Pogo Cafe

The Secret World of Pogo

Every now and then we (volunteers at Pogo) get asked how the place works.  Sometimes the “100% volunteer run” sign that’s stuck to the wall doesn’t explain it enough.

So, we’ve decided to make everything clear by letting you into our secretive decision making world; The Pogo Collective Meeting.

Every other Tuesday volunteers come together to organise the running of the place. These meetings are known as the Collective Meetings. During them we talk about events, ordering, volunteer concerns, community issues, bills, painting, cleaning and all manner of boring but necessary things. Decisions are typically reached with consensus, rather than majority and we try to make sure everyone speaks. [meetings have occasionally stretched on for four hours].

For 2013, we’re going to try to make these meetings a little more transparent. The minutes of the meetings will float up onto the internet, on the Pogo blog, a few days after they’ve been typed up.
Some of us (volunteers), don’t want our names to be floating around on the internet, so names may well be redacted (good word that, not sure which intelligence agency brought it back into use).

It is important for us as a collective that the views we listen to aren’t just our own. We need to make sure the space functions not only for those of us that volunteer there, but also for anyone that might wish to visit. That’s why we encourage people to comment in our comment book,  or to get in touch through Facebook, email, Twitter or by commenting on blog posts.

We hope that by showing you how the place is run, you’ll be able to understand where Pogo is coming from and going to.

We’re trying to do things differently. We’re trying to do things in a way that shows how an alternative to capitalist hierarchical structures can work, both for those involved in the delivery and the wider community.

We want to demonstrate that a radical space can survive and thrive.

Because, if we can’t run an alternative cafe, showing that it works and how it works, how can we ever hope that wider society will join the struggle.

Anyhow – we’ll see you on the other side of the internet.
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The March and April Pogo Exhibition by Cath Forrest

Home Is Where The Heart Is and Other Photos From Disappearing Dalston

A photographical study of the lives of Hackney folk and their enviroment. The “now” often becomes so quickly accepted that what went before can easily be forgotten. And Hackney is changing very quickly.

The photographs of Cath Forrest are a reminder of that. Viewers of her colour prints who have lived in Hackney for several years will find themselves saying

“Oh, yes, I remember that”.

As she started to print the images, at Chats Palace,in Homerton, a theme seemed to emerge. By the time she had used up the last sheet of paper, which the digital – camera revolution had made almost certainly impossible to replace, the idea of an exhibition was coming to mind.

“I was looking at details rather than people,” she said, “…the look and feel of Dalston. The result is a kind of
history, an archive.

More of this at Loving Dalston lovingdalston.co.uk/2012/02/look-back-in-angst-the-changing-dalston-scene-through-the-lens-of-a-35mm-nikon-slr/

Art exhibition for June / July: Nina B

Here’s what Nina had to say:

I’m currently residing in Hackney.
Mostly, drawing with pencils. Something out of the subconscious.
Mind thrives in the dark.

You can get in touch with Nina by email or on f***book.

The Pogo Bookshop is open!

We have started a new venture for Pogo, out with the old and in with the new, so to speak. The book exchange has gone and now we offer four shelves and a fancy spinner thing full of new books for sale at reduced prices. We hope to expand the selection if this project proves popular. So come and check it out, subjects range from DIY Screenprinting, through vegan cookbooks to the history of punk rock record releases!

Recommended and in stock now is Dangerous Woman, the graphic story (comic) of Emma Goldman visionary anarchist and campaigner for women’s liberation and much else besides. Only £6 at Pogo!

The May Exhibition is by Abigail Booth

Abigail’s work explores ideas of male homosexuality specifically around the time of the gay sexual revolution of the 70’s in San Francisco and LA. She is interested in looking at historical narratives of the Californian gay scene and twisting them in a conscious act to undermine their sun-soaked idealism.

In doing so she wishes to shed further light on the tragedy of a lost generation of AIDS victims, a tragedy that dwindles in the memory of a society that even now continues to oppress and not fully accept the gay scene.

Having only ever experienced California through literature and hearsay, her work is currently fictitious, playing off a distorted vision of a place she has yet to visit. This allows her to play with the boundaries between fantasy and reality in an exploration of homosexual desire and her identification with it as a woman.

February’s art exhibition, Dominic Fagan

Dominic Fagan was born in 1954. Went to grammar left with no qualifications. Mis-spent youth in and out of institutions. Worked in Casino industry with german and dutch mafia, whilst serving a seven year adult sentence at age 33. Took up art, was eventually moved to open prison as the prison artist.

Art has changed his life completely. Now also writing Poetry.

You can contact him by email.

Yoga classes at Pogo, Saturday mornings

Yoga classes return to Pogo Café on Saturday mornings! Classes run from 10:00 to 11:30.

Spaces are quite limited as we can only fit about ten people at a squeeze. You need to bring your own mat.

The class is on a donation basis – these will be put to a good not-for-profit use!

Pogo opens for lunch at 12:30

Mushroom and Garlic Samosas Unique to Pogo!

Just in (and hopefully available from now on) unique to Pogo are these amazing non-spicy Mushroom and Garlic samosas. Made by a local family to our vegan specifications these samosas are perfect for those of us who are not keen on “hot and spicy food”  but love the texture of a crispy potato samosa in this classic flavour.

£1.50 each from the Pogo counter.

Yoga at Pogo

Free Yoga Classes

The July Exhibition

This month Pogo will be exhibiting the hand made masks and photos from a demonstration. No Blood For Vanity was a demonstration on the streets of East London. It was a march of animal ghosts as a silent protest against the use of fur in fashion. I created seven different animals, each with their own unique headpiece (plaster of paris with additions like branches for horns, wires for whiskers, etc). As an alternative way of demonstrating against the horrific fur industry. The setting was imporant: Brick Lane on a Friday evening, the epicenter of what is en vogue for young chic people of East London.
I was hoping to fascinate those who are most attracted by the visual -those who wear fur for that reason. To bring people forward to ask questions about the performance, instead of having to listen to preaching and a typically negatively charged animal rights (AR)protest. It is a serious matter and requires a certain tone of voice in expression as the fur industry is truly barbaric, but usually people are only annoyed and bothered by AR demonstrations. With my alternative approach I was quite successful in having people stop of their own free will when captured by the eerie ghost situation. I was ushering the procession and at the same time giving out Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade flyers with a short explanation of what the ghost animals represented.
People were impressed visually and as a result openly considered the issue. They seemed more willing to ask about the matter than at the demonstrations I have partaken in before. . This was a type of peaceful mental provocation I was hoping for.

No Blood For Vanity was a demonstration on the streets of East London. It was a march of animal ghosts as a silent protest against the use of fur in fashion. I created seven different animals, each with their own unique headpiece (plaster of paris with additions like branches for horns, wires for whiskers, etc). As an alternative way of demonstrating against the horrific fur industry. The setting was imporant: Brick Lane on a Friday evening, the epicenter of what is en vogue for young chic people of East London. I was hoping to fascinate those who are most attracted by the visual -those who wear fur for that reason. To bring people forward to ask questions about the performance, instead of having to listen to preaching and a typically negatively charged animal rights (AR)protest. It is a serious matter and requires a certain tone of voice in expression as the fur industry is truly barbaric, but usually people are only annoyed and bothered by AR demonstrations. With my alternative approach I was quite successful in having people stop of their own free will when captured by the eerie ghost situation. I was ushering the procession and at the same time giving out Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade flyers with a short explanation of what the ghost animals represented.    People were impressed visually and as a result openly considered the issue. They seemed more willing to ask about the matter than at the demonstrations I have partaken in before. . This was the type of peaceful mental provocation I was hoping for.