Eddie Peake. Concrete Pitch

About

The exhibition takes its title, ‘Concrete Pitch’, from the bare, concrete recreation ground in Finsbury Park in North London, where Peake grew up. The pitch served as a playground, a sports field, a stage for encounters and dramas, and a meeting place for people of every age, class and ethnicity from the surrounding area.

For the duration of the exhibition, the concrete expanse of White Cube’s South Gallery becomes Peake’s stage. There, he orchestrates his drama of the everyday, creating a rich portrait of his childhood neighbourhood as a microcosm of London. 

A new sculpture, titled Stroud Green Road, is named after the area’s main high street, which links Seven Sisters Road and Crouch Hill, and carries objects Peake gathered from local shops, abstract sculptures in jesmonite, speakers and DJ equipment. The metal structure reverberates with deep, low sounds collaged from field recordings and looped compositions. 

During the exhibition Peake will be based in the gallery, following a simple daily routine. DJs from koollondon.com will join him, broadcasting an online radio show for the duration. Formerly known as Kool FM, the station was the leading pirate radio station of the 1990s, broadcasting from East London’s tower blocks and providing the soundtrack to Peake's adolescence.