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.
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
János Brückner
János Brückner is an artist working in installation, video, and painting.
Dougal Verinder Gedge
Dougal Gedge’s practice reflects a reality experienced compulsively online.
Ed McKeon
Ed is a music programmer who explores the aesthetic implications of shifts in understanding of history.
Georg Kurz
Georg Kurz is a German politician associated with the Die Linke.
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.
Malcom Kyeyune
Malcom Kyeyune is a writer living in Uppsala, Sweden.
Kristin Milward
Kristin Milward is an actress known for her work on the stage.
Chris Bateman
Chris Bateman is an award-winning game designer, philosopher, and an intellectual mercenary fleeing the smouldering ruins of academia.
Daniel Hadas
Daniel Hadas specializes in early Christian literature, medieval Latin, and the study of manuscripts.
George Hoare
George Hoare is a political theorist, podcaster, and author.
Elena Louisa Lange
Elena Lange is a philosopher, Japanologist, writer, former musician, and former assistant professor. She is the editor of Café Américain.
Bryce Nance
Bryce Nance always wanted to go to college. Not for a degree or career, but to be “a man of letters”.
Ann Snelgrove-McKerracher
Ann is a co-instructor at Theory Underground. She is interested in the question of the ‘Good Life’.
David McKerracher
David is the founder and organisers of Theory Underground.
Helen Rollins
Helen Rollins is a writer and filmmaker interested in the intersection between art and philosophy.
Alfie Bown
Alfie Bown is the editor of Sublation Magazine, founder of Everyday Analysis, and a lecturer in digital media.
Jamieson Webster
Jamieson Webster is a writer and psychoanalyst, and a founding member of Das Unbehagen.
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.
Tim Abrahams
Tim Abrahams is an architecture critic, publisher at Machine Books, and host of the Superurbanism podcast.
Aimee Armstrong
Aimee Armstrong’s work portrays modern relationships in a post-internet, post-woke, post-infographic world.
Oliver Bennett
Oliver Bennett is a writer, actor, and director and co-founder of The Base Creates.
