Swimming with Arthur Russell - Opening Night

To celebrate Swimming with Arthur Russell , an ambitious tribute to the life of the maverick musician, we’re throwing a broadcast party in a church featuring Optimo's JD Twitch, cellist Lucinda Chua and Whities Reckonwrong. We’ll also be screening cult documentary ‘Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell’

Swimming with Arthur Russell is a collaboration between Boiler Room’s new platform 4:3 and New York Public library. The show brings unseen pieces from Russell's personal archives to London’s echoey multi-faith church St John at Bethnal Green. This marks the first time these artefacts have travelled outside of the New York City.

Presented in the crypt of the church, the archive spans family photos, portraits, sketches, flyers, personal letters and correspondence, ephemera, press clippings, graphical scores and songbooks.

Also presented in the space are extracts from ‘Wild Combination’ including rare archive of the musician performing, footage from his childhood and interviews with his parents and partner Tom Lee.

Upstairs, in the shadowy bell tower of the church is a site-specific sound installation by Andy Stott, which bridges the two best-loved sides of Russell’s work: his left-field disco experiments and his stark, emotive songwriting.

Following the exhibition, which runs from 30.05.2018 to 03.05.2018, the documentary ‘Wild Combination’ will be released for free on 4:3, a new platform by Boiler Room. Stay tuned: fourthree.boilerroom.tv

In partnership with4:3