Real Estates

From 18 February to 28 March 2015 Real Estates was a project coordinated by art collective Fugitive Images opening at PEER as a social, discursive and imaginative space around issues of housing and spatial justice in East London through a constantly changing series of exhibitions, screenings, discussions, readings and workshops. ‘This project arrives at the end of a seven-year series of collaborative works with our neighbours of the Haggerston Estate. Our work came from within the community, with whom we cultivated other spaces to gather, share and campaign before the estate was demolished. Our neighbourhoods and communities are facing even greater threats from new developments and policies that separate and stratify us. But there are also many that have resisted these forces. In these six-weeks we invite in other communities, speakers and artists related to the housing crisis in London. The project will act as a platform for campaign groups and engaged makers to bring their important work into a different space, to share with us a glimpse of their own long-term projects on key sites. The gallery will host works that connect us, that illuminate, that bring pain to the surface, that inspire tenderness, that reject terrifying social injustices and restore ethical imperatives. The events programme brings together discussions around eviction, displacement and homelessness and their expression through an art that is committed to being made public and shared. This is not for profit, there nothing for sale and all events will be free.’ Fugitive Images Fugitive Images are Andrea Luka Zimmerman and David Roberts, a collaborative cultural activist producing agency, with a particular interest in, and commitment to, the social organisation of urban space. The exhibition was an opportunity to extend this collaboration to other communities, campaigners and artists who have made it their life’s work to make visible the impacts of eviction, displacement and homelessness on everyday lives. These rooms hosted works and events that connect us, that illuminate, that bring pain to the surface, that inspire tenderness, that voice solidarity. Together we hope to develop a deeper understanding and find strategies to resist terrifying social injustices and restore ethical imperatives. Exhibiting work from: Fugitive Images (Andrea Luka Zimmerman and David Roberts), Tom Hunter, James Mackinnon, Bekki Perriman, Moyra Peralta, Cardboard Citizens, DIG Collective (William Bock, Alberto Duman, Sophie Mason and Mark Morgan), Focus E15 Campaign, Smart Urhoife, UEL Unit 10. Contributions from: Owen Jones, Hackney Digs, Pau Faus, Pau Faus, Silvia Gonzáles-Laá, Xavi Andreu, Aysen Denis, John Smith, Jane Rendell, Beverley Robinson, Aysen Dennis, Richard Baxter, Caterina Sartori, Brandon LaBelle, John Rogers, Jeremy Till, Barry Watts, Ken Loach, Kerry Simmons, Dave Sinclair, Lesley Woodburn, Sarah Kwei, Dave Smith, Paul Heron, Felicity Downing, Adrian Jackson, Marcia Farquhar, David Madden, Lisa McKenzie, Tom Gann, Alberto Duman, Louise Sayarer, Eva Vikstrom, Tom Cordell, Kate Macintosh, Paul Watt, Melissa Butcher, Jon Fitzmaurice, Fuel Poverty Action, Tawanda Nyabango, Jasmin Parsons, Geraldine Dening, Alison Balance, Patrick Langley, Morgan Quaintance, Rab Harling, Sue Lukes, Advisory Service for Squatters, Green and Black Cross, Legal Defence and Monitoring Group, Sweets Way Estate, HASL, Unite Communities, Our West Hendon, Guinness, Skills Network, Radial Housing Network, Dorothy Allan-Pickard, Rastko Novakovic, Steven Ball, Kate Belgrave, Jason Parkinson, Julian Samboma, LCAP, Sibyl Trigg, John Murray, Elisabeth Blanchet, Jane Hearn, Andre Anderson, Raze, Predz UK, Kayden Bell, Jade Snyper, Nathaniel Telemaque, Municipal Dreams, Guillaume Meigneux, Stephen Watts, Lorna Forrester, Elam Forrester, Alison Marchant, Gillian McIver, Emer Mary Morris, Cathy Ward, Nela Milic. --- Programme overview Each week PEER will host a rolling exhibition programme, events and screenings featuring a number of strands. from 7pm – Openings and socials 2-5pm – Class Room, workshops and lectures for students and the public from 6.30pm – Focus, film screenings, talks, readings and actions from 6.30pm – Film screenings 2-5pm – Homeworks – Public talks from key figures/campaigns on housing All of the events are FREE, but it is strongly advised to arrive at least 10 minutes prior to the start time as space is limited and seats will be allocated on a first come first served basis. Weekly Programme: 18 February 7pm, Owen Jones, author, campaigner and Guardian columnist will launch the Real Estates project. Week One 18 to 21 February This week expands on the Estate project by Fugitive Images, featuring material generated from their long-term engage- ment on the Haggerston Estate in collaboration with residents and local practitioners. Key events include an evening with filmmaker John Smith including screenings of Hackney Marshes and Blight, UEL Unit 10 students will hold a seminar on their design and engagement with the Nightingale Estate and talks from the information, support and campaign group Hackney Digs. Week Two 25 to 28 February This week features a large-scale model of the Holly Street Estate (demolished in 2001), a photographic sculpture concieved and designed by artists James Mackinnon and Tom Hunter. Hunter will also exhibiting photographs of Holly Street residents (1997) and his film A Palace for Us (2010). Events include workshops with sound artist Brandon LaBelle and architectural theoretician Jane Rendell, and a talk by architect and Head of Central Saint Martins, Jeremy Till. Film- maker and writer John Rogers (Trews Reports/Drift Report) surveys his ongoing series of videos highlighting housing cam- paigns around London including the New Era Estate, West Hendon, and Save Soho. Week Three 4 to 7 March This week is themed around homelessness. Bekki Perriman’s The Doorways Project explores homeless culture through photography and sound, inviting visitors to pay attention to the intimate, sometimes humorous, often disturbing and mostly ignored stories of homeless people. This will be accompanied by photographs by Moyra Peralta and work from Cardboard Citizens which has been making theatre with homeless people for over 20 years, for homeless and non-home- less audiences. Cardboard Citizens is informed and inspired by Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, using the arts to provoke debate and rehearse actions. Events include a screening of Ken Loach’s Cathy Come Home and talks by performance artist Marcia Farquhar and campaigners Lesley Woodburn and Barry Watt. Week Four 11 to 14 March This week is curated by DIG Collective, formed of William Bock, Alberto Duman, Sophie Mason and Mark Morgan, who came together to interrogate demolition and redevelopment, ritual and nature in Hackney Central. Week Five 18 to 21 March This week is run by Focus E15 Campaign, continuing to build their movement that demands SOCIAL HOUSING, NOT SOCIAL CLEANSING. The week will be a melting pot of ideas and events, exhibiting visual materials and films about their campaign, hosting an eviction resistance workshop, open mic night, discussions and socials. Week Six 25 to 28 March The final week will feature an expanded enquiry from Fugitive Images, including politics and high fashion expressed in the Ghana Must Go bags made by Estate fashion designer Smart Urhiofe. Events include a panel discussion by and on Women, Home and Activism with Lorna & Elam Forrester, Gillian McIver, Lesley Woodburn, Emer Mary Morris, Alison Marchant, Cathy Ward,Aysen Dennis, Nela Milic, and Andrea Luka Zimmerman; a screening of Guillaume Meigneux’s HLM – (Slightly Modfied Housing); readings from poet Stephen Watts; and an evening with the Authors of the Estate project contributors – Andre Anderson, Raze, Predz UK, Kayden Bell, Jade Snyper, Nathaniel Telemaque. PEER, LUX, Restless Futures, CSM. Fugitive Images are Andrea Luka Zimmerman and David Roberts, a collaborative cultural activist producing agency, with a particular interest in, and commitment to, the social organisation of urban space