Nokia’s Perspectives of London exhibition

Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s PR works round the clock, as today Nokia announced “Perspectives of London”. It is an unique exhibition that brings together the cutting-edge technology of the Nokia N93 advanced mobile video device with the creative talent of four artists to produce films that epitomise the capital city from their different perspectives.

The four artists to take up the challenge are Jefferson Hack, founder of Dazed & Confused, Another Magazine and Another Man; Naomi Cleaver, designer, writer and TV presenter; Tom Dixon, creative director of Habitat, design company Artek and his namesake design company – Tom Dixon; and Nigel Coates, head architectural professor at the Royal College of Art.

The inspiration that informs each of the artists and their work has resulted in four very different films – from Jefferson Hack’s study of free-runners in Dérive, to Naomi Cleaver’s London from Horseback. Each of the films shows the artists’ own powerful feelings of connection with London, as well as the relationship between the people captured in the film with the city and with each other.

The four films will be on public display at the Architecture Foundation’s Yard Gallery, from 6 – 21 October. Along with the artists’ films, the exhibition will also display still photographs and a short film – also shot on the Nokia N93 – giving a behind the scene look at the making of each piece of art. The films will also be available to view on the Nokia Nseries’ online mobile movie community, the Nokia Nseries Studio.

The Films

• Jefferson Hack – Dérive
  Jefferson’s perspective is about movement – he sees the city and the people in it as always-moving. To reflect this he has chosen to film Dérive – capturing the way Les Parkours reclaim the city by offering a way for anybody, regardless of status or race to express themselves. Part dance, part marshal art, but in its most basic form – running and jumping through the city in a fluid and controlled way – freedom of movement and self expression in its most pure sense.
• Naomi Cleaver – London from Horseback
  Observing the duality of high tech and low tech Naomi seeks to recreate the perspectives of the past in the midst of the present by filming solely from horseback, up until a century ago the main form of transport around the city’s streets. The resulting film is a constantly moving vista, from a once common elevation, that also captures the unique reactions to a rogue horsewoman in modern London.
• Nigel Coates – Full Circle
  Nigel Coates has remained most true to the brief. In the search for the highest freely accessible spot in London, he settled on the 4th floor terrace at Tate Modern to make his film, Full Circle. With its single take, it explores the contrast between the expansive view over the Thames and the London skyline, and the terrace as a confined viewing platform or theatre box. As the camera rotates through a progressively upward spiral it passes from long-shot to studied close-up, back and forth from viewer to the viewed.
• Tom Dixon – The Mirrored Cube
  Drawn towards the current phenomenon of CCTV cameras and the notion of the world as a stage – regardless of our awareness – Tom designed a one-way mirrored cube through which he filmed London. Placed in a variety of public locations around London, the film highlights the different aspects of human nature, as Tom watches people watching themselves – preening, showing off and even pulling out their nose hairs.