Panel Discussion: Urbanism, Utopia and Entropy: Responding to London's expanding concrete landscape

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To coincide with current exhibition David Hepher: Grain of Concrete, Flowers Gallery will host a panel discussion chaired by award-winning documentary film-maker, art critic and author, Ben Lewis. Joining him is exhibiting artist, David Hepher and Professor of Sustainable Urbanism at the University of Westminster, Michael Neuman.

Panelists will be discussing David's current exhibition, surrounding themes of urbanism, utopia and entropy and how the ever changing landscape has affected the London home. 

David Hepher

For over forty years, British artist David Hepher has centred on a single subject, the high-rises of South London, through which he has channelled the diverse currents that have swept the international world of contemporary art. His multivalent work has both celebrated and mourned modernism in modes that are futuristic and nostalgic, utopian and entropic. The exhibition Grain of Concrete presents a retrospective view of the sustained development of this subject from Hepher’s burgeoning interest in the urban landscape during the late 1950s to the monumental tower-block paintings of the present day. Hepher is featured in national collections including Tate, Victoria and Albert Museum, Arts Council England and the Contemporary Arts Society. His work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions at London’s Serpentine, Whitechapel and Hayward Gallery and was included in numerous group exhibitions in both UK and international institutions.

Ben Lewis

Ben Lewis is an award-winning documentary film-maker, art critic and author, His films have been commissioned by the BBC, Channel 4, Arte, PBS, Al-Jazeera, ABC-Australia and virtually every other major broadcaster around the world. He has written as an art critic for Prospect Magazine, the Times, Sunday Telegraph, London Evening Standard, Monopol, Die Welt and Le Figaro. Lewis's documentaries on art include the cult TV series about contemporary artists Art Safari  (2003-7), The Great Contemporary Art Bubble (2008-9) and The Banker’s Guide to Art (2016). These documentaries have won various awards including a Peabody, Grierson, US National Headliner and German Grimme Prize. Ben Lewis has written the recent monograph David Hepher: Grain of Concrete, released in March 2017 to coincide with Flowers Gallery's eponymous exhibition.

Michael Neuman, AICP

Michael Neuman is Professor of Sustainable Urbanism at the University of Westminster in London, England and principal of the Michael Neuman Consultancy. His works have been translated into nine languages. His recent books include Engendering Cities, The Futures of the City Region, The Imaginative Institution, and Building California´s Future. Dr. Neuman has been awarded best article awards in Town Planning Review, European Planning Studies and the Journal of the American Planning Association, and other awards ranging from the National Endowment of the Arts and the National Science Foundation to the American Institute of Architects, the American Planning Association, the Planning Institute of Australia and the Spanish and Catalan governments. His interests span cities and urbanism, planning, design, engineering, sustainability, resilience, infrastructure, and governance. He earned his doctorate from UC Berkeley and masters from the University of Pennsylvania, both in City and Regional Planning.