Liquid City
Marc Atkins and Iain Sinclair
Reaktion Books pbk, 224 pgs, £14.99
Review by Gerald Houghton (1999)
Photo-negative of the masterly Lights Out For The Territory in its reversal of roles for the major players: Sinclair's worried, velvet prose is here the prop to Atkins' gorgeous monochrome images. The song, however, remains the same, as the two travel through (mainly the East End of) London in search of...what exactly? Why are these pilgrims trailing through graveyards and sea forts, through cabalistic interrogation and tea with Gilbert and George? For nothing less than the unobtainable: London itself. Not just its buildings and history - wilted Blue Plaque fabric - but the ley-lines and occulted light that underpin the stench and sprawl, that keep drawing these weary travellers and their motley companions - Chris Petit, Michael Moorcock, a fire-eyed Alan Moore - back to this psychogeographical Ground Zero. Liquid City is the more abstract, more abstruse adventure, so you don't begin here. Lights Out is your map; Liquid City is the scar tissue left behind.