. Saye and her Gambian- born mother, Mary Mendy, died in the Grenfell Tower fire in west London on 14 June. As a memorial to the artist and all the victims of the disaster, which claimed at least 79 lives, Tate Britain displayed a print from Saye’s final series, Dwelling: in this space we breathe (2017). The artistNicola Green, the gallery director Ingrid Swenson and her husband, Andrew Wilson, who is a Tate curator, share their memories of the young artist. hadija Saye completed her photography she had a caring eye that was fitting photography degree in 2013 for her chosen subject of portraiture. After her and, as an aspiring artist, did internship she was employed to interview and a variety of paid work, which photograph visitors to PEER’s reopening exhibi- fed into her growing knowl- tion by Angela de la Cruz. The resulting pictures, edge of art and broadened produced as a poster, are evidence of her sensitive her networks. As part of this and compassionate eye, and as she said later, she joined up to Creative Access, a London-based “breaking down barriers—which is something I Kcharity that promotes diversity within the strive to pursue within my career”. creative industries by providing work experience for young people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds through a range of paid BLOSSOMING OF AN ARTIST internship programme partnerships.
    [Show full text]
  • Forest of Imagination: Meet the Artists, Including Heaven 17'S Martyn Ware
    ⏲ 06 June 2019, 16:39 (BST) Forest of Imagination: meet the artists Meet five artists who are part of Bath’s pop-up contemporary arts event Forest of Imagination, taking place 20-24 June 2019. Find out the music that most moves Heaven 17’s Martyn Ware; the favourite artworks of renowned paper-cutter Jessica Palmer; and where Tate-exhibitor Bob and Roberta Smith feels happiest. Get to know Bath based artists Clare Day and Perry Harris, and why Forest of Imagination draws them back, year after year. Martyn Ware A founding member of both The Human League and Heaven 17, Martyn is a London based musician, composer, arranger, record producer, and music programmer. In 2001 he co-founded Illustrious Company to exploit the creative possibilities of three-dimensional sound technology. Where do you get your inspiration for new soundscapes? The piece I’m creating for Forest 2019 stems from my fascination with reminiscence and memory. I’m exploring the bond that the very young and the very old have with one another. These people are at the opposite ends of their life but share so many insights about life. I thought I’d reveal this affinity by putting the words of the old in the mouths of the young and vice-versa. What pieces of music most move you? There’s no end to beauty in music. Symphony No. 9 by Gustav Mahler makes me want to cry. Samuel Barber’s ‘Adagio for String’ (the theme music to ‘Platoon’), is another powerful piece. John William’s score for ‘Close Encounters of a Third Kind’ is masterful.
    [Show full text]
  • To Read Their North Islington Annual Report
    IntoUniversity provides local learning centres where young people are inspired to achieve. IntoUniversity North Islington Annual Report Prepared for Westminster School, St Paul’s Girls’ School and City of London School 2019/20 Chief Executive Introduction I am very pleased to be able to thank Westminster School, St Paul’s Girls’ School and City of London School for their support of IntoUniversity. Our work is only made possible by the generous support and investment from partners such as yourselves and I am delighted to present this report on the performance of IntoUniversity North Islington for 2019/20. This report provides details of delivery to young people that took place prior to the national lockdown. In March we took the difficult decision to close temporarily all IntoUniversity centres and they remained closed for the rest of the academic year. Inevitably, this means we did not reach all of our targets for 2019/20. For further information, please see Dr Rachel Carr OBE programme output tables at the back of the report. Despite the centre closures, we were determined to continue providing support to our students remotely, and we immediately embarked on a response to the lockdown, quickly adapting our offer of support; you can find more information on how we did this later in the report. We are delighted that our centres were able to re-open for our young people in September for the 2021/21 academic year, with strict social distancing measures in place. The COVID-19 crisis was certainly an unprecedented challenge, but much has been achieved by IntoUniversity in the 2019/20 academic year.
    [Show full text]
  • NICOLA GREEN Biography
    www.facebook.com/nicolagreenstudio NICOLA GREEN @nicolagreenart @NicolaGreenArt Biography [email protected] +44 20 7263 6266 nicolagreen.com Nicola Green is a critically acclaimed artist and social historian. Green has established an international reputation for her ambitious projects that can change perceptions about identity and power; exploring themes of race, spirituality, religion, gender, and leadership. Green has gained unprecedented access to iconic figures from the worlds of religion, politics, and culture, including collaborations with Pope Francis, President Obama, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Dalai Lama. Driven by her belief in the power of the visual image to communicate important human stories, Nicola Green chooses to assume the role of ‘witness’ to momentous occasions taking place across the globe. Inspired by her own mixed-heritage children and multi-faith family, she creates and preserves religious, social, and cultural heritage for future generations. Recording these events as they happen, and investing many hours of academic and artistic research, Green builds and curates substantial archives. In 2015, Nicola Green, with ICF, co-founded the Phase I Diaspora Platform Programme, which would take emerging ethnic minority UK-based artists and curators to the 56th Venice Biennale to witness curator Okwui Enwezor ‘All The World’s Futures’ Biennale intervention, where he critically examined its entanglement with race, politics and power. Following these successes, Nicola Green co-founded and directed the Diaspora Pavilion, an exhibition at the 57th Venice Biennale, showcasing 22 artists from ethnic minority backgrounds, whose work dealt with the topic of Diaspora. The Diaspora Pavilion was created in an effort to highlight and address the lack of diversity in the arts sectors and was ac- companied by a 22-month long mentorship-based programme.
