David Grandorge photography in Deptford

Now showing at the Peter von Kant gallery (25 Tanners Hill SE8), David  Grandorge's Without Sun. The core of the exihibition is a remarkable series of photographs taken at Svalbard Satellite Station in the Norwegian zone of the Arctic Ocean, where NASA, the European Space Agency and others have installations.

For those of us brought up on the space race (now they expect us to clean toilets), this is the architecture of Moonbase Alpha.  Images from the present that remind us of the past's dreams of the future - dare I used the word hauntological?  On a more mundane level, all these fantasies of space exploration are dragged back down to earth by the reality of places like these actually being used to help listen in to millions of people's phone calls.

images © David  Grandorge

The gallery is worth a visit in its own right. As featured here before, it is an early 17th century building and as part of its restoration the walls have been stripped back to original plaster work.

The exhibition is on until  7 December 2013, 

Thursday to Saturday 12–6 pm and by appointment