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Verdurin /vəʁdyrɛ̃/ is a project space in East London hosted by Pierre d’Alancaisez and programmed with friends.
Verdurin presents an idiosyncratic mix of exhibitions and events addressing urgent cultural, political, and philosophical questions through visual culture.
Verdurin is also a concept store providing the essentials an aesthete will need to survive cultural doomsday: daring literature, artefacts deserving of perdurance, and artisanal provisions.
d’Alancaisez was first inspired to marshal an audience to discuss politics, art, and ideas critically in response to the failure of institutions and the breakdown in the cultural order following the pandemic.
The name Verdurin is borrowed from Proust’s literary character Mme Verdurin who in À la recherche du temps perdu hosts a literary salon. Verdurin today carries on her spirit of conviviality and mutual edification.
Team
Pierre d’Alancaisez
Pierre d’Alancaisez is a curator and critic.
Artists, contributors, guests
Karin Ferrari
Karin Ferrari is an artist exploring ‘trash mysticism’.
Chris Bateman
Chris Bateman is an award-winning game designer, philosopher, and an intellectual mercenary fleeing the smouldering ruins of academia.
Anna Sebastian
Anna Sebastian’s painting practice follows alternative and imagined realities, myth, history, and religion.
Sam Jennings
Sam Jennings is an American writer in London.
Thaïs Lenkiewicz
Thaïs Lenkiewicz collages science fiction, religion, conspiracy theories, game shows, and prehistory.
Abbie Lucas
Abbie Lucas is a filmmaker, theatre director, and co-host of Art of Darkness.
Thomas Peermohamed Lambert
Thomas Peermohamed Lambert is a novelist and literary scholar.
Alfie Bown
Alfie Bown is the editor of Sublation Magazine, founder of Everyday Analysis, and a lecturer in digital media.
Bryce Nance
Bryce Nance always wanted to go to college. Not for a degree or career, but to be “a man of letters”.
Dougal Verinder Gedge
Dougal Gedge’s practice reflects a reality experienced compulsively online.
Aaron Moulton
Aaron Moulton is a curator and anthropologist. His research in ‘The Influencing Machine’ charted the impact of the NGO movement on the visual culture of Eastern Europe in the 1990s.
Daniel Hadas
Daniel Hadas specializes in early Christian literature, medieval Latin, and the study of manuscripts.
Mark Simpson
Mark Simpson is a writer and broadcaster credited (or blamed) for coining the term ‘metrosexual‘.
Malcom Kyeyune
Malcom Kyeyune is a writer living in Uppsala, Sweden.
Aimee Armstrong
Aimee Armstrong’s work portrays modern relationships in a post-internet, post-woke, post-infographic world.
Amir Naaman
Amir Naaman is a novelist and a personal trainer.
Helen Rollins
Helen Rollins is a writer and filmmaker interested in the intersection between art and philosophy.
Nina Power
Nina Power is a philosopher and critic.
George Hoare
George Hoare is a political theorist, podcaster, and author.
Ofri Ilany
Dr. Ofri Ilany is a historian, journalist, and literary critic.
Justin Smith-Ruiu
Justin Smith-Ruiu is a writer and philosopher at the Université Paris Cité. He is the founder of The Hinternet.
Oliver Bennett
Oliver Bennett is a writer, actor, and director and co-founder of The Base Creates.
Simon Fanshawe
Simon Fanshawe OBE is a broadcaster, writer, and activist. He was one of the founders of the LGBT charity Stonewall.
Kevin Kautzman
Kevin Kautzman is a playwright and co-host of Art of Darkness.
Georg Kurz
Georg Kurz is a German politician associated with the Die Linke.
Ed McKeon
Ed is a music programmer who explores the aesthetic implications of shifts in understanding of history.
Ann Snelgrove-McKerracher
Ann is a co-instructor at Theory Underground. She is interested in the question of the ‘Good Life’.
Philip Cunliffe
Philip Cunliffe is Associate Professor in International Relations at UCL and co-host of the Bungacast podcast.
Jamieson Webster
Jamieson Webster is a writer and psychoanalyst, and a founding member of Das Unbehagen.
Benjamin Studebaker
Benjamin Studebaker is a political theorist.
Rosie Kay
Rosie Kay is a dancer and choreographer who created MK ULTRA with the film-maker Adam Curtis.
Kristin Milward
Kristin Milward is an actress known for her work on the stage.
Ran Heilbrunn
Ran Heilbrunn is a writer and scholar whose work focuses on technology, political theory, and current affairs.
János Brückner
János Brückner is an artist working in installation, video, and painting.
Elena Louisa Lange
Elena Lange is a philosopher, Japanologist, writer, former musician, and former assistant professor. She is the editor of Café Américain.
Jacob Koster
Jacob Koster is a researcher who explores socially engaged art and social movement practice, as well as aesthetics and the philosophy of art.