Thank you,

The Soundings Team

NearLabs workshop series kicks off this weekend

Following the success of the Emotive Data, Narrative Mapping as a Tool workshop in April 2010 NearLabs return to Soundings office this weekend, Saturday 5th February 10am – 7.30pm to kick off a series of three workshops investigating various aspects of community participation and interaction design, mixed up with a dash of storytelling.

From NearLabs:

“A phenomenon of urban enterprises where citizen participation is implicit is on the rise. These community projects are about connecting like-minded members and localised services to each other within a local setting acting as Urban Apps.”

Find out more and sign up here or read on below.

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Guest Speakers

A suite of high profile guest speakers will join Crystal Campbell and Nina Honiball, organisers of the NearLabs workshops. Speakers include:

David Barrie of David Barrie & Associates

Charlie Tims (Demos)

Heather Ring (Urban Orchard)

Steve McAdam (Fluid and Soundings)

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Speakers will present case studies from their professional experience. These will be used to frame the workshop content and lead you towards the creation of a jointly told story, which is then scrutinised and transformed into a series of tangible goals.

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Find out more and sign up here

“Amazing red aloe  from the Karoo Desert National Botanic Garden taken by my brother”

South Downs, May 2010 – Ciron

A keen cyclist, Ciron and a friend went off-roading from Richmond to the South Downs, near Brighton in May last year.

They covered 70 miles, setting off at 10.30am and hitting the pub by 4pm.

Snowman, December 2010 – Amanda

Amanda shows off The Fat Controller, a very successful snowman built in one hour on a snowy December day in Hackney.

Describing it as ‘inspiring communing’, Amanda said that neighbours threw down carrots and potatoes to add to his face, and then they all had a snowball fight. Her last comment on the picture: ‘good snow.’

Jerusalem, December 2010 – Caf

These shots were taken whilst on holiday in Jerusalem this Christmas -  a pretty good place to be for the festive season. Caf especially likes the water pipes that took on a character of their own.

Hill House Farm, Carfraemill (nr. Lauder), Scotland, December 2010 / January 2011 – Kat

New Years’ Day, walking off the effects of the Hogmanay Ceilidh the night before!

Season’s Greetings from all at Soundings.

The office will be closed from Friday 24th December 2010. We’ll be back on Tuesday 4th January 2011 – see you in the New Year!

London Metropolitan University Architecture Diploma students Vaish Sheth, Danusia Lewis, Matthew Charlton are staging a night walk, from the entrance of Newham Council’s Building 1000 to a live musical event in a nearby square in an attempt to bring life to an otherwise disused space.

Join them on Tuesday 14^th December, at 5pm at Building 1000, Royal Albert Dock. (Nearest tube Royal Albert Dock DLR) click here for a map.

From the students:

“The walk is a narrative of different aspects of the Beckton/Custom House area particularly concerning what we have found interesting or peculiar about the effects of (often excessive/oppressive) light and surveillance measures.

Having noticed that this particular square has been heavily loaded with security measures such as CCTV and anti-climb fences/paint applied all around it. [We decided to stage this intervention.]

It does not feel safe to walk there in the evenings and it has not been used as an event space for several years.”

The students are teaming up with the Lighthouse Christian Fellowship - one of the buildings facing onto the square – to light up the trees and create something special to bring local people to the space.

Skip Garden in Winter, Global Generation

Coordinated by Global Generation, some exciting meanwhile use projects are taking place on the King’s Cross development site. Opportunities to take a look are coming up on Tuesday 14^th and Wednesday 15^th December.

Global Generation worked with local stakeholder groups to get them truly involved in an edible foods growing project, as well as a number of community group, schools and estate allotment projects. More information on their projects can be found here.

Text from the Global Generation website:

“The Skip Garden is helping to create a bio diverse and social ecology in Kings Cross. Most importantly, it is supporting young people to play a pivotal role in transforming this part of the city and the way we live and work in it. They are being trained to become social innovators who are building gardens and inspiring others to create a new and sustainable future.”

Text from their newsletter:

Take a break from your busy pre-Xmas schedule and join Global Generation in their winter festivities at the Skip Garden on Tuesday 14 December, from 12 to 6pm and at the Hoop Garden on Wednesday 15 December from 10am to 6pm.

The Global Generation team, the Generators and South Camden Community School BTEC students will all be on hand to show you around the gardens. And hot drinks will be on tap to keep you warm too!

On Tuesday 14 Generators host the Skip Garden from 4pm to 6pm.

On Wednesday 15 BTEC students host lunch at the Hoop Garden from 11am to 1pm.

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About Global Generation

Global Generation supports young people to generate change. We focus our projects on the three interdependent themes of  ‘I, We and The Planet’. This approach increases awareness of self, community and the natural environment and instills young people with the confidence to generate change in the business and local community.

Global Generation won Best Regeneration Project in the London Business Awards 2010.

Executive Director Jane Riddiford:

“it is a great acknowledgement for all the hard work and creativity that so many people have put into bringing the Skip Garden and our surrounding gardens to life. This is really the work of a thousand hands.

Winning a business award is very encouraging for a small charity like Global Generation as we see enterprise as the way forward. I am also thrilled that the award is for regeneration which truly embraces the multidimensional nature of our work, and the way it enables people to become engaged in creating a new story for the future.”

Soundings and Kings Cross Central

Soundings’ sister company, Fluid, undertook pioneering community consultation and engagement on the Kings Cross site. This project won a CABE award for innovation in consultation (2003).

More information on this project will be posted soon: watch out for our Project Spotlight articles.

The pop-up exhibition will be held this Thursday, from 11am to 5pm in the Great Court of the British Museum.

An interesting example of school children working with MA students in a heritage context.

Kevin Flude, Director: The Old Operating Theatre Museum
And Did Those Feet/Cultural Heritage Resources
Web site http://www.chr.org.uk

As soon as a new date has been agreed, we will update the blog.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused: Christina and Steve look forward to visiting the Isle of Wight Architecture Centre at a later date.

Choreography for Blackboards

Something for the weekend… (text and images from Southbank Centre website).

This installation-performance by Michael Kliën features six people drawing on blackboards in a ritual ambience. Klien’s choreography weaves individual expressions into a dreamlike collective dance of minds. Viewers are free to walk, sit, read and converse throughout the process.

Credits -

Choreography – Michael Kliën

Dramaturgy – Steve Valk

Music – Volkmar Klien

Lighting – Dave Guy

Choreography for Blackboards takes place from 4pm to 5.30pm on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 November.

Admission free with Move: Choreographing You exhibition ticket.

Supported by Culture Ireland and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation