The Terrace Rooms and Courtyard Rooms at Somerset House are always up for a surprise. Whether for a good or a not so good one is anyone’s guess, but this time it’s definitely for the good, hosting the free exhibition 20 Years of Dazed & Confused Magazine: Making It Up As We Go Along.
The magazine has been my companion nearly since its launch in London in 1991 by Jefferson Hack and photographer Rankin, who has just launched his new magazine The Hunger last week, featuring photographs exclusively of his own. Dazed & Confused has embodied a guide on upcoming designers as well as artists and filmmakers, style and culture above all, and has represented a new wave in lifestyle journalism, bringing together figures from an assortment of fields and eras to produce extraordinary interviews and original artwork exclusively for the magazine.
Work featured includes ground-breaking photography by Rankin, Nick Knight, David Sims and Terry Richardson, specially commissioned projects by artists Jake & Dinos Chapman, Damien Hirst and Sam Taylor-Wood, cutting edge fashion pages by stylists Katie Grand, Katy England, Alister Mackie and Nicola Formichetti, and specially selected designs by fashion giants Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood and Gareth Pugh. It’s no surprise that the exhibition is to coincide with the release of the book of the same name published by Rizzoli, charting the visual history of Dazed & Confused magazine. Curated by Jefferson Hack and Emma Reeves, this multi-layered exhibition immortalises the magazine’s most infamous visual stories and is on until 29 January 2012. Go see.