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

Artists, contributors, guests

  • Karin Ferrari

    Karin Ferrari

    Karin Ferrari is an artist exploring ‘trash mysticism’.

  • Chris Bateman

    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

    Anna Sebastian’s painting practice follows alternative and imagined realities, myth, history, and religion.

  • Sam Jennings

    Sam Jennings

    Sam Jennings is an American writer in London.

  • Thaïs Lenkiewicz

    Thaïs Lenkiewicz

    Thaïs Lenkiewicz collages science fiction, religion, conspiracy theories, game shows, and prehistory.

  • Abbie Lucas

    Abbie Lucas

    Abbie Lucas is a filmmaker, theatre director, and co-host of Art of Darkness.

  • Thomas Peermohamed Lambert

    Thomas Peermohamed Lambert

    Thomas Peermohamed Lambert is a novelist and literary scholar.

  • Alfie Bown

    Alfie Bown

    Alfie Bown is the editor of Sublation Magazine, founder of Everyday Analysis, and a lecturer in digital media.

  • Bryce Nance

    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 Verinder Gedge

    Dougal Gedge’s practice reflects a reality experienced compulsively online.

  • Aaron Moulton

    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

    Daniel Hadas specializes in early Christian literature, medieval Latin, and the study of manuscripts.

  • Mark Simpson

    Mark Simpson

    Mark Simpson is a writer and broadcaster credited (or blamed) for coining the term ‘metrosexual‘.

  • Malcom Kyeyune

    Malcom Kyeyune

    Malcom Kyeyune is a writer living in Uppsala, Sweden.

  • Aimee Armstrong

    Aimee Armstrong

    Aimee Armstrong’s work portrays modern relationships in a post-internet, post-woke, post-infographic world.

  • Amir Naaman

    Amir Naaman

    Amir Naaman is a novelist and a personal trainer.

  • Helen Rollins

    Helen Rollins

    Helen Rollins is a writer and filmmaker interested in the intersection between art and philosophy.

  • Nina Power

    Nina Power

    Nina Power is a philosopher and critic.

  • George Hoare

    George Hoare

    George Hoare is a political theorist, podcaster, and author.

  • Ofri Ilany

    Ofri Ilany

    Dr. Ofri Ilany is a historian, journalist, and literary critic.

  • Justin Smith-Ruiu

    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

    Oliver Bennett is a writer, actor, and director and co-founder of The Base Creates.

  • Simon Fanshawe

    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

    Kevin Kautzman is a playwright and co-host of Art of Darkness.

  • Georg Kurz

    Georg Kurz

    Georg Kurz is a German politician associated with the Die Linke.

  • Ed McKeon

    Ed McKeon

    Ed is a music programmer who explores the aesthetic implications of shifts in understanding of history.

  • Ann Snelgrove-McKerracher

    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

    Philip Cunliffe is Associate Professor in International Relations at UCL and co-host of the Bungacast podcast.

  • Jamieson Webster

    Jamieson Webster

    Jamieson Webster is a writer and psychoanalyst, and a founding member of Das Unbehagen.

  • Benjamin Studebaker

    Benjamin Studebaker

    Benjamin Studebaker is a political theorist.

  • Rosie Kay

    Rosie Kay

    Rosie Kay is a dancer and choreographer who created MK ULTRA with the film-maker Adam Curtis.

  • Kristin Milward

    Kristin Milward

    Kristin Milward is an actress known for her work on the stage.

  • Ran Heilbrunn

    Ran Heilbrunn

    Ran Heilbrunn is a writer and scholar whose work focuses on technology, political theory, and current affairs.

  • János Brückner

    János Brückner

    János Brückner is an artist working in installation, video, and painting.

  • Elena Louisa Lange

    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

    Jacob Koster is a researcher who explores socially engaged art and social movement practice, as well as aesthetics and the philosophy of art.

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