The alt.SPACE Festival 2006
The alt.SPACE Festival 2006: A Long Weekend in London
South London Gallery, E:vent Network, and various public spaces, London (2006)
The second annual alt.SPACE festival was set up as a three day on-going dialogue between invited participant and other guests. Using both public and domestic space, and two host venues (South London Gallery and E:vent Network), the festival took the form of a continuous movement across London interlinking practical activities (walking, cooking, setting up camp, etc.), informal discussions and convivial activity, and more formal project presentations and discussions.
DAY 1: We meet up in the flat in Whitechapel that hosts us for the weekend, have some drinks amongst the mattresses on the living room floor; there are bags everywhere; people are chatting and playing music. We eventually make our way to Camberwell and South London Gallery, where we have set up in a dark room behind the gallery. It is a really warm summer day and South London Gallery offer to buy beer and wine for everyone and we start drinking in the courtyard before the project presentations starts. Following the presentations themselves and some brief discussion in the courtyard, we set off to a nearby cul-de-sac: the security floodlights of the building at the end of the dead end alleyway provides us with some light and a makeshift stage. We cover the cobbled street with huge pink cushions and set up some tables, make sangria and gazpacho, and we have fruit and bread, and a huge plastic rose bush. The evening ends with story telling and music performances.
DAY 2: The following day we get up early and try to make cucumber sandwiches. Eventually we set off from Whitechapel and head towards Stratford train station. After a picnic in front of the station, next to the little clock that counts the days to the Olympics 2012, we walk across the nearby cycle tracks and into Lea Valley, and then head south towards Bethnal Green, stopping near the canal for some discussion and to share the now very soggy cucumber sandwiches. In the afternoon we end up E:vent Network getting some curries on the way. People gather in the gallery space, and after a few project presentations we get into a broader discussion which lasts until late in the evening. Back in Whitechapel people are crowding in the living room, listening to music, talking and drinking. We eventually move out into the garden, and as it starts to rain, try to put a gazebo up, eventually succeeding after some initial difficulties. We stay in the garden and watch the sun rise before trying to catch some sleep.
DAY 3: We gather late the following day. After a meal, we screen Vilgot Sjöman’s I’m Curious Yellow/Blue. People are falling a sleep. There are flights to catch. Work to go to. Homes to return to. At midnight, we call an end to the whole thing and try to get some sleep.
Invited contributors, participants and guests include:
Dominic Hislop/BIG HOPE (Berlin, http://www.bighope.hu) - project presentation, music performance and discussion;
New Beginnings (Malmö, http://www.nbgngs.org) - project presentation and discussion;
Signal Gallery (Malmö, http://www.signal-galleri.org) - project presentation and discussion;
Rozalinda Borcila (Tampa: http://www.borcila.tk) – project presentation and discussion;
C.CRED (London: http://www.ccred.org) - walk and discussion;
Neil Chapman & Martin Wooster (London/Chalford) – project presentation and discussion
Lee Simmons (London: http://www.leesimmons.org) – project presentation and discussion;
Joe Collins (Leeds: http://www.pocketuniverses.co.uk) - storytelling performance.
