We first came across performance]SPACE[ during the 'Printers Paradise' walk. The door was open and a small sign invited us in. A quick detour into a smoke filled room with people performing across the space seemingly ignoring the audience of 20 strangers that just walked in on them. As first encounters go, this one was curious enough to get in touch and find out more about what was going on. We met Bea, Benjamin and Anna who have been generous in offering their space for one of our Wick Sessions (unfortunately it was double booked) and have recently invited us to a very local dinner as part of their international residency project [neighbourHOOD] EVENT which will conclude on Saturday the 3rd of December.

[neighbourHOOD] EVENT

Saturday 3rd December 11am - 11pm
Following a 10 day intensive research residency the [neighbourHOOD] artists will draw together an exhibition and evening of performance art and film. Artists: Tine Voeks, Maria Lucia, Benjamin Sebastian, Kimbal Quist Bumbstead, Liam Yeates and isik met knutsdotter

Exhibition: 11am - 11pm
Developed and led by the artists, the exhibition is anticipated to grow out of the research-lab, through install-action and the exhibition of research material. Constructed throughout the day, the exhibition will both lay bare artistic process and weave together loose ends to form a live archival document of Hackney Wick now. The exhibition will also include performance-for-camera photographic prints from each artist, produced site-specifically in collaboration with ]performance s p a c e [ photographer Marco Berardi.

Performances: 7 - 9 pm (TBC)
New performances made in response to the [neighbourHOOD] residency in Hackney Wick.

Film: 9pm - 'DEFAULT THE BRUTAL'
by Enrico Masi, produced by CAUCASO FACTORY (10' UK, 2011, color/B-w, 16mm/Full HD)
'Discovering a new space in east London, after the negative stigma of the 80's, Stratford will now present himself as a thrilling new urban device for people to move, work, shop and travel. The increasingly spectacular Olympic park, with Anish Kapoor's monumental red panoramic tower growing in his middle and a special toilet only for the queen. 'Default the Brutal' is like forecasting on weather conditions.'

CAUCASO FACTORY have worked in collaboration with ]performance s p a c e [ and PAS throughout [neighbourbourHOOD] to document the activity unfolding. The collective's current area of research has focused on the regeneration and development of Olympic boroughs and the current socio-economic climate across Europe.

[neighbourHOOD] is a free event
Beer, gin and bagels will be served all day!!

Posted in Blog on November 29, 2011 12:17 by Andreas Lang

Posted in Blog on October 18, 2011 15:43 by Andreas Lang

Come & join us at Wick Green & help transform the play equipment using materials from the Albion Kids Show.

TAKE OVER
WICK GREEN
OCTOBER 6TH 2011
1PM - 6 PM
Opposite St Mary's Church

Pirate Ships, Puppet Theatre, Parachute Tents, Wheels & Swings will be available for you and your family to play on.The day will help inform more permanent future changes to Wick Green.

Posted in Blog on October 4, 2011 14:41 by Andreas Lang

NOT JUST FOOTBALL PITCHES .....

Tell us what you'd really like to do on Mabley Green. It can be anything you like, anything at all - from the fantastical to the practical.

Then on Saturday 20 August, all of your ideas will be sketched out and painted HUGE on the grass of Mabley Green using Hackney Council's football-pitch painting machine.

Better still, your ideas will be used to help kick start a new Master Plan for Mabley Green. So get creative and help build a brand new park.

The People's Pitch is a collaboration between public works and Christopher King, with support from muf and the Design for London.

All ideas will be published on the PEOPLES PITCH WEBSITE.

If you'd like to get in touch, email us on peoplespitch@gmail.com

View Larger Map

commissioned by muf and Design for London

Posted in Blog on August 10, 2011 12:56 by Andreas Lang

Proposals are invited for meaningful temporary art works and/or other projects to be situated in the public realm, (including web-based works) to address the complex and dynamic environment of Hackney Wick and Fish Island. The work is to be exhibited or launched at Hackney Wicked, July 2011.
The aim of the commissions is to test the capacity for "home grown" art and other creative practices to be part of the ongoing debate to shape the future of Hackney Wick and Fish Island.
The proposal must therefore address or respond to at least one of the statements regarding art practice, regeneration and Hackney Wick/Fish Island from the "We are artists how can we help" debate, these are illustrated and listed in the brief and appendix. You may proposal a work that opposes or supports a particular statement.
You can download the brief and appendix here

Timetable
Call for submissions 3rd May
Deadline for submissions 24th May
Selection 27th May
Contract signing 31st May
The work to be complete and exhibited at Hackney Wicked festival July 2011
You can download the submission template as a word document here
and the submission template as a zipped InDesign document here
For information updates you can go to the "we are artists how can we help" blog

Posted in Blog on May 5, 2011 13:52 by Sara Thor

The Olympic Games, Urban renewal & Surveillance: A marathon of presentations, film, sound, performance and discussion

24 HOUR OLYMPIC STATE

The Olympics can arguably be described as a laboratory for the neoliberal city utopia; after all, the Games represent the success of a brand and an event based on a combination of massive urban renewal, dodgy governance, hugely profitable advertising and broadcasting contracts, the corporatisation and militarisation of public space, and the criminalisation of dissent.

