Description
Having invented the Swinging ’60s, punk rock in the ’70s and Cool Britannia in the ’90s, London in the 2010s is firing up the engine of renewal yet again. London Burning celebrates Britain’s capital as today’s international HQ for creativity and innovation.
London Burning traces the city’s innovation across architecture, cinema and theatre, literature, dance, fashion, media and music, technology, design, and the visual and culinary arts, also exploring the tribal dynamics that have always underpinned the city’s creative scene and the forces behind that city’s unique drive. In a time of extreme economic challenges, why and how has London become a creative universe running off its own special brand of fuel? How does it continue to regenerate, to confound the naysayers who pop up every decade or so foretelling its decline? And where is it all heading, given the certain economic, social, political and structural tectonic shifts that lie ahead?
London Burning features one hundred probing interviews and profiles, which introduce creative personalities young and old, highbrow and populist, establishment figures and newbies, set against the scenes they inhabit. It draws on a broad spectrum of people in the public eye and behind the scenes, among them Nicholas Serota, Antony Gormley, Peter Ackroyd, Jude Kelly, Alistair Spalding, Alan Yentob, David Chipperfield, Mathew Slotover, Fergus Henderson, Ruthie Rogers, Mark Hix, Alexandra Shulman, Jackie Wullschlager, Grayson Perry, Tinie Tempah, Roksanda Ilinic … and the list goes on.
As an added bonus, London Burning investigates the city’s ever-spinning creative solar system through nearly seven hundred specially commissioned photographs. The urban scene is thus brought alive through its creative residents, with hoteliers, rappers, ballerinas, restaurateurs and fashionistas enlivening the mix. Unlocking secret passions and embracing a range of lifestyles from the most outrageous to the most ascetic, London Burning celebrates the feast of creativity being cooked by the people making tomorrow’s news.
