Revive! at Saint Mary Magdalene Church, Rowington Close, London

These are times when art is more important than ever.  And to see the art of nine brilliant contemporary, cutting edge artists in the crypt of a nineteenth century Pre-Raphaelite Anglo-Catholic church is especially cherished.  The church is in the charming neighbourhood of west London called Little Venice.  Surrounded by canals and boats, its moniker "Little Venice" is easy to decipher. There is much I wish to write about the exhibition and the church, but first I would like to introduce my readers to the very charming and beautiful fashionista and gallerist, Olga MacKenzie.  When I met Olga, she was managing the Davies Street Vivienne Westwood store, ordering from Dame Westwood's shows the clothes she knew her high profile clients would want to wear.   Olga, a native of Siberia and I became friends, and she confided to me her dream of curating exhibitions for up and coming artists as well as those artists more established. She has partnered with a colleague to form Galitzine MacKenzie, and their mission statement for this exhibition reads as follows:

"Contemporary artists will create exciting site-specific works to reinvent this intimate space exploring issues such as ritual and spirituality, memory and presence, death and transfiguration and work which challenges the notion of revivalism in post-Brexit Britain and after the Trump victory."

The crypt lies underneath the Church which was build in the mid 1860s with an eye to serving the poor by spreading the Anglo-Catholic Revival, promulgated by the Pre-Raphaelite movement. The charismatic Father Henry Temple West commissioned George Edmund Street to build Saint Mary Magdalene in the middle of the Victorian slums.  Because of the fame of the architect, the church attracted the wealthy, whose smart carriages were at odds with the poverty.  The neighbourhood was known for prostitution and because of the many deaths from venereal disease, the crypt was used to store bodies until they could be properly attended to.

The dedication to Saint Mary Magdalene consciously references the church's desire to reach out and help working class women and prostitutes.  There are visual references to Mary Magdalene throughout the church and the artist Carolyn Barker-Mill has replaced some of the missing stained glass with a likeness of Marilyn Monroe.

Carolyn Barker-Mill's tribute to female power today.

Original church windows

The Russian artist Pavel Pepperstein's  Mary Magdalene on a camel with  slug, inspired by the Door's Riders on the Storm from their album 'L.A. Woman'.  In this context, Mary Magdalene is an empowered Magdalene, in charge of her own sexuality and destiny.

The youngest artist represented is 21 year old Niklas Gustafson, who has created a space that is free to form, scale or linear narrative, where as the curators write "the crypt's spirit and and fragments of its past and future lie co-exist". The video imagery is built up using archival footage of the church with a computer generated sound accompanying the videoscape of organ recitals taking place above the crypt.

Nineteenth century Ecclesiastical robes 

Olga with more Ecclesiastical robes of the period

I had the privilege to experience the site-specific recording by Hans Rosenstrom, which plays on our perception of space.  "I want to expand your own presence," says Rosenstrom.  He has worked with three dancers to produce this audio piece "tracking space and making it physical". One may hear footsteps, the unzipping of jackets, the sounds of taking off down jackets -- for me this sounded like bats flapping in the crypt, while the dancers footsteps sounded like delicate horse prancing.
There are nine artists represented in all.  An experience unlike any I have ever had, I strongly recommend anyone who can to visit. But soon, for it is only up until December 18th.

Little Missy on the canal near the church.  I  recommend the charming Waterway at 54 Formosa Street after viewing the crypt for coffee drinks, craft beers and fresh, tasty repast.