The Olympics depend, to a large scale, on their ability to operate on a clean, consensual space: without history, without discontents, without opposition. The Olympic Park is the fantasy of such space, Jim Woodall's Olympic State installation, currently on show at See Studio Exhibition Space, is one of its disruptions.

The Olympics Games is the strategic occupation of the social and economic space of the city, but they allow, or even invite, for a tactical response. The goal of this 24h marathon of activities, echoing the 24hr surveillance of the site, is to bring together artists, activists and researchers challenging the Olympic dream.

We wish to amplify Jim Woodall's radical gesture by summoning an assemblage of talks, films, interventions, performances and concerts which are part of the myriad of militant productions taking place in the city right now.

In particular, we are interested in exploring the dynamics of urban renewal brought to East London by the Olympics and the issue of surveillance and control of public space. This 24 hour event aims at providing a generous and welcoming space for discussion. Join us for an evening, a night, a morning or a day - or stay up for the whole marathon...

24 HOUR OLYMPIC STATE is curated by Isaac Marrero, Cristina Garrido and Jim Woodall

You can download the press release here

Thursday 5th May 18:00 - Friday 6th May 17:59

SEE STUDIO EXHIBITION SPACE
13 PRINCE EDWARD ROAD,
HACKNEY WICK,
E9 5LX
020 8986 6477

Barbeque beautifully prepared and served by 'The Sit Down Affair'.

Posted in Blog on May 3, 2011 15:11 by Sara Thor

You are invited to the premiere of "Print(ed) Matters", a cinematic portrait of the process of print in Hackney Wick, by the visual artist Verity-Jane Keefe, which will be screened in the yard of Central Books on Friday May 6th 2011 at 8.00-9.30pm. For directions please see the invite here.

The Hackney Wick and Fish Island area is a rich tapestry of both artist and industrial production. The film makes visible the often invisible industry within the area, focusing on the chain of print: printing to finishing to distribution, whilst exploring both the similarity between art practise and industry, and the process of production and making.

The artist has worked with Quadroprint DM Ltd, BRG finishing and Central Books Ltd to construct a narrative soundtrack of the relationship between industry, the local area and art in general to accompany the film. The film (11 minutes) has been shot in high definition and will be screened to both an invited and incidental audience passing by. Refreshments will be served and an accompanying inventory of skills (used and unused) of the workers of Hackney Wick and Fish Island, will be distributed.

London Thames Gateway Development Corporation have commissioned a program of artworks as part of the Hackney Wick and Fish Island urban improvements. These improvements address issues of severance and seek to increase the quality and permeability of the public realm, for the benefit of local residents and visitors.

Print(ed) Matters is one of six temporary commissions that explicitly addresses improved social connectivity and "joining up" of isolated and/or disparate communities. All of the temporary commissions supported the brief development for three permanent commissions and are an opportunity to address with interested parties expectations of what art practice can deliver within an urban design context.

hello@verityjanekeefe.co.uk
www.verityjanekeefe.tumblr.com
www.twitter.com/veritykeefe

you can download the pdf invite here
and the press release here.

Friday 6th May 2011
8.00-9.30pm
Refreshments will be served.
The film will be screened at 8.30 and again at 9pm.
Central Books Ltd Yard
99 Wallis Road
London
E9 5LN
Enter via the yard entrance on Wallis Road.

Posted in Blog on April 28, 2011 14:34 by Sara Thor

We put maps accompanying the 6 ROUTE BOOK WALKS online via google maps and pasted them here below.

SUNFLOWER AVENUE
Sunflower Avenue connects Mabley Green to Victoria Park cutting straight through the heart of Hackney Wick. It is a Local Initiative by Lea Bank Square Purple Garden to establish a planted connection between the two local parks

View SUNFLOWER AVENUE in a larger map

WALKING THE PRESS
A walk from Abbey Gardens to Lea Bank Square moving the trolley which houses the seed bomb press. The press is used in the making of the seed bombs used on the Sunflower Avenue walk.

View WALKING THE PRESS in a larger map

PRINTERS PARADISE WALK
'Printers Paradise' was the informal name of the dense cluster of printers and related industry spread around the Wick and along the Carpenters Road. Map showing location of printers, finishers, litho and repro in and around Hackney Wick covering those that exisited in the 'heyday' of the mid 1980's- 1990's to present day. Mapped from personal accounts, aural histories and research gathered from those still operating in the area and from those who have moved out.

