The meeting and rehearsal walk with Hilary

The walk with Hilary was very helpful because her observations on what needs to be excavated more in depth, on our chosen sites, helped me to decide the structure on how the information is delivered to participants.

Tasks for next week:
1. Get relevant information and design a pamphlet with a clear content of the sites, we will visit for example, Regent canal, Rosemary Gardens, Thomas Briggs and the Rosemary Branch Theatre.
2. Create a script detailing the points we want to make about certain points along the walk, allowing us to improvise on it.
3. Work out a structure on who will lead on delivering certain information. I do believe both artists should bounce off each other when delivering the information, so it provides a more natural feel and not too rehearsed.
4. Create a number of activities for participants to take part in on the walk, to make it more fun and exciting. This will enable participants to explore with the site more in-depth.

Previous to this lesson I have researched and found a lot of history on my sites, so now I need to transfer and structure this information into a pamphlet. I want participants to be able to map their own memory on this walk so, I will provide a map that allows them to add any past or present memories. It can be any memory that the canal, Rosemary gardens or the theatre may retrieve. They can mark their memories on the map any way they would like to for example, it can be a symbol, drawing or written words.

History of the Regents canal

The Regent’s Canal, built between 1812 and 1820, was of later date and built to a much higher standard of construction and engineering technology. The provision of twin locks along the canal‘s length made for speedier journeys. Some trade was lost to the railways in the mid 19th century and after the First World War to the roads, but the canal remained a commercial waterway until 1950. By the 1950s much of the central and eastern sections were run down and derelict. The severe winter of 1962-3 when canals throughout the country were frozen for weeks, broke inland water freight forever, as cargoes transferred to the roads and never returned. From the 1960s onwards campaigning by groups such as the Inland Waterways Association, British Waterways and local amenity societies has done much to improve the canal as a leisure and environmental entity and to regenerate industrial and residential premises adjoining the canal. Throughout much of the length of the canal in Hackney, to both the south and north banks are extensive public housing estates, especially between Actons Lock and the Kingsland Basin.

The Regent’s Canal in Hackney is used well by the local community, boaters and commuters who use the towpath for cycling, socialising and walking to work. Along some sections of the canal and on the basins are surviving 19th and early 20th century warehouses and industrial buildings, many formerly associated with the furniture and building trades, which dominated the canal-side wharves of Hackney at this time. There is great pressure on the traditional characteristics and uses of the canal. It is no longer used for freight and despite pleasure craft using the waterway, the industrial nature of the canal and adjacent buildings has been lost. A growing trend is the total or partial demolition of old factories and warehouses on sites beside the canal and their replacement with new housing developments. Often large in scale, as on the former Gainsborough Studios site adjacent to New North Road, these new developments are altering the character of the Regent’s Canal and that of its immediate environs.

The most significant changes that have occurred beside the canal are relatively recent. Since the late 1980s and especially since the mid-1990s there has been change in use of former industrial buildings beside the canal into residential accommodation. An example of this is the former Royle Card Factory beside Wenlock Basin which now comprises desirable waterside lofts (Figure 4). A tandem trend can be also observed, which has seen the demolition of semi-derelict and unused canalside industrial buildings and their replacement with new housing developments, on these Brownfield sites. This trend seems likely to continue. Market research has shown that waterside developments increase development values by more than 20% – it is therefore unsurprising that the Regent’s Canal in Hackney is under pressure given the proximity to the City of London and the completion of the East London Line extension to Dalston by 2010.

My poster informing the public about my project

Independant Research 26/3/2014

Today I have used the Dalston Archive to find the specific map that I can use for my guided walk. I found a map from 1838 and photocopied the specific location I will be using, to create my own route. I will try to identify certain paths, buildings and scenery that has changed or developed from this map. Using the map, I did the walk by myself today, exploring the new development or change, that is visible today and is not situated on the map. This also helped my gain a rough estimate on how the walk is going to take.

I also researched more in-depth, the history of the canal and how much it has developed. Mainly on the buildings that surround it and also the people it attracts now, in comparison to the people it did around the time period of the original map.

seventh class/ Independent research

Today’s class was a recap on the Jane Rendell’s reading, discussing and commenting on:

1. Smithsons’s The Spiral Jetty
2. Non-site, site and place
3. Site being open ‘limits and inner coordinates’
4. Jose Davilas work

The class then moved on to discuss how we will market our final performances, so that members of the community are informed about the event, so they can attend. Facebook and twitter event pages is a good way in our generation to attract the publics attention, but we also after consider all age groups and not all people use social media. I will be creating events pages for my project and creating posters, to handout around the community. This will allow the public to learn more about the project.

