Alexis Stanislaus Currie.
Born Salford, England 1971.
Address:
37 Queens Gardens, Brighton, BN1 4AR
Mobile:
+44(0)7973834033
Email:
alex@alexcurrie.com
Web:
www.alexcurrie.com
www.glasgoweffect.com
www.humanendeavour.co.uk
www.humanendeavourphoto.wordpress.com
CV
Human Endeavour Collective – co-founder, curator and exhibitor
2008/2012
Editorial Photography BA (Hons) – University of Brighton 2004/07
Stage Technician – Glyndebourne Opera House 2002/03
Foundation Art & Design – Brighton College of Art & Technology
1999/2001
Access Studies in Art & Design – Chichester College of Art 1998/99
Stage Technician – Opera North, Grand Theatre, Leeds 1994/98
EXHIBITIONS
Degeneration – B Book Show, Hackney, London, March 2012
www.photobookshow.co.uk
Degeneration – A Book Show, Workflow Studios, Brighton, December
2011
www.photobookshow.co.uk
Degeneration – Hereford Photography Festival, UK, October/November
2011
Degeneration – Zaragoza Photography Festival, Spain,
September/October 2011
Degeneration – Collectives Encounter/Format International Photography
Festival,
Derby, March/April 2011
Salon Photo Prize – Matt Roberts Arts, Vyner Street, London,
February 2011
Degeneration – Brighton Biennial Fringe, Bellis Gallery, Brighton,
Oct/Nov 2010
Une Exposition de Paysage Contemporain - La Mediateque de l'Horte
et Lavalette, Villebois Lavalette, Charente, France, August 2010
END – Human Endeavour, Crane Kalman Gallery, Brighton, May 2010
OOPs (Objects Of Perception) – Fiveways AOH, Brighton Festival
Fringe, May 2009
Human Endeavour – BPF, Bellis Gallery, Brighton, October/November
2008
A Series of Investigations – (In)Difference, Hackney, London,
July/August 2008
Five at Fiveways – Artist’s Open House, Brighton Festival Fringe, May
2008
Solo Show – Terence Conran & Partners, Brighton, March/April 2008
(In)Difference – Group Exhibition, La Viande Gallery, London,
November 2007
Degree Show – Brighton University Gallery, June 2007
Triptych – Maholy-Nagy University of Art & Design, Budapest, April
2006
Triptych – Brighton University Gallery, February 2006
New England – Artist’s Open House, Brighton Festival Fringe, May
2005
STUDIO
Phoenix Arts Brighton,
3N7,
10–14 Waterloo Place,
Brighton,
BN2 9NB
www.phoenixarts.org
AWARDS/PUBLICATIONS
Awarded Arts Council funding for the curation and production of works
for the group show ‘Human Endeavour’, featuring Murray Ballard,
Simon Carruthers, Richard Chivers and Alex Currie, as part of the
Brighton Photo Fringe, 2008.
Foto 8 Festival Report, 21st January 2009.
http://www.foto8.com/home/content/view/767/436/
Source Photographic Review, Issue 57, Winter 2009. Review of
‘Human Endeavour’ exhibition by Eugenie Shinkle.
Awarded Arts Council for the curation and production of
works for the
collaborative project ‘Degeneration’, on behalf of the ‘Human
Endeavour’ collective, exhibited as part of the Brighton Photo Fringe
2010.
‘Human Endeavour’ book ‘Degeneration’ published by Ubyu in
December 2010 to accompany the exhibition and continuing tour in
2011/12.
‘Degeneration’ published in British Journal of Photography magazine in
June 2011.
‘Degeneration’ published as story of the week on Foto8 website,
September 2011.
http://www.foto8.com/new/online/photo-stories/1464-degeneration
www.humanendeavour.co.uk
noun
the state or process of being or becoming degenerate; decline or deterioration:
overgrazing has caused serious degeneration of grassland.
• Medicine deterioration and loss of function.
‘Degeneration’ is the third show exhibited and curated by the
photographic collective ‘Human Endeavour’, and the second
show to be supported by the Arts Council of England. The
collective
is
an
evolving
platform
incorporating
different
photographers, with the commonality of interest of human
intervention and activity in the 21st century. Simon Carruthers,
Richard Chivers and Alex Currie instigated the formation of the
collective, and have been constant members throughout, with
previous participants including Murray Ballard, Oliver Perrott
and Ben Westoby.