View PRINTERS PARADISE in a larger map

THE WAY WE WALKED - CHRISTMAS SWIM WALK

View WALK THIS WAY-CHRISTMAS SWIM WALK in a larger map

FRIDAY FISH WALK

View FRIDAY FISH WALK in a larger map

OFF THE TRACK
Monkey Parades were popular from at least the 1840's and were a British working class institution, which probably started life in the crowded urban centres. This courting congregation that saw men and women lavishly dressed to impress was rife in Hackney in 19th Century. The walk will retrace a visual journey of the Wick by George Sims, a journalist during the height of the popularity of Monkey Parades in the late 1800s. Participants are invited to dress to impress and the ladies are invited to wear lavish hats (designed by the ladies at the Wick) ending with a drink on Mabley Green.

View OFF THE TRACK in a larger map

Posted in Blog on April 25, 2011 14:43 by Andreas Lang

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTORS
Forthcoming Myrdle Court Press book on 2012 London Olympics

Seeking critical cultural practices by artists, writers, activists, academics, residents and anyone who has examined the London 2012 Olympics.

Myrdle Court Press has commissioned Hilary Powell to edit a book that will document and highlight critical responses to the official London 2012 Olympic Games site and Cultural Olympiad. The book will be published in 2012 and will collect the range of critical responses that have occurred since the governing bodies choose to bid for the 2012 Games. The book will also present an overview, history and critique of the Cultural Olympiad and in doing so will argue against the corporatisation of urban space. The critical work, projects and ideas published will be indispensable for citizens of future bidding cities.

DEADLINE: Tuesday 31st May 2011.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
· A brief outline of the proposed work's main themes and arguments
· Estimated word count & Biography of the author
· 3 low resolution images where applicable
· Email your proposals to: hilary@optimisticproductions.co.uk

EDITOR: Hilary Powell has been engaged with and producing work and events around the edges of the London 2012 Olympic site since 2007. She is currently working on a three year project entitled 'The critical Pop-Up book: Re-imagining London's Olympic Structures of Enchantment' (AHRC Fellowship in the Creative and Performing Arts at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL). www.hilarypowell.com

PUBLISHER: Myrdle Court Press is an independent publishing company that advances the ideas of critical urbanists. It is the publishing arm of the not for profit organisation 'This is Not A Gateway'. Central Books are the sole distributor of Myrdle Court Press books in Europe.
www.myrdlecourtpress.net / www.thisisnotagateway.net

BOOK OVERVIEW: Most modern Olympics are controversial but the clamour and countdown to the Games themselves drowns out the many playful, angry, nostalgic, ironic and creative voices of dissent and critique crying out in the wake of their arrival in town. What the London 2012 bid and organising teams didn't take into consideration is that the greatest number of artists in all of Europe, live alongside what is now the biggest development site in Europe. Unsurprisingly, since The Games were proposed artists & cultural practitioners have been at the forefront provoking Londoners with critical insights and poetic summaries of a global event played out on their patch.

There is currently no book that brings together critical cultural projects and practices that have emerged in response to the Olympics and its large-scale regeneration project. This book intervenes in the dominant discourse and language surrounding the Cultural Olympiad to bring together projects that engage intelligently with the changing landscape - from resistance and counter narratives, analysis of cultural policy, legal frameworks and changing land use to predictions and potential blueprints for future host cities as Russia gears up for the Winter Olympics 2014 and Rio De Janeiro looks towards 2016. Focusing as it does on the work of artists it examines how cities are shaped through cultural memory and spatial practices and presents powerful arguments against the politics of erasure and the corporatisation/militarization of urban space.

This research has an immediate and lasting impact on the debate around the politics of urban space and regeneration and engages with diverse cross disciplinary fields and constituencies of interest from academia to quangos and policy makers, third sector and public bodies, artists, cultural organisations, urban designers, planners, geographers and local communities - all those affected by regeneration and involved in the discourse surrounding it. Most specifically the knowledge produced and transferred will make a valuable contribution to research on how future bid/host cities approach Olympic-led regeneration provoking and empowering a critical vision and response to the local, political, social and geographical changes it entails.

Including commissioned articles by practitioners and theorists at the front line of activities in this area alongside photographs, interviews and a catalogue of projects the book will address a selection of the following

THEMES:
· (Un)Official Cultural Olympiad
· A Travelling Circus: Learning from London?
· Artists Taking the Lead or Following the Leader
· 'Art of Regeneration': Hijackers and Hijacked
· The collectors, collected and collectables
· The Emerald City: Legacy visions
· Urban Village: The Rise and Fall of Hackney Wick
· History Repeating
· The Right Side of London?

Posted in Blog on April 19, 2011 11:25 by Andreas Lang

Daren Ellis has openend the long awaited See Studio Galery Space in Hackney Wick just next to the Hackney Pearl. On show until mid may is the piece entitled 'Olympic State' by Jim Woodall.

See Studio Exhibition Space
13 Prince Edward Road
Hackney Wick, London, E9 5LX
Thursday-Sunday 12am-6pm

Posted in Blog on April 18, 2011 14:16 by Andreas Lang