Secret 7"

Artist Haroon Mirza creates installations that test the interplay and friction between sound and light waves and electric current. He describes his role as a composer, manipulating electricity to make it dance to a different tune and calling on instruments as varied as household electronics, vinyl and turntables, LEDs, furniture, video footage and existing artworks to behave differently. We discuss how he’s approached our open brief to create a one-off Rega turntable for our Planar 1/1 show this year.

Lotte Andersen is a British artist working in video, sound, print, performance, writing and collage; whose work oscillates between investigative, documentary and autobiographical. Working with the idea that sound memory is stored for longer periods than visual memory. We talked to Lotte about life in Lima, what the impact of lockdown is having on her work and how she approached her Secret 7” artwork for this year’s show.

Kosmo Vinyl is best known for his work with Ian Dury and The Blockheads and The Clash. Starting out at Stiff Records in 1976, he became a key figure in the London-based music scene. Stick on The Clash’s Live At Shea Stadium and his voice will be the first you hear. Since the 90’s, Kosmo has developed into both an artist and a cultural curator. Here he discusses wide ranging responsibilities in music, crossing paths with Andy Warhol and how his focus has evolved into creating his own artwork.

Shona Heath is a pioneering set designer and creative, responsible for creating some of the most memorable fashion stories from the past two decades. She has also conjured unforgettable imagery for musicians such as Bjork, Harry Styles and Goldfrapp. Shona discusses her close collaboration with Tim Walker, including designing his Wonderful Things exhibition at the V&A and how she approached contributing to this year’s Secret 7” exhibition.

Secret 7” has been blessed to have some of the world’s biggest artists create original record sleeves for our exhibitions, the contemporary British sculptor Gavin Turk is one of them. Here he discusses the intrinsic link of music and art, the time when David Bowie kept calling him up and gives away some big clues to his anonymous contribution to this year’s show.

Kate Moross began making artwork for musicians, artists and promoters while still a student at Camberwell College of Art. In 2012, Kate founded Studio Moross and to this day many of their clients are in the music industry; including Kylie, Spice Girls, One Direction, Sam Smith, Jessie Ware and Disclosure. We discuss their path into creating for music, how the work has evolved and respecting fandom.

Storm Thorgerson was behind so many timeless record covers that we know and love; Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Peter Gabriel, Muse, Mars Volta, Audioslave. He sadly passed away in 2013, but StormStudios remains, creating what they call ‘normal but not’ designs. Dan Abbott, designer and illustrator, who worked side-by-side with Storm for over a decade joins us to discuss their work, process and picked out his favourite artworks from Secret 7” 2020.

We hope you can join us for the Secret 7” podcast - a brand new audio offering - which will be launching very soon.

We’ll be joined by seven inspiring artists - all of whom have contributed to Secret 7" since it’s inception in 2012. 

These include Gavin Turk, Kate Moross, Kosmo Vinyl, Haroon Mirza, Lotte Andersen, Dan Abbott and Shona Heath - and we’ll be discussing their work, their love of music and what inspires them.

Join us from 6th October for our first episode and follow us on socials for more info on the podcast and this year’s exhibition.