Manik Katyal on Thomas Mailaender “The Night Climbers of Cambridge”

Thomas Mailaender (born 1979) is a French multimedia artist living and working between Paris and Marseille. Known for his use of a wide range of techniques including ceramic, photography, collage and installation, he employs diverse materials, often re-appropriating images from the internet or his own huge archive.

United Kingdom –

With an elegant black velvet cover, ‘The Night Climbers of Cambridge’ is an enthralling collaboration between London based Archive of Modern Conflict and French contemporary artist Photography feature – Thomas Mailaender presenting a humorous and adrenalin-filled adventurous account of Cambridge.

The book “The Night Climbers of Cambridge” was orginally published in 1937 by prestigious Chatto&Windus in England, authored by Noel Edward Symington, who went under the name of Whipplesnaith – an alias that combined the Middle English verb Whipple (meaning to move around quickly) and is known to be the first documentation of urban climbing.The alternative term “night climbing” was introduced in the late 1930s, and has become the standard term since though climbing on the walls and roofs of colleges was nothing new.

Even though Geoffrey Winthrop Young had written a Roof-Climber’s Guide to Trinity in 1899 as well as Wall and Roof Climbing in 1905, ‘Night Climbers’ presented the incredibly brave and amusing narration of students climbing the ancient Cambridge university buildings which would also get them  rusticated. And not only they did rarely use ropes, they often climbed barefoot, wearing blazers and tie.

Known for his photographic travesty, Mailaender quotes,” In the case of the Night Climbers, i felt this story very close to my own body of work. Those guys would go out at night to have a forbidden underground activity, a mix of stunt and gentle anarchy, and all this would happen in the thirties.”

 
With AMC, Thomas presents an impressive collection of historic photographs, bursting with British buffoonery.The more outlandish Thomas gets with his projects, the result is even more fascinating and whimsical.


Related Posts

Beijing Silvermine -Thomas Sauvin

China – Beijing Silvermine started in May 2009 out of my meeting with a man called Xiaoma, who works in a recycling ...

Mayumi Hosokura: Crystal Love Starlight

Japan – THIS STORY CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENTIn her new series, ‘Crystal Love Starlight’, Hosokura’s unique style is combined with an ...

Mayumi Hosokura: KAZAN

Japan –        THIS STORY CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT Photographer Mayumi Hosokura is known for her works which depict ...

Fosi Vegue: XY XX

Spain – THIS STORY CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT An inner courtyard faces a row of rooms where prostitutes take their clients. ...

Richland : Gustavo Jononovich

Argentina – On behalf of “progress” we have transformed our environment into the lifeblood of our economy. Everything we manufacture ...

Ghosts of Genocide : Palash Krishna Mehrotra on Ziyah Gafic

Bosnia : Book Review : Quest For Identity By Palash Krishna Mehrotra By themselves, these are ordinary objects. These are objects that ...

Holy Bible – Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin

England –    “Right from the start, almost every appearance he made was catastrophic… Catastrophe is his means of operation, and ...

Tine Guns: Amoureux Solitaire

Belgium –  Two actors perform one of the most iconographic acts in film history: the kiss. ‘Amoureux Solitaire’ is an ...

Rafal Milach: The Winners

Belarus –  ‘The Winners’ published by GOST, is dedicated to winners of various state and local competitions held between 2010-2013 ...