    [Show full text]
  • Pete Mckee Announces Artists Invited to Join Him in New Exhibition Celebrating Working Class
    PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE USE 22 May 2018 These Artists Work – Pete McKee announces artists invited to join him in new exhibition celebrating working class DOWNLOAD IMAGES HERE Sheffield artist Pete McKee today announces the nine artists he has invited to share their work alongside his own in the upcoming exhibition This Class Works. Fellow artists, musicians, actors, designers, photographers and poets each contribute their own unique interpretation of the exhibition’s themes, which aim to explore and celebrate the lives of the working class. The featured artists include: Anthony Bennett, JB Barrington, Jo Peel, Jon McClure, Martyn Ware, Maxine Peake, Natasha Bright, Sarah Jane Palmer and Tish Murtha, whose work will be shown alongside Pete’s. In addition to these artists Pete has invited several designers and illustrators to complete a special brief for the exhibition. Those included in this special project are: Cafeteria, Dust, Field, Nick Bax, Jon Cannon, Kid Acne, Patrick Murphy, Nick Deakin and Peter & Paul. Although most of the work will be kept secret until the exhibition opens, we can reveal that the following will be included: live sculpting by Anthony Bennett poetry inspired by Pete’s paintings (& vice versa) by JB Barrington a visual history of Sheffield’s industry pubs by Jo Peel soundscapes that reflect the atmosphere of industrial sites and other places of work by Martyn Ware written accounts of what it means to be working class from Maxine Peak photography exploring both social clubs which still exist to this day by Natasha Bright unemployed youth - an insight into a day in the life on a typical council estate by Tish Murtha Sarah Jane Palmer’s secret hidden messages in everyday items and a special selection of long-lost government propaganda.
    [Show full text]
  • Oxford DNB: January 2021
    Oxford DNB: January 2021 Welcome to the seventieth update of the Oxford DNB, which adds biographies of 241 individuals who died in the year 2017: 224 with their own entries and seventeen added to existing entries as 'co-subjects'. Of these new inclusions, the earliest born is the journalist Clare Hollingworth (1911-2017) and the latest born is the artist and photographer Khadija Saye (1992- 2017). Hollingworth is one of five centenarians included in this update, and Saye one of thirty-four new subjects born after the Second World War. The vast majority (169, or over 70%) were born in the 1920s and 1930s. Sixty-three of the new subjects who died in 2017 (or just over 26% of the cohort) are women. Twenty of the new subjects were themselves contributors to the dictionary. Forty-five of the new articles include portrait images. From January 2021, the Oxford DNB offers biographies of 64,071 men and women who have shaped the British past, contained in 61,745 articles. 11,870 biographies include a portrait image of the subject—researched in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery, London. As ever, we have a free selection of these new entries, together with a full list of the new biographies. Most public libraries across the UK subscribe to the Oxford DNB, which means you can access the complete dictionary for free via your local library. Libraries offer 'remote access' that enables you to log in at any time at home (or anywhere you have internet access). Elsewhere the Oxford DNB is available online in schools, colleges, universities, and other institutions worldwide.
    [Show full text]
  • Conclusion: Brexit, Viewed from Grenfell Tower
    Conclusion: Brexit, viewed from Grenfell Tower On 14th June 2017, a fire took hold of Grenfell Tower, a 24-storey high-rise in the Lancaster West Estate in North Kensington, London. At times approximating the temperature of an incinerator, the building smouldered for days afterwards. The tower was comprised of 129 flats, most of which were social housing managed by the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO). The official death toll of 71 residents remains hotly disputed by many witnesses and community members. But even this number still makes the event Britain’s deadliest structural fire since the beginning of the 20th century. So appallingly inept and callous was the local government response to the fire and its aftermath that within five days the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), one of the richest local councils in the country, had been side-lined at the highest level of government in favour of a “gold command”, which then coordinated the response. The intensity and spread of the fire, seemingly starting in one 4th floor flat, is widely attributed to the flammability of the cladding that was attached to the exterior of the building as part of an insulation upgrade between 2015 and 2016. An original contractor had been dropped by the Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) in favour of a cheaper competitor. Building experts warned in 2014 that the material scheduled for Grenfell Tower had to be used in tandem with non-combustible cladding (Prescod and Renwick 2017). Nonetheless, a cladding that featured superior fire resistance was ruled out due to cost, and a sub-standard type fitted instead.
    [Show full text]