I am delighted to say that I am going to be giving some lectures in the UK next week.. ..on the subjects discussed in my new book. The first is in London on Tuesday March 10th, 6pm at the RSA. (The Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufacture.. and pretty much everything else than any wholesome Victorian would want to encourage). The RSA’s Great Room is gorgeous. It has a fabulous series of paintings on the theme of “Progress” by James Barry, featuring earnest thinkers and many scantily clad young women whose main hope appears to be that The Progress of Human Culture is going to give them something more substantial to wear than a precariously secured bedsheet. The mural is worth the price of admission alone (free but you must register). The RSA’s bar is pretty nice too….
Following that, on Thursday March 12, I will be in Cambridge giving the first Arcadia Lecture on Cultural Agoraphobia and the Future of the Library . The Arcadia Project explores the role of academic libraries in a digital age. It is advised by the Open University’s John Naughton who is the author of A Brief History of the Future: From Radio Days to Internet Years in a Lifetime and the person behind Memex 1.1.
Dates and Times:
10th March, 2009 London
RSA Lecture. “The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind” 6pm March 10 Register
Where:
8 John Adam Street
London, WC2N 6EZ, United Kingdom
+44 20 7930 5115
12 March, 2009, Cambridge
Where:Lee Hall, Wolfson College, Cambridge University
Thursday 12 March 2009, 6pm-7:15pm
James- I am on the waiting list and hoping to hear your talk this evening, at the RSA- in the meantime, you may be interested to know of our parallel work-
THE ART OF COMMON SPACE http://www.artofcommonspace.org
INVITATION Spring Equinox weekend 21-22 March 2009
Gunpowder Park, Sewardstone Road, Waltham Abbey, Essex EN9 3GP
We invite you to join us in Gunpowder Park to celebrate the Art of Common Space programme and the culmination of the five year programme of arts led research and development projects in Gunpowder Park, Essex.
The Art of Common Space is an international arts programme which explores the question ‘What is common space in our 21st century multi-cultural society?’ which is produced through four programme strands: Dialogues, Experience, Mapping and Research & Development in Gunpowder Park and venues in the UK, Europe and the USA.
Projects are sited throughout the 90 hectares of the Park and in the landmark Field Station gallery space. Screenings and activities are scheduled for 11am through 6pm on both Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 March.
0.00 Navigation – Simon Faithfull
Premiere screening of this epic new film which charts Faithfull’s physical journey along the Meridian line. Negotiating all obstacles and individuals he encounters, Faithfull’s path has been recorded as a slapstick film of one man’s relentless journey through private property, schools, hospitals, abandoned rail yards and Gunpowder Park.
Energy Café – Pilot Publishing
Pilot Publishing have colonized Gunpowder Park’s overflow car park since August 2008 to produce their inspiring Energy Café project, experimenting with off-grid living and sustainable energy. Over the weekend they will host their biggest local food cook up so far, including a ‘Bike-In’ peddle powered cinema with Magnificent Revolution, live music and more.
Being in Common – Proboscis
Artist studio Proboscis’ research commission asks what ‘common space’ means to people from different countries and backgrounds, exploring the notions of kinship and belonging, property and ownership. Discreet and playful interventions can be discovered throughout the Park’s landscape and a ‘Catalogue of Ideas will be presented in the Field Station.
Siphonophora – Usman Haque and Rob Davis
This interactive installation fosters a new understanding between human and non-human species. Pond life activity recorded by floating reactive devices in Gunpowder Park’s lake are feeding information live onto pachcube.com, a website collecting environmental data from sites around the world. Park visitors can listen to the sounds of the water by plugging in their own headphones to sockets on the monumental bird hide beside the lake.
The Art of Common Space exhibition in the Field Station:
The Robert Wilson / Gunpowder Park workshops, chronicling the origin of the Art of Common Space with original Wilson drawings, project proposals, photographs, film and soundscape.
Documentation of the Dialogues including:
* Redefining Common Space through Art, Architecture and Design symposium led by
internationally renowned political theorist Dr. Benjamin Barber
* The Parked Art symposium at the Design Museum, London
* A new film by artists The People Speak
* A series of new poems performed by poet Mark Gwynne Jones in and around the
Portavilion project in 2008
* The Art of Common Space at Interdependence Day VI, Brussels
Along with the Art of Common Space programme, HWA have curated a special exhibition showcasing highlights of the work from the 5 year Gunpowder Park project including:
Bright Sparks, the 11 projects completed to date for this unique research and development awards scheme which explores new ideas about public space.
Research Department X by digital artist Simon Honey. FREE copies of this limited edition interactive CD. Commissioned for the opening of Gunpowder Park in 2004 Honey’s creative interpretation of the history, landscape and wildlife of the place that is Gunpowder Park. (Available first come first served)
This event is curated and produced by Haring Woods Associates, a London based creative and strategic consultancy, established in 1996 to affect developments in the public realm through arts and culture: http://www.haringwoods.com
This is a family friendly event – so please bring your children and a picnic.
TRAVELING TO GUNPOWDER PARK: Visit http://www.artofcommonspace.org and go to Contact Us, then Visiting for details on how to travel to the Park. Free car parking. Safe bike racks.
For more information please contact:
Eileen Woods, Artistic Director
eileen@haringwoods.com
Adriana Marques, Senior Curator/Producer
adriana@haringwoods.com
Mobile: +44 (0) 787 200 9249 Haring Woods Associates
The Field Station, Gunpowder Park
Sewardstone Road, Waltham Abbey
Essex EN9 3GP
Tel: +44 (0)1992 762 128
http://www.haringwoods.com
[…] Strange Attractor created an interesting post today on UK Lectures at the RSA, (London), Wolfson College (Cambridge)Here’s a short outline2009 London. RSA Lecture. “The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind” 6pm March 10 Register. Where: 8 John Adam Street. London… […]