New exhibition documents the cultural contribution of pirate radio and rave in East London

Art & Culture

A new exhibition documents Waltham Forest’s pirate radio and rave scene during a significant period in UK dance music history between 1989-1994.

Running from 25 November 2021 to 25 May 2022 at Vestry House Museum in Walthamstow, East London, the collection of materials and works, which includes oral histories, photographs, video, audio, flyers and ephemera, showcase the contribution of young people living and working in the London Borough.

Alongside the physical exhibition, a series of events, podcasts and workshops will take place, and on the former sites of radio stations and clubs, audio and video installations will be shown.

Rendezvous Projects is a Community Interest Company based in Waltham Forest. Its main purpose is to find creative ways of exploring and capturing social history. The five directors are artists and writers, Rosa Ainley, Iain Aitch, Katherine Green, Lucy Harrison and Michael Needham. Recent projects include Crate Digging: The Influence of De Underground Records, a Newham Heritage Month project which included the UK’s first blue plaque recognising the contribution of jungle music to UK culture, and Lightboxes and Lettering: Printing Industry Heritage in East London, focusing on the pre-digital era of printing in Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest.

Sweet Harmony: Radio, Rave & Waltham Forest, 1989-1994 began as a research project by Rendezvous Projects in 2019. A limited edition 24 page booklet with fold-out map and poster accompanies the exhibition.

The free exhibition runs Wednesday to Sunday, 10am-5pm.

Read more about Walthamstow’s Pirate Radio scene in our feature. Find out more about Rendezvous Projects.