Derek Ridgers

John Maybury

Taken in the streets, clubs, basements and bars of London between 1978 and 1987, the photographs in "78-87 London Youth" celebrate the many mutations in London's youth culture from the height of punk to the birth of Acid House. British photographer Derek Ridgers has documented the perennial youth ritual of dressing up and going out since he first picked up a camera in 1971, and has been drawn to virtually every subculture London has spawned, from punk to the fetish club scene of the present. From early on his photographs attracted the attention of both cultural institutions such as London's ICA and music and style publications such as the "NME" and "The Face." These photographs, made over a ten-year span, capture punk's evolution into goth, the skinhead revival and the New Romantic scene, and the eventual emergence of Acid House and the new psychedelia. Gathered here, Ridgers' images serve not only as a fascinating document of UK style and culture but as a testament to the creative spirit of youth; he lauds his subjects and their sartorial DIY panache. Among those portrayed are Boy George, Andrew Logan, Leigh Bowery and his boyfriend Trojan, Michael Alig, John Galliano, Hamish Bowles, Cerith Wyn Evans, Steve Strange and Martin Kemp and Steve Norman of Spandau Ballet. Derek Ridgers (born 1950) is an English photographer with a career spanning more than 30 years. He is best known for his photography of music, film, club and street culture, and has photographed stars from James Brown to The Spice Girls, from Clint Eastwood to Johnny Depp, as well politicians, gangsters, artists, writers, fashion designers and sportsmen.

London Youth

78-87

For some, heaven will not be a perpetual dawn but rather an endless night - an eternity of the wild hours between dusk and sunrise.The Dark Carnival is a celebration of human beings given the rare space to play out their fantasy visions of themselves, the fleeting impressions of people dressed up for the glorious night caught in all their decadent glory. A unique collection of portraits personally selected by one of the UKs foremost portrait photographers covering alternative London's unique counter-cultural history from Punks, New Romantics, Goths, Disco Queens, Soul Boys, Fetish Worshippers, Rockers, Cyberpunks, Ravers, Clubbers and Party Animals. Derek Ridgers has been a feature in the clubs and on the streets of the capital for over 50 years - indulging in his obsession for documenting the people dressed up for the glorious night.Anyone who loves street style, youth subcultures, portrait photography and the curious human penchant for playing dressing up, will find this collection a darkly fascinating celebration of both night life and decadence.Packed with images exploring DIY fashion, self-expression and the fabulous strangeness of the human animal, ravers of all kinds will spend happy hours gazing at this book, at once a piece of social history and a visual poem, an expression of the fascinations of the author, a feast of luscious crepuscular imagery.

Portraits from the Endless Night

The Dark Carnival

Mikhail Minakov

Paul Hockenos

Jerome Krase

Matthew Worley

Gavin Watson

Ross Haenfler

Phil Cohen

Massimo Introvigne

Douglas Kellner

Athina Karatzogianni

Steve Gennaro

Simon McGregor-Wood

Bernardo Attias

Marco Andreacchio

Lucien Oulahbib

Liudmyla Fylypovych

Frederick Lawrence

Nick Ienatsch

Elizabeth Haas-Edersheim

Paul Rhoads

Sanjay Soekhoe

Maxim Lepskiy

Avi Nardia

Iryna Lopatiuk

Marco Trovato

Costantino Slobodyanyuk

Vitalii Lunov

Vladimir Skvorets

Federico Roso

Igor Kaprysin

Eduard Boyko

Maria Kulyk

Aimar Ventsel

Oleg Maltsev

Collected Papers of the International interdisciplinary conference “Sketch a subculture” Subcultures can be so tightly integrated into the contemporary person's daily life that they have become almost indispensable and ubiquitous. Family, job, agreements, responsibilities and negotiations are one thing, but, let us say, skydiving, or riding a bike in the company of motorcycle enthusiasts is a different thing—no less an important part of one's life. The current state of affairs is that almost everyone on this planet belongs to some subculture in one way or another. This another, natural part of one's lifestyle for pleasure is not always considered a "subculture," but the heart of the matter does not change because of this. To the point, a person might be a part of more than one subculture, and at the same time know nothing about what it may lead to; they may know nothing about the possible scenarios, goals and intentions of this environment. Even the most attractive and "mysteriously" formulated idea (for example, attaining Nirvana) remains something inconceivable, for what is "Nirvana," and how to understand that this state has been achieved is unknown. The idea has no explanations, no criteria and no parameters. And yet, this does not stop people from pursuing ideas as such. Many voluntarily strive for something they know practically nothing about. Why are subcultures so attractive? Why have they become magnets to researchers, professionals and business persons, among all others? These and many other questions require innovative approaches and an unbiased dialogue in an understandable scientific language. The International interdisciplinary conference “Sketch a subculture” united leading experts, scientists, researchers, practitioners, journalists, photographers and thinkers for this discussion on 6 different online panels, where the following questions were discussed: 1. Problems of choosing a research path in studying a subculture. 2. Plan of researching a subculture: from the idea to the completion of the research, from mythological and religious to scientific and philosophical worldviews. 3. From mythologemes to ideas as foundational elements of subculture formation. Approaches for researching mythologemes that underlie the philosophy of a subculture. 4. Approaches for studying the hierarchy of subcultures. Can we claim that the hierarchical structure of all subcultures is identical? 5. Ways to explore the attributes and symbols of subcultures. 6. The phenomenon of “Subculture in Subculture” and characteristics of its study. The synthesis of ideas in the subculture, reasons for the existence of subcultures, invisible internal mechanisms that maintain their continuance. 7. Frederick Lawrence’s drawing as the purpose of subculture research. 8. Can we consider a subculture as a machine that shapes a personality? The idea of death and different ways of implementing this idea by subcultures in daily life. 9. Frederick Lawrence’s drawing, the theory of subculture formation, application of prototype method to understand phenomena. 10. Is it true that one idea forms a whole subculture? The pathway in subculture: fatal and successful. 11. The difference between subculture and religion. What are specific elements that shape each institution? 12. Use of religion by other social institutions (business, politics, etc.) for their own purposes. Religion transformation: from divine transcendence to the universal society based on techno-ideological principles.

International interdisciplinary conference “Sketch a subculture”

Derek Ridgers

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