Verdurin /vəʁdyrɛ̃/ is a project space in East London hosted by Pierre d’Alancaisez and programmed with friends.
Verdurin presents an idiosyncratic mix of events, courses, and exhibitions addressing urgent cultural, political, and philosophical questions through visual culture.
Verdurin is also a concept store and publisher, 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.
We are happy to receive pitches and ideas for events, performances, launches, screenings, talks relating to art, culture, politics, and philosophy.
Team
Pierre d’Alancaisez
Pierre d’Alancaisez is a curator and critic, and the founder of Verdurin.
Amir Naaman
Amir Naaman is a novelist and a personal trainer.
Nina Power
Nina Power is a philosopher and critic.
Daniel Neill
Daniel is a writer, and protégé at Verdurin.
Travis Jeppesen
Travis Jeppesen is the author of numerous books and the creator of object-oriented writing.
Emma Bielecki
Emma Bielecki is a lecturer, writer, and researcher. She splits her time between London and nineteenth-century Paris.
Lola Salem
Lola Salem is a researcher and cultural strategist.
Artists, contributors, guests
Sohrab Ahmari
Ahmari is the US editor of UnHerd and the author of Tyranny, Inc.
Isobel McCrum
Isobel McCrum is an AI systems architect.
Philip Cunliffe
Philip Cunliffe is Associate Professor in International Relations at UCL, co-founder of Bungacast, and author of multiple books on international politics and security.
Alex Hochuli
Alex Hochuli is a political analyst based in São Paulo.
Ronan McCrea
Ronan McCrea is the author of The End of the Gay Rights Revolution, an academic, and columnist.
Stefano Parrella
Stefano Parrella is a London-based electronic musician and guitarist.
Marcas Lancaster
Marcas Lancaster is a writer, producer, and self confessed ‘failed gay’.
Ester Freider
Ester Freider is a writer and ‘creative academic’.
Ran Heilbrunn
Ran Heilbrunn is a writer and scholar whose work focuses on technology, political theory, and current affairs.
Daniel Howard James
Daniel James is an independent researcher working on a conspiracy-free theory of ‘consumer-communism’.
Benjamin Studebaker
Benjamin Studebaker is a political theorist.
Sam Jennings
Sam Jennings is an American writer in London.
Thaïs Lenkiewicz
Thaïs Lenkiewicz collages science fiction, religion, conspiracy theories, game shows, and prehistory.
Rupert Read
Philosopher Rupert Read is Co-Director of the Climate Majority Project.
Blake Smith
Blake Smith is a historian and translator who lives in Chicago.
Bryce Nance
Bryce Nance always wanted to go to college. Not for a degree or career, but to be “a man of letters”.
Alison Brady
Alison Brady is a philosopher of education investigating writing pedagogy in the age of AI.
George Hoare
George Hoare is a political theorist, podcaster, and author.
Chris Bateman
Chris Bateman is an award-winning game designer, philosopher, and an intellectual mercenary fleeing the smouldering ruins of academia.
Olive Parker
Olive Parker writes stories about fuckboys, femcels, and sexual frustration.
Edmund King
Edmund King is a writer and senior lecturer in English Literature at The Open University.
