Beginning in the West End neighbourhood of Fitzrovia, from where we get our name, Intervention saw artworks displayed in shops, restaurants and bars, not galleries, accompanied by a walking guide of the area in the shape of a dog. Routes & Branches  responded to the imminent use of Lord’s as London 2012 venue, delving into the origins of NW8, with support from The Order of St John of Jerusalem. Using a quote from John Ruskin Fragments of Isolated Faculty completed the trilogy, with a geocaching route from East India Dock to the River Lea. All art trails included immersive Outreach with a local school and for Routes & Branches Westminster Adult Education College (WAES).

By 2010, the creative agencies and independent practitioners who had used former rag trade warehouses as studios, left Fitzrovia due to huge rent hikes, as commercial art galleries started to move in. So we exhibited our work in a series of independent businesses, from Pollock’s Toy Museum to the family-run Fitzrovia Club, our regular haunt, now sadly closed. The launch included a highly oversubscribed walking tour and sold-out book signing event with Noir authors Cathi Unsworth and Paul Willets at The Wheatsheaf Tavern, home of The Sohemians. Our second outing took us to St John’s Wood, but proved challenging with the general lack of interest in contemporary art, apart from our school group and students from WAES. We then set up a geocaching trail, linking up work we’d commissioned between East India DLR station and our home from 2011-18, Trinity Buoy Wharf, which again proved very well received. 

Project Title
INTERVENTION / ROUTES & BRANCHES / FRAGMENTS OF ISOLATED FACULTY from the series Art Trails

Locations
The Fitzrovia Club and environs, Fitzrovia, London W1
All Soul’s School, Fitzrovia, London W1
Central St Johns Wood, London NW8
Quintin Kynaston School, London NW8
The Faraday School, Trinity Buoy Wharf, London E14
East India Dock and Orchard Place, Poplar, London E14

Production
Garry Hunter for Fitzrovia Noir
Beth Cinamon for Westminster Arts
Fenris Oswin for Intervention photography
Valentina Wong for Westminster Arts & Libraries
Doralba Picerno for Westminster Adult Education Service
John Burton for Urban Space Management at Trinity Buoy Wharf

Curation
Graham Carrick and Manuel Sanmartin for Fitzrovia Noir

Artists

Media
Assemblage, chewing gum, collage, drawing, painting, photography

Dates
2011-14

Clive Jennings, Art Correspondant, Fitzrovia News