Art of Common Space

The Art of Common Space begins with a series of Dialogues which begin in May 2008. These interdisciplinary discussions/workshops/symposiums and events will be produced in collaboration with other organisations to engage a range of professionals and the public.   To date five Dialogues have been programmed as follows.  For further information on any of these events please email info@gunpowderpark.org

FORHCOMING EVENTS:

Gazebo TV at the Hackney Wick Festival
September 27, 2008. Eastway, London

Artist's collective The People Speak pressent "Gazebo TV", a television studion in a tent.  Renowned for being able to get to the heart of what people really think by instigating intensive discussions, The People Speak will be investigating the current affairs of the area throughout Hackney Wick Festival and presenting a live video of the discussions as they happen.  You are invited to take part. 

This Dialogue will form part of The Hackney Wick Festival to take place on the Village Green which will also include open days at local artist studios and community venues.  Artist and architect studio publicworks will also be developing work around the theme of local produce and working with local bands and school children on a series of performances, and working with other artists on a number of stalls for the fete.  London21 will be showcasing the Hackney Wick Community digital map, and organisations such as the Malika Boxing Club will take part with demonstrations.  The event also ties in with the Open Up weekend which launches the Cultural Olympiad.
www.spacestudios.org.uk
Free event, open to all.

PAST EVENTS:

Whose Common Now: A series of site specific performances by poet and performer Mark Gwynne Jones
September 6, 2008. Starting in Holland Park at 10am, then Regent's Park, Primrose Hill, finishing at Potters Fields Park, London
In collaboration with Portavilion produced by UP Projects, LANS is commissioning a series of site specific performances to take place in and around the temporary 'Portavilion' structures designed by internationally acclaimed artists Dan Graham, Toby Patterson, Monika Sosnowska and Annika Eriksson in four of London’s most used and celebrated Parks.  This performative event by Mark Gwynne Jones explores the nature of our common spaces as places to reflect and even daydream... 
To open a poetic dialogue, performer and poet Mark Gwynne Jones is inviting the public to text him their thoughts on these four new public interventions. These reactions to the four new 'Portavilions' will form the focus of a series of new poems and four performances in which the poet's muse and public's views combine.  Text Mark on 07941 446399.
Read more on Gwynne Jones' work and his first poem in response to the spaces that the Portavilions will occupy this summer >> 

REVISED performance times for Saturday 6th September - rain or shine:
10am: Holland Park, Dan Graham pavilion next to the Belvedere Restaurant (nearest tube Holland Park)
12pm: Regent's Park, Annika Eriksson's 'Smallest Cinema in the World', next to Clarence Bridge (nearest tube Baker Street)
2pm: Primrose Hill, Monika Sosnowska's pavilion on the South-West slope of the hill (nearest tube Swiss Cottage or Chalk Farm)
4pm: Potters Fields Park, Toby Patterson's pavilion next to City Hall on the South Bank (nearest tube London Bridge)
Free event, open to all but booking recommended. Please email info@gunpowderpark.org. Performance times subject to change, please check this website before attending the event. Alternatively, audiences are encouraged to travel with Gwynne Jones from park to park between performances.
For further information on Portavilion visit www.upprojects.com

Click here to download details of Mark Gwynne Jones Performance

Interdependence Day VI September 10-13, 2008. Kaai Theatre, Brussels, Belgium
Interdependence Day is an international initiative developed by CivWorld and Demos, USA which aims to raise awareness of the interdependent character of global society and foster transnational and interdependent solutions to global challenges.  As an annual event led by political theorist Dr. Benjamin Barber, this years Interdependence Day will be co-hosted by the Kaai Theatre and the European Parliament, Brussels and will feature a dialogue on The Art of Common Space programme and the potential art, architecture and design have to deliver truly common and democratic spaces.
www.civworld.org
By invitation only.

Parked Art: Designing Art for Common Space
July 18, 2008. Design Museum, London
Parked Art is a one day discussion forum exploring the possibilities for temporary public art projects, the relationship between art and architecture, and the social and environmental value that art can create for public spaces. It will generate inclusive dialogue and discussion from an interdisciplinary audience who share the responsibilities for shaping our public realm as physical and social spaces. Speakers and audience will include artists; curators and commissioners; local authority officers from parks & green spaces, culture & arts, and planning & regeneration; biodiversity specialists and ecologists; anthropologists; students; funders; the press & media.
Parked Art will be chaired by Fred Manson OBE, Associate Director of Thomas Heatherwick Studio, and an expert in urban regeneration known for his rigorous and challenging views on the cultural, social and economic impact art can bring to public spaces. Speakers include Emma Underhill, UP Projects Director and Curator of Portavilion, Amanda Smethurst, Arts Service Manager Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Nick Biddle, Head of Regents Park, Louise Trodden, Head of Art in the Open, artist and architect collective Public Works, Jes Fernie, writer and curator, Tony Beckwith, Creative Development Director for Gunpowder Park and Tracey McNulty, Arts and Culture Development for Barking and Dagenham.
Parked Art is produced by UP Projects in partnership with the Design Museum, The Art of Common Space, a Gunpowder Park project and is hosted by London Parks and Green Spaces Forum at City Hall. 
www.upprojects.com
For full details of the symposium download the Parked Art agenda

Change of venue: Due to unforeseen circumstances, Parked Art was moved from City Hall in More London to the Design Museum on The Shad Thames, only 10 minutes walk away. Please visit www.designmuseum.org for directions or contact florencia@gunpowderpark.org for further information.
Tickets are still on sale at www.designmuseum.org or on 020 7940 8783.

Redefining Common Space through the Arts, Architecture and Design 
May 29-30, 2008. Design Museum, London and Gunpowder Park, Essex
Produced with leading American political theorist Dr. Benjamin Barber and his not for profit organisation CivWorld, USA, this intensive two day discussion hosted by the Design Museum, London brought together cultural, political and religious leaders, creative practitioners, policy makers and entrepreneurs who through their discussions aimed to challenge and progress our individual and collective thoughts, and influence the future delivery and development of our common, shared and public spaces. 
Key participants were asked to respond to the question “how do the arts, architecture and design redefine common space?” Bernd Scherer, Director of the House of World Cultures in Berlin introduced how this pioneering institution is aiming to present the arts from Africa, Asia and Latin America in a European context; artist and founder of Observatorium, Andre Dekker explained how artists can create structural interventions that create social sites for interaction and contribute to ‘place making’ strategies; Wilbur Woods, Director of Waterfront and Public Space Department, New York City discussed the complex and political master planning process involved in one of the most ambition public projects, Fresh Kills, Staten Island, NYC; Rob La Frenais, Curator for Arts Catalyst introduced their recent work with European Space Agency on cultural utilisation strategies in space exploration, and Josh Fouts and Rita King, Dancing Ink Productions discussed the social implications of virtual ‘spaces’ and their utilisation as ‘common’ spaces, free from physical constraints.
The Dialogue concluded with new work and performances produced by students from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design who have been working in Gunpowder Park throughout May.
Further information and documentation from this event to be posted soon.
www.civworld.org