

E40: Creating an art space disguised as a pub inspired by the brains behind the Colossus computer with Garry Hunter
The son of a coal miner and a chemist, Garry Hunter studied engineering, not art, in his home town of South Shields. After working on photography assignments worldwide for 25 years, ranging from Apple Computer to the UN Population Fund, he co-founded Fitzrovia Noir as an arts collective in 2008. He led on the first phase of the £2m Cultural Spring Arts Council England Creative People and Places initiative, co-creating work with residents of the neighbourhoods where he grew up. He established The Tommy Flowers community pub in Poplar, cited at The House of Lords as 'a new model of creative community engagement' contributing to The Centre For London paper on post-Covid uses of the high street, that fed into Mayoral policy. He is a visiting artist at Roskilde University, Denmark, maintains a live/work space in Berlin and is, with his Italian partner, artist Doralba Picerno, working on setting up a residency/workshop programme at a long empty 2.5 acre forest site by Lake Bracciano, on the edge of Rome. He is the author of 12 books, two of which are best sellers on contemporary urban art, translated into French, Brazilian Portuguese and Swedish. He develops concepts through public consulation and commissions public art, most recently a 10m square mural on Dee Street Poplar, a collaboration between French photo-realist Zabou and Australian spraypaint-pointillist Jimmy C, further advocacy for working with international partners that is at the core of his practice. Part of the Untold Stories programme with the GLA's Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm, this culminates with the launch of a special publication 'Unearthing Poplar' in March 2024, the first project by the newly-formed Tommy Flowers Foundation, that builds on the success of the eponymous pub, aiming to encourage innovation and civic pride. 🔹 Find out more about Fitzrovia Noir here
🔹 Wachc the Faraday film that feature in this episode here