In Motion / The Build (2001)
Twenty-five years ago, I was a tutor in the Photography Department at the Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD) in Rochester. On 8 May 2001, a closed school in Hackney Downs, London reopened for the private view of In-Motion, an exhibition of final-year work from KIAD’s BA (Hons) Editorial & Advertising Photography course.
The students chose the abandoned building as their venue, and the department committed 100 days to turning it into an exhibition space. I was the “video guy”, supporting those exploring moving image, helping on site where I could, and filming the wider process so it could be properly documented. The result, The In-Motion Picture, is a suite of short films that records the project from the inside.
Late last year, the former Head of Department, contacted me with a 4K transfer of the films that needed attention. With the only complete set apparently surviving on VHS, the transfer came with glitches and breaks. Over recent weeks and months I’ve been repairing what I can to help preserve the work more securely, and it’s been unexpectedly vivid to revisit that period.
The film I’m sharing here is the “Making Of”: a quick run through those 100 days leading up to opening night. It can’t capture the long journeys, the cold classrooms, or the less glamorous realities of the site, but it does capture what mattered most—how it felt to work together, to be ambitious, and to see a shared goal through. (January 2026)
In Motion / The Build (2001)
