Who digital show puts Queens Road on the cultural map
Who are you? HOT’s Chris Connelley dusts off his parka for a new show spotlighting The Who on Queens Road, a first contribution to Hastings’ cultural life from the Digital Hastings project.
A few years ago, researchers at Goldsmiths University outed Hastings as Britain’s most musical town as defined by the number of people playing, performing and enjoying music. Whilst everyone knows that we also punch way above our weight in the visual arts, as demonstrated by the profusion of private views, exhibitions and galleries happening regularly across our small town, stretching from the turbo charged weekly programming at the Electro Studios in West St Leonards, through the always compelling, one- year- old Big Yin gallery on London Road in ‘art Central’ St Leonards to the town’s big player, Hastings Contemporary (formerly the Jerwood Gallery) celebrating 10 years of business and over 400,000 visitors on the Stade.
Until recently, Queens Road has been a relatively cold spot on the cultural map, but that situation might now be changing following the recent opening of The Who Exhibition, a ‘pop up’ show that combines both traditions for a celebration of the legacy of the cult 1960s band in images, words and sounds now happening in the unlikely setting of the distinctly old-school St Andrews Mews shopping arcade opposite M&S.
Best known to local parents as the home of the reptile centre, a cluster of alternative therapists and a well-established cycle shop, The Who exhibition eschews the white cube minimalism of the 21st century gallery for a more idiosyncratic look involving the renovation of two long abandoned retail units, untouched for over half a century, on the upper deck of the mall.
The result is an offbeat walk-through gallery that is as characterful as the band itself, with photographs and exhibits on show detailing the period between 1969, when they last played in Hastings, and 1971, during which time they made the transition from a cult Mod-ish band to rock superstars able to sell-out stadiums worldwide.
Iconic imagery
The exhibition brings together iconic imagery from a host of leading rock photographers, including Baron Wolman, David Montgomery, Neal Preston and Ray Stevenson, while the accompanying narrative was written by band biographer, Mark Blake, with additional contributions from Mike McInnerney, the designer responsible for creating the striking visual images for the Tommy album artwork, who has produced a remastered print edition of the original album cover for the show.
The exhibition also includes specially-commissioned new works from leading urban artists, notably Pure Evil, London Police and My Dog Sighs, in response to the iconography and music of the band.
The exhibition continues on the ground floor in a second area, the highlight of which is what organisers describe as a “unique immersive entertainment experience”; specifically a chance to engage with the single Baba O’Riley as “a physical and psychological journey”, the emotional impact of which is reportedly so powerful that it has reduced a number of visitors to tears. The installation also features a replica of the monolith immortalised by Ethan Russell’s iconic Who’s Next album cover that was fabricated at Pinewood Studios.
The exhibition was made possible through a successful bid to the government’s Community Renewal Fund by exhibition organisers, Rock’n Roll Wall of Fame, in partnership with White Rock Neighbourhood Ventures Limited, the community development organisation led by serial social entrepreneur Dr Jess Steele that is responsible for securing significant inward investment into the town over the last decade.
Digital Hastings grant
The total award for the over-arching Digital Hastings project was £636,000, of which the Who exhibition received around £200,000 as one of three main strands. The bulk of the funding was allocated to the Digital Arts Hub at Rock House and as capital and revenue support for the redevelopment of the Observer Building.
Unsurprisingly, the exhibition comes with a strong social mission, forming part of a broader regenerative vision for the town, with a number of spin-offs over and above the temporary show itself. These include two local training opportunities through the Kickstarter scheme, four local jobs, a mentoring scheme for women working in PR and work for five local businesses involved in the fit-out of the empty units and the renovation of this part of the market itself.
The immersive element of the project also provides a showcase for emerging VR/XR technology and connects with the broader efforts to generate a digital presence in the town through the new hub run out of the Observer Building.
Having resolved some technical issues that delayed its planned opening, The Who Exhibition had a successful private view in early October and will be extending its opening into November to allow maximum visitor opportunities.
The Who Exhibition is running at St Andrews Mews, 1 Waldegrave Street, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 1SJ, until November 2022. Find out more, and book tickets, here.
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Finally someone else has noticed the glaringly obvious.
The Trinity Triangle is a charity black hole and the perfect funding vehicle for Jesse Steele’s otherwise infeasible but rapidly growing private property portfolio at the expense of the town’s most needy.
Her wrath and anger at failing to purchase the pier for herself for just £1 (for that’s exactly how it was) after drawing a quick £19,000 consultation fee as a director who advised to liquidate without consulting the shareholders was a glimpse of this woman’s acumen and the way she threw the successful bidder under the bus showed us her level of entitlement.
This shocking charade in St Andrew’s Sq is yet another example of huge waste of limited financial resources with little or no regard to giving value for money. It’s all about drawing downs charity funds.
I Googled it many times over the last month and absolutely nada until very recently as it ends, which, considering Jesse trousered several hundred grand recently to digitise Hastings, just goes to show how blasé this charity plundering has become. The advertised website didn’t even exist until half way through the event.
I wonder who will end up owning all the sound and lighting kit if it’s not just on hire, like Jesse with her consultancy invoicing, at a ludicrous mark-up to make sure as much of that £215k winds up back in her personal coffers.
Nice work if you can get it.
As Phil Oakley above suggests, it’s time for a full audit of her shares in all those buildings and a check on just how wealthy she’s become from this charity bonanza.
Check out the accounts for that charade “The Heart of Hastings”. Total madness, hundreds of thousands handed over for great sounding ideas that should help the worse off and absolutely nothing to show for it but a pile of empty beer cans and bile from her gang towards the next occupiers. Oh and some shocking invoices from Jesse, I guess for claiming all that beer money.
Comment by Oli Smith — Friday, Oct 21, 2022 @ 02:15
One of the curious things about this “digital” exhibition is the total lack of publicity before it’s advertised closure date. Absolutely zero profile on social media and no mention even on the Hastings Commons website’s events page. It’s as if it was trying to pass by un-noticed, and perhaps not surprising as it cost £215,000 of Government Levelling Up money awarded to Hastings Commons as part of a £1.6m. Many people will be outraged by these figures when Coastal Currents by contrast delivers a whole raft of events, exhibitions, artworks and a great brochure for £60,000.
The bid for the funding claims 2000-3000 people will visit Hastings to see the show. Clearly that was never going to happen when no one knows about it. Other claims in the bid include helping the sale of St Andrews Market and establishing some kind single Mum job business. Very tenuous benefits for people the Government’s Levelling Up Fund was designed to lift out of poverty.
It appears that this irrelevant (to Hastings) exhibition has been worked into a funding bid in order to simply access public money. That raises more serious questions about how other Levelling Up, Town Deal, Safer Streets and Historic England money is being spent and distributed in Hastings and who is really benefitting. It is the case that many millions of pounds of funds are being awarded to a large group of interconnected Community Interest Companies and underlying private Limited Companies located in a relatively tiny area of the Town. This exhibition suggests now is the time for a proper audit of how these organisations operate and where the money goes.
We are constantly told Hastings is one of the most deprived Towns in the UK. But I question how many of these projects will improve the lives of those whose circumstances create the statistics upon which these bids are made. Instead those less fortunate in the Town are perhaps a useful device to access funding. Over £500m of funding in 20 years and it’s difficult to see where it’s gone. People are certainly benefitting from all this funding but it’s questionable Who.
Comment by philip oakley — Tuesday, Oct 18, 2022 @ 19:43