John Bently presents works from the Liver&Lights Scriptorium, followed by a late-night performance of Sukhdev Sandhu’s Night Haunts
[ID: scan of two pages in a book. Black printed text forms a cut-up poem, while on the verso side of the page is a print depicting a person amidst a large pile of bin bags]
Doors: 6pm
Tickets: £7 - £15
This event is part of the Raft Festival programme (see the main festival page on our website for full listings).
One-off tickets are available for every Raft event on a sliding scale basis. We encourage you to consider purchasing a ‘festival pass’ bundle ticket which will allow you, at a reduced rate, to access a given number of events across the full programme (either 5 events, 10 events, or all 30 events). See the link below for more details about these options!
7pm: Liver & Lights - Strange Times
Liver & Lights is an ongoing series of publications by artist John Bently. These have evolved dramatically over the course of its 65 editions in 38 years (so far), from punk poetry fanzine into DIY manifesto; from a celebration of discarded things into a celebration of discarded communities, from heartfelt memorial to ranting pamphlet and all stations in between. The series functions both as a repository of low budget reprographics and an uncompromising chronicle of real lives lived in strange times.
Liver & Lights also incorporates a wide range of one-off works of art and related projects, most notably the band Bonesandtheaft, who interpret and illuminate the books through music and live performance, augmented by handmade recordings, props, stage sets and costumes.
This evening will consist of a unique hands-on opportunity to explore all 65 of the books, including prototypes and associated props and graphics, followed by a conversation between the artist and Chiara Ambrosio, culminating in a unique live performance of some rarely performed works…
11pm- onwards: Night Haunts, narrated for the occasion by Sukhdev Sandhu, with live music by Nighthaunts (the band)
An empty diner, 2:13am. Misted windows, neon red: Open 24/7. Refrigerator hum, strip lights flicker. Black coffee steams on the counter, nobody calls. Synthesised dreams on the jukebox- and the Exit sign on a wall with no door. Night haunts after-hours. This is our sunset, baby.
Sukhdev Sandhu’s book Night Haunts (Verso, 2008), which won the 2008 DH Lawrence International Prize For Travel Writing, seeks to reclaim the mystery and romance of the city—to revitalize the great myth of London for a new century.
“I would add Sandhu’s work to the likes of Lights Out for the Territory as offering some of the greatest insights we have into contemporary London.”
– Michael Moorcock (The Daily Telegraph)
Sukhdev Sandhu is the director of The Colloquium For Unpopular Culture at New York University. He is also the author of London Calling: How Black and Asian Writers Imagined a City (Harper Collins, 2004), I'll Get My Coat (BookWorks, 2005). Sandhu’s writing has appeared in a range of publications including the London Review of Books, Suddeutsche Zeitung, Du, The Wire, Sight and Sound, Bidoun, Gastronomica, The Australian, The Guardian and Times Literary Supplement.