A collaboration with film-maker and photographer, Floro Azqueta. The short experimental film, and the production of 4 ‘machines’ fabricated with laser-cut profiles, digital animations and various monitors, explores the former New Landsdowne Social Club, Mare Street, Hackney, London E8, and was screened in the film’s location, the basement of the 195 Mare Street, for the Open House Festival 2023.
Additional sound design by Max and Ben Ringham.
To request to view the full film please email tp@tompearman.co.uk
The film aims to celebrate the former architecture and history of 195 Mare Street by exploring its architectural features and those particularly found in the building’s basement. The film follows a moving torchlight to create a graphic visual contrast between the circular illuminated area and the detail and texture of its surroundings. Tom’s work often investigates simple technology from the past and present using a lo-tech and graphic aesthetic. Employing a similar theme, the film incorporates the discovery of a small series of electrical devices that emit lit graphics and simple electrical sounds.
The combination of Floro’s visual language of a professional film-maker and Tom’s graphic style culminates in an exciting experimental film, unique to its fascinating location and at the same time celebrate the process of exploration.
The short experimental film (9 mins) was projected using a digital projector and screen in the basement of 195 Mare Street, as part of the Open House Festival on the 16-17th September 2023.
The film went onto win the best experimental film category at THE ‘HORROR UNDERGROUND FILM & SCREENPLAY FESTIVAL’ 2024 FOR ‘195’ and was programmed for the Exploding Cinema film show at the Cinema Museum in London, September 2024.
195 Mare Street is a Grade II listed house and is one of the earliest surviving examples of an early Georgian building in Hackney and was built in 1697 for Abraham Dolins, a wealthy merchant from Holland. The house was a grand country retreat from the City of London. Art by famous European artists, including Rembrandt and van Dyck, was displayed in the house. Generations of the Dolins family lived in the house until 1800. It was later owned by Thomas Wilson, the Tory MP for the City of London, who was a supporter of the slave trade and argued for reparations for slave owners. In 1860, the house was sold to the Elizabeth Fry Society and became the Elizabeth Fry Refuge for women prisoners. Thousands of women and girls lived in the house after serving short prison sentences. In the twentieth century, the house became the New Lansdowne Working Men’s Club and an important part of Hackney’s social life. The Club closed in 2004 and the house was abandoned for years before being repaired by a local developer and sold to the current owners, who will restore it to a family home and community arts space.
Machine 1 The film will incorporates the discovery of a small series of electrical devices that emit lit graphics and simple electrical sounds.
Machine 2
Machine 3
Machine 4
Photographer and film-maker, Floro Azqueta
The short experimental film (9 mins) was projected using a digital projector and screen in the basement of 195 Mare Street, as part of the Open House Festival on the 16-17th September 2023.
