(c) Banner Theatre

Free Cinema School Salon: A Biased History of Political Theatre

with Frances Rifkin and Dave Rogers

Saturday 25 February 2012, 5-7pm
Centre for Possible Studies
21 Gloucester Place, London, W1U 8HR

Free

In residence at the Centre for Possible Studies are theatre director Frances Rifkin, members of no.w.here collective, Karen Mirza and Brad Butler in collaboration with the Migrant Resource Centre and Implicated Theatre, exploring the relationship between political speech and action through a series of experimental theatre workshops.

This Free Cinema School Salon, Frances Rifkin (Utopia Arts) and Dave Rogers (Banner Theatre) will be visiting histories of political theatre in the UK.

See more information here:

Banner Theatre: www.bannertheatre.co.uk

Frances Rifkin, artistic director of Utopia Arts is a cultural worker and director in Political and Community theatre. In the 1970s she was director of Recreation Ground Theatre Company and in the 1980s she was director of Banner Theatre, Birmingham and participated as a theatre activist in the anti-fascist movements, disputes and strikes of the time. She trained extensively with Augusto Boal in the early 1990s and worked as a workshop leader. Between 1992 and 1997, she was lecturer in Community and workshop theatre in Theatre Studies at Warwick and Lancaster Universities.

Dave Rogers, artistic director of Banner Theatre, was a founder member of Banner in 1973. He has written many of the company’s songs and written or co-written several shows, including Free for All(1999/2000), Black and White in the Red (2000/2), Migrant Voices (2002/3), Wild Geese (2005/6) and “They get free mobiles…don’t they?” (2007/8). Dave, whose musical roots are in the English folk revival of the 1960s/1970s, has recorded many of Banner’s songs.

More on Direct Speech Acts

Initiated as part Karen Mirza and Brad Butler’s residency with the Edgware Road Project, Direct Speech Acts has developed into nine months of intensive theatre workshops, performances and research at the Centre for Possible Studies. Led by theatre director Frances Rifkin, the experimental workshops explore the relationships between political speech and action, the self and the collective, voice and silence. The group involved in the project has come together through the close working relationship of the Centre for Possible Studies and the Migrant Resource Centre.

The theoretical basis for this practice is the work of the Brazilian director Augusto Boal (1931-2009). Boal’s conception of the ‘Theatre of the Oppressed’ explicitly challenges the divisions between active and passive states or subjects. In his work, Boal argues that we are all spect-actors – spectators and actors who shape and reflect on the world around us. Influenced by thinkers such as Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx and the pedagogue Paolo Freire, Boal travelled internationally to explore the situations of the oprimido – the oppressed – who, Boal stresses, should not refer to the condition of being defeated, being victims, but of a struggle against oppression.

At the Centre for Possible Studies, these workshops have led onto the development of a theatre collective, titled ‘Implicated Theatre’, as well as a growing archive of writing, still and moving images, and performances in community spaces such as the Migrant Resource Centre. Implicated Theatre have collectively created an ethical stage – a shared space to explore the ghosts of history and politics. Initially focused on the personal, Implicated Theatre have developed relationships and techniques which support investigations into the grand narratives that shape its participants lives.

Members of Implicated Theatre include director Frances Rifkin with Carlo Bellanova, Monika Burzykowska, Brad Butler, Simin Cox, Janna Graham, Karem Ibrahim, Yemane Kassa, Amal Khalaf, Grace Kyne-Lilley, Tatsiana Lizahle, Elizabeth Mahlanze, Laura Marziale, Karen Mirza, Liudmila Novikova, Luca Pieri, Qing Ren, Edelquinn Neri Santiago, Enrico Sibour and Rafael Zamuriano

Coming up

On the Edgware Road
6 – 28 March 2012

On the Edgware Road makes public three years of research generated by the Serpentine’s Edgware Road Project. The exhibition includes installations, films and performances, both at the Serpentine Gallery and at the Centre for Possