Secret 7"

Hosted at my favourite place in London, Somerset House, a very unique and interesting exhibition is brought to us from Secret 7. The project is for a charity called Nordoff Robbins who transform the lives of vulnerable children and adults though music and the team from Secret 7 and Somerset House have pressed 7 well-known tracks from different music artists 100 times on to 7" vinyls (hence the name of the exhibition) and asked over 700 artists/designers/photographer/illustrators to design a vinyl cover for the track. The tracks they chose to press are Dead Flowers (The Rolling Stones), Reflections (Diana Ross & The Supremes), Born Slippy (Underworld), Let Forever Be (The Chemical Brothers), Digital Witness (St Vincent), Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel) and Go (The Maccabees).

However, this is where the plot twist kicks in, in the exhibition you have no idea who created the cover (hence the 'secret' part of the name) - it could have been Martin Parr, Sir Peter Blake, Julian Opie or even David Shrigley - or what track it was for. You could then buy a totally unique and one-of-a-kind cover (and receive the vinyl with it) for £50 and then be told who created it and what track its for. Personally I love this idea, it minimises the stigma of buying art for the name of the artist who created, but brings it back to what art is really about, whether you like or don't like what the artists have created. Some designs you can guess what track they would be for or who created them - Julian Opie's style is significantly special and is recognisable to him. But this is rare as each idea of the covers are totally new concepts and display something different.

One part of the exhibition that I particularly enjoyed was the fact that there were several vinyl players in the centre of each room that played the tracks that were chosen.

Vinyl playing of Digital Witness by St Vincent

I think this is a very refreshing idea and makes the exhibition all that more interactive - the atmosphere was cheery and comfortable as people were free to talk and take photos opposed to the stereotypical silent and strict exhibitions that every one secretly dreads. However one critique - the headphones played the music incredibly loud which made it hard for me (who likes my music on a low and gentle level) to listen to the songs for extended periods of time. Nonetheless, I loved the exhibition greatly. Sadly though, we will never know who designed each cover and for what song it was for but this just adds to the mystery of the art.

Location: Somerset House
Nearest tube: Temple/Embankment
Running time: 10th April - 3rd May
Cost: Free