James Stevens
James Stevens is the founder member of SPC and lives with his family in Deptford SE London.
Most recent SPC lab ‘Uniform‘ at the Old Police Station Deptford closed in May 2021 for redevelopment though subscribers continue to enjoy diy web, mail and media hosting alongside a bramble of production experiments and collaborations in progress.
He directed operations at web boutique Obsolete in 1995. Within a year launched Backspace, the proto cybercafe on Clink Street, London Bridge, an accessible place to explore creative networking and critical media in public.
Whilst fitting it out with artist Tim Cook it was modeled online by Dorian Moore and became touchstone to a thousand web coders and inventors, inspiration for the technology spaces and businesses that boomed in the years that have followed.
Today his time is split between research work in the garden built ‘virus shelter’ and network maintenance for artist studios, housing co-ops and rehearsal studios in London and South East.
Conceptual and pragmatic influences fuse to accommodate the needs of those close, then seeks out new opportunities for cultural stimulation and transformation. Environmental and interior design, live music production and event management, database development and opensource advocacy, free networking and public access media, community development, gardening and baking all continue to texture and test his mettle. (2023)
- Interviews
- Matthew Fuller, "James Stevens Interview", Nettime, 1998.
- Simon Pope, "Interview: James Stevens", n.d.
- Links
