Event overview
The Department of Art Public Talks Programme Spring 2017 welcomes Penny Rimbaud.
Poet, philosopher, painter, performance artist, peace activist, Penny Rimbaud is regarded as one of the most respected figures in British and international underground circles.
Having grown up under the shadow of World War II, it was a chance encounter in Rimbaud’s early teens with members of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) which helped him to realise what would become his mission in life. CND was the beginnings of what later broadened out to become known as the Peace Movement, a movement which Rimbaud would directly and greatly influence.
In 1974 Rimbaud co-founded alongside hippy legend Wally Hope the notorious Stonehenge Free Festival, and in the late 1970s the anarchist punk band Crass, with whom he acted as lyricist and drummer. Crass’ popularity as a rock band was, and remains, enormous, but its political effects were even greater. At one stage during the Falklands War, Prime Minister Thatcher was asked during Parliamentary Question Time whether she had taken time off to listen to Rimbaud’s anti-war song ‘How Does it Feel to Be the Mother of a Thousand Dead’. Not surprisingly, she declined to answer. More importantly, however, throughout the seven years of its existence Crass had totally revived what had become an almost defunct Peace Movement, turning it once again into a powerful force for social change.
Rimbaud retired from public life in 1986 to concentrate on writing which, be it novels, plays, poetry or essays, remained deeply committed to the cause of peace and to the humanist, existential idealism which throughout his adult life had been the drive.
In the winter of 2002, Rimbaud was asked by London’s culturally prestigious South Bank arts complex to mount a concert in opposition to the then threatened invasion of Iraq. There are few events that would have persuaded Rimbaud out of his retirement, but this was one of them. He returned to the stage, this time as a performance poet, reading his works accompanied by Australian saxophonist, Louise Elliott. Since that time they have performed together throughout Britain and toured in the United States and mainland Europe.
Later, together with Louise Elliott and ex-Crass chanteuse Eve Libertine, Rimbaud founded Last Amendment (now renamed L’Académie des Vanités), a loose collective of musicians including many leading players from the British jazz scene, who together have performed works which are often almost symphonic in their scale. Throughout, Rimbaud has been presenting new works based around his lifelong theme of finding an active, tangible peace against the background of a dominant culture dependent, as it is, on war.
http://www.exitstencilpress.com
This event is free. No booking is required. All welcome.
Dates & times
Date | Time | Add to calendar |
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18 Jan 2017 | 5:30pm - 7:00pm |
Accessibility
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