Unlike previous exhibitions, which have been curated around a
central theme incorporating existing bodies of work into one
exhibition, ‘Degeneration’ is a collaborative project, produced
and curated from its inception as a whole body of work,
incorporating
the
metropolitan
conurbations
of
Glasgow,
Edinburgh, Newcastle, Gateshead, Leeds, Liverpool, Salford,
Sheffield, Derby, Birmingham, Cardiff, Bristol, London and
Portsmouth. To do this Simon Carruthers, Richard Chivers,
Alex Currie and Oliver Perrott have been researching the
relevant areas and the sociological implications involved since
the autumn of 2009. With ‘Degeneration’ being a research led
project, the objective is to take a critical look at the state of
housing
and
regeneration
in
the
21st
century,
and
the
implications and complex nuances this may have on some of
the poorest in society, reliant upon social housing. After
several decades of neglect, consecutive governments have
overseen the gradual demise and disappearance of social
housing, due to ‘Right To Buy’ and a lack of new housing
stock built, arguably fuelling the necessity to own rather than
let that has instigated the artificial inflation of the housing
market. This opens up many questions as to why this was
allowed to happen, has fuelled the rise in homelessness and
poverty and left the majority of people living in social housing
trapped in so called ‘sink estates’.
DEGENERATION
Text by Richard Healey
In the post-war era Britain's population was faced with
massive housing shortages. The existing housing stock was
often disgracefully inadequate for even the most basic of
needs. Modernist architecture with its close links to left wing
ideology reflected a progressive solution to the practical and
social issues of the time.
At its height in the 50’s Social Housing was unquestionably
a
central
devastation
pillar
of
of
the
Britain's
Second
regeneration
World
War.
following
Modern,
the
and
affordable, it represented an advancement in society; where
the working classes were for the first time given the
opportunity to live in a decent home. These projects and
buildings were often striking exercises, bold and futuristic in
their
character
ambition.
and
breathtaking
in
the
scale
of
their
Of course not everything proposed and executed by the
town planners was to be warmly received. The high level
philosophy and design of Corbusier was all too frequently
brought crashing down to earth by the constraints of both
economy and ability.
Despite the misgivings, the new house or flat on the estate
offered to millions the promise of a new beginning; a
chance of escape from the almost medieval squalor endured
by working class families through generations since time
immemorial. But this wasn't only about a specific part of the
demographic.
Social
Housing
was
intended
for
all,
to
encourage the integration of different echelons of society. As
late at the mid 70’s you would find a wide range of people
living on these estates. Our home was in a tower block in
Sheffield's Norfolk Park. My father was a skilled tradesmen,
our neighbour a teacher: the commonality shared by the
occupants of these developments was that of employment.
These places were on the whole very positive places to live
in, vibrant and open with a strong sense of community.
However by as quickly as 1979 the political landscape in
our country had changed forever. Our leaders decided that
talk of society was no longer valid, the interests of the
individual reigned supreme and through the Right To Buy
scheme we were encouraged to take part in the dismantling
of this great social project.
Those who could, took advantage of the schemes. The
theory was straightforward enough. If you give people the
opportunity to own something themselves then they will take
greater care of it than the state ever could. Their emotional
connection to their homes will be stronger. Individuals will
be empowered, less docile more entrepreneurial, all will
benefit. Within a decade most of the new property owners
had sold up and moved on.
Who was left behind? And what did it mean to be there?
A council tenancy now carried with it a sense of failure and
increasingly
blame.
Within
the
upwardly
mobile
paradigm it's your own fault if you are poor, isn't it?
80's
Beyond the physical our psychological relationship towards
these estates and buildings was quickly and profoundly
altered. Far from being symbols of hope and egalitarianism,
estates became places to avoid. The notoriety increased
exponentially through the 80's and 90's. Names such as
Moss
Side
or
Red
Road
taking
on
almost
mythic
proportions, becoming as much feared and despised as the
very slums and tenements which they replaced.
The rampant excesses of the housing market in the late
1990’s, which lead to an Englishman's home becoming not
only his castle but his retirement fund, all but finished the
job started almost thirty years earlier. The unabashed pursuit
of wealth and self-interest seeming to prove that there really
was no such thing as society after all.
Housing Estates today have come to be associated with
high levels of social stigma; they are seen as places of
social exclusion. Homes to the forgotten under-classes. They
provide the stage backdrop to our broken society neuroses.
As compelling and titillating as any of Hogarth's scenes.
But in the midst of all the media hyperbole and theorising
what are these places? Even today are they not people's
homes? Places where children play and belong, where
treasured childhood memories are formed however repellant
this may seem to middle class observers?
What do we see when we look at these images of neglect
and
decay?
How
strikingly
the
physical
neglect
and
abandonment of these homes and proud ambitions seems to
reflect the disintegration and malaise of our society as a
whole and perhaps even ourselves as individuals.