Anton from The Proud Archivist have aloud the class to use the library for performance day, but my walk starts outside so I was able to start a more in-depth exploration of my chosen sites. It was helpful to have the library to sit and reflect on what we have done and, what needs to be done next. I found a lot of relevant information today as discussed in my previous blogs on specific sites, the next step is to put the information into a structured pamphlet.

Taking place: some reflections on site, performance and community by Sally Mackey & Nicolas Whybrow

This journal begins with an introduction on the relationship Applied theatre has with site and place, the purpose of the engagement and how site and place are explored through such a hybrid art. Applied theatre functions as an umbrella term because it engages with with different practices highlighting, interesting questions on site, text, cultural context, spectatorship and many more. Applied theatre takes performance to a broad level of performance settings, normally community based.

The authors make a point that site and place overlap due to the fact site can be looked at as a place, vice versa. There is concerns that the difference in site and place can depend on the environment of the location of a site or place and what, psychological and physiological effects of ones positioning can relate to identity, sense of belonging and difference. They point out their thoughts on the tension and overlaps of site, place and applied performance. They believe in many ways site and place have always been essential to applied practices, this is due to interaction through idea of community, who sometimes can be critically joined with sentimental systems, that give them the urge to act out.

The journal discusses how applied theatre is normally situated in a non-traditional theatre settings, in locations where they engage strongly with their community in chosen locations and space. This engagement with the place through the interaction they have with the communities and events or situations that may evolve is what makes it a place. But what they bring to a site and how they approach their application to engage with it, can provoke tension because digging up skeletons or buried history as an outsider, people want to know its purpose and values. Though they do state that applied practices have a passion to produce theatre to make change and improvement, on a chosen socio-political issue and will work together as a whole to resolve the outcome in a productive manner. The problem is when a community is involved in a project, where a location is intervened and certain historical events are provoked, the findings can can cement a given collective identity or community belonging. In many circumstances this is seen to be creating a false sense of identity, through the vulnerability of people who have a sentimental longing for a period in the past.

When there is a sentimental longing for a period that took place in the past, based around a certain site and can not be returned, this can determine the site to become place with ethical issues to consider. If history and events are represented in a different context it is questioned if they can deliver the and fulfil, the dreams that one relates to as home. This tends to give one a sense of belonging if applied effectively. Then there is a case of history being displaced, because the choice of the site may not be relevant for what they are trying to portray. For example, trying to find create change to prevent violence in a location where it is not suffering the affects other locations are, will not relate to its community.

Cultural geographies in practice Walking and Looking by Andrea Phillips

This reading introduces a short paper written by Phillips, that comments on a piece of work by, Tim Brennan’s work, the Mercator Manoeuvre. His work mainly involves audience members to participate in a guided walk, mapped out by him. His interest on how the way he designs his walks as an activity for participants to discover, his chosen architecture and spaces portray an index of cultural and political power.

Phillips raises questions and discusses the relationships between walking and looking, also pointing out the similarities and differences in walking as an activity. She expresses that when one walks as an activity this opens up unreachable spaces, as the person is conscious to their surroundings and interested to research into the space further. Walking in a manner that demonstrates the limits of such space due to the construction that claims the space. This process can be challenging as it is not a natural process to look and think the same time, in depth of an historical width.

She shares information on the knowledge she has collected on different artworks that are either produces or experienced by walking and how most of theses artworks have typical patterns, on the aim to social access in contemporary culture. Through exploring a variety of projects in this art practice, she believes walking as an art where people get a more intimate relationship with their subject. This will depend on the way everyday life is made effective by an artistic effect and the replacement concept of something. Also on the outcome and the way an artist choreographs their route, will determine this. It needs to be a clear outcome of what the purpose of the walk was and the artist is prepared for the political and socio problems faced for the outcome.

Walking is a participatory process that is a never ending activity inviting a person to enjoy their surroundings, to learn about historical events represented in different context. The art also provides a divide between its aesthetic representation and ethical engagement and provides a way of writing your own landscape.

I found this reading very interesting as it relates in so many ways to my own project. It was relieving for me to discover from this reading that walking is an unfinished form, so my project will probably discover a minor part of the social and historical change on my walk. But as long as my information is clear to my participants and provides the a strong outcome on the socio-political purpose of my project. I feel this should build a strong discourse amongst participants on the sites they have visited.

Phillips, A. (2005) Cultural Geographies in Practice: Walking and Looking, Cultural Geographies 12: 507-513

The structure and materials needed for my project

The journey will begin at the Proud Archivist and from there my participants will be guided along the canal. I will be discussing the history behind the canal and certain buildings that sit along it. We will move on to the Thomas Briggs building which is situated left of the canal on South-gate road, where I will be sharing some information on what the building has been used for. Participants will be able to explore the building while listening to a recorded audio, of an interview taken from the owner talking about his knowledge of the building. The next site I will guide my participants to is the Rosemary Theatre which is directly across the road, from the Thomas briggs building. At this location we will hopefully be able to tour the pub downstairs and the Theatre space, which is on the next floor up. There is also a recorded audio from the owner of the building for participants to listen to, where some history of the building was shared with us. We will then move on to the Rosemary gardens a two minute walk from the Rosemary theatre on south-gate road. This space is aesthetically pleasing because it is an open space with lots of greenery, animals and the public, can play sport, walk their dogs or sit on the benches to absorb the beautiful environment.

