Events 2019

Hello and welcome to the AJ Events Blog 2019.

REMNANT - A FEELING FOR TIME is in collaboration with the Woodland Trust. They are planning to develop a series of toposcopes around the site for visitors.

A toposcope is defined as: a viewing point on a hill, mountain or other high places which indicates the direction, and usually the distance, to notable landscape features which can be seen from that point. This project provides the opportunity to come up with a contemporary architectural version of a familiar landscape landmark.

These rest points should highlight the history of the site, educate visitors and offer some respite from long walks. Through education of the effects that humans have had on the landscape they hope that people think, react and care about the site.

What we will be creating is an atlas of research on the site, as well as design responses reflecting these. Through tracing of the historical, cultural and physical resources on the site we will be able to design toposcopes that fulfil the requirements of the Woodland Trust.

This is a project that the Woodland Trust plans to carry out in the future, meaning this work forms an essential grounding and potential influence for the final project. So if you're interested in landscapes, history and the environment come join group AJ!

Meet the Group E(L-R) Michael O'Reilly (CPU), Shambhavi Joshi (CPU), Eugenia Papaiakovou (USE), Aishwarya Somisetty (PRAXXIS), and Irvine Toroitich (&arch).

Group E - Modular and Movable Maker Space - Events Poster

The week-long summit in Manchester was a great opportunity to hear and learn from Global delegates. Each seminar offered a taster of several creative practices which included dance, film and collaborative working.

More info on 'With One Voice' and 2018's delegates can be found on: http://with-one-voice.com

The Panel for Cultural Spaces' Responses to Homelessness

A multitude of cultural spaces were discussed at the summit, including theatres, concert halls, museums, libraries, art galleries and open spaces. The panels' main focus was that supervisors are made aware of the situation with homeless people in these cultural spaces, and a conversation was started about how this can be achieved. One of the main objectives discussed was the creation of a set of guidelines for new or existing cultural spaces, to make them more accessible and welcoming for people who are or have been homeless. It is this objective that we are going to help with!

From left to right;
Phyllida Shaw (Chair - With One Voice)
Helen Wewiora (Director - Castlefield Gallery)
Adriana Carla (Ex-Director - Museum of Tomorrow)
Translator
Jo Guidice (Director - Dallas Public Library)
David Tovey (Founder - One Festival of Homeless Arts)

Introducing Trolleyfest! This year we will be collaborating with the Modernist Society which we are very thrilled to work with alongside Pobi Shop which specialises in making bespoke wooden furniture. Our main agenda for this event is to design a portable display to transport and promote literature and trinkets sold by the Modernist Society.

Hani Namirra

Following consultations with our collaborators, we began to draw out our session plan for events week and draw out a thorough risk assessment.
We will be visiting the Whitworth gallery where we will be looking at some brilliant exhibition designs for inspiration.

Group AH - African Modernisms Poster Released

The event will involve the design and planning of an exhibition showcasing the work of a fifth year humanities group. This work includes 3D models and maps surrounding Accra's waterfront developments.
Over the two weeks we will be designing this exhibition in collaboration with students from the university in Accra, Ghana. This exhibition will be constructed in the 'Jamestown Cafe' in Accra, Ghana.

THE COLLABORATORS AND THE SITE

Group AI can now announce we will be working alongside Sanctuary Supported Living at Victoria House who provide short-term housing for homeless individuals and rough sleepers in Manchester.

Together, our team has made a site visit in order to collect further information from the collaborators and residents whilst collectively walking around their garden area. From the visit, we were impressed with the current effort staff and residents have put in for developing parts of their existing garden, implementing activities that encourage getting involved with building/ designing interventions for their own personal space and bringing them into the garden. With regards to this, both the staff and residents made evident that these interactive projects are very beneficial and enjoyable.

From our view, Victoria House has great potential to continue growing this incentive and implementing it throughout their large garden space. As a result, we discussed with the staff, that it would be essential to assist in continuing this successful method of improving residents experience. Consequently, we collectively agreed adaptable planters and mural painting to cover existing unwanted imagery would be a valuable addition.

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

After three months of working behind the scenes, building relationships with collaborators and developing an exciting event, we are delighted to confirm we will be creating a project for a homeless shelter, working alongside staff and residents to enhance their garden space. In this project, we will address the existing garden area, whilst specifically focusing on delivering a proposal suitable, engaging and for the needs of the residents.

Currently our team is developing and polishing both a poster and proposal session plan which we will use to present to the BA Architecture Students at the end of this month.

Conceptual Stage

Earlier on in our process, we sat around and put together collages that best represented our personal interpretation of the brief provided by our collaborator. It has been brought to my attention that the dadaism is a very important aspect with the Merz barn and the concept is to incorporate some dadaism ideas into a contemporary rural studio settings.

//SUMMIT_12th November 2019

The team attended the International Arts and Homelessness Summit & Festival, a conference between 12-18 Nov at The Whitworth; that delved into the themes of People, Practice, Policy, Performance and Partnerships in the context of arts and homelessness.