Materials needed:

1. Maps
2. Pens or pencils
3. Iphone, iPod or any other device participants own which enables them to listen to the audios.
4. Pamphlets for participants
5. Camera

The map will be taken from the archive and is dated 1836. I will then create my own route on the map and discover what has changed in terms of having access to certain roads and pathways. This will also provide me with the information of what was there in previous years and what is obstructed the old pathways today.

Independent Research on the Rosemary Theatre

Today I went to the Rosemary Theatre and Spoke to the owner who has owned the building for eighteen years. She was very helpful and answered questions on the history she knew about the building and her personal experiences, memories and how her business has progressed over the years she has been there. The interview was about fourteen minutes long and she allowed us a mini tour of the pub that is downstairs and the theatre that is on the first floor. The building has redeveloped a number of times since the 1836.

Here are the questions that were covered in the interview:

1. The history of the Rosemary Theatre?
2. The history of the building?
3. How long she has owned it?
4. Her memories and experiences?
5. Community change in the area and how it has affected her business?
6. What sort of people do her business attract?

It was really nice to tour the building and it helped my get a good insight to the social and artistic vibe, it provides the area with. I have a recorded audio of the interview and will attach it for participants to listen to on the walk. I also took photos of the articles and photos that were displayed around the bar, that displayed some of the history on the events and artists that have used the building.

Independant research on the background history of my chosen location and sites

Today I have researched further into maps directories and found some books with relevant information to back up the historical background, on the sites I wish to work with. This information was found in the Dalston archive.

Research found:
De Beauvoir Town is taken to be the south-west corner of Hackney Parish from Kingsland Road west to Southgate Road and from the Regent’s canal north almost to Ball’s Pond Road. It embraces the Hackney estate of the de Beauvoir family, lords of Balmes, whose land extended farther south into Shoreditch, and excludes Ball’s Pond Road, which was built up as part of Islington. Balmes House and the northern part of the estate were sometimes said to be in Kingsland.

Development was stimulated by the cutting of the Regent’s canal south of Balmes House, by which time the house was an asylum and much of its land had been leased to the Rhodes family. William Rhodes (d. 1843) secured in 1821 a building lease from Peter de Beauvoir which was to lead to lawsuits and unusually made no stipulations about the buildings.

Rhodes planned a grid pattern, with four squares on diagonal streets intersecting at an octagon. His paving and lighting Bill of 1823 was abandoned, however, and development was piecemeal and mainly along the fringe, where modest buildings could most easily find tenants: by the canal, along or off Kingsland Road, and in Tottenham Road. A few subleases were made by Rhodes from 1822 and more from 1823, when Richard Benyon de Beauvoir stopped all activity through an injunction. Rhodes was soon allowed to resume work on Kingsland basin but apparently he started no new building before control of all development passed to de Beauvoir in 1834. Subleases were still made by Rhodes, as of houses in Kingsland Road in 1824, in Enfield Road in 1826, and in Tottenham Road in 1825 and 1828.

Most of the land between Kingsland and Hertford roads had been built on by 1834, except immediately north of Englefield Road. To the west there was new building only by the canal, at the corners of Hertford and Downham Roads, perhaps on the eastern side of the later De Beauvoir Square (nos. 1-16 Park Place), and part of Tottenham Road. Balmes House survived between Downham Road and the canal, although threatened by the lines of Whitmore and Frederick (later De Beauvoir) roads. For the land thereafter leased by R. B. de Beauvoir a
more spacious layout was devised, with terraces mainly in short blocks and many semidetached villas; of the projected squares only the southeastern was retained, as De Beauvoir Square, although the diagonals partly survived in Enfield, Stamford, and Ardleigh roads. Progress was hastened by the proximity of depots in Kingsland basin and by loans from the estate to individual builders. In the 1840s subleases were made for most of the remaining houses. Presumably most builders followed their own designs, although the remaining three sides of De Beauvoir Square, begun in 1838 with Thomas Smith as the chief builder, may have been by W. C. Lockner, architect of St. Peter’s church.

The estate was intended to be almost wholly residential, except around the basin and at the south-west corner, where a factory leased from 1823 was apparently the forerunner of that of Thomas Briggs the tentmaker. Public houses were permitted, the Duke of York in Downham Road being leased to a brewing company as early as 1822, and shops were leased in Southgate Road from 1843. Kingsland Road’s west side was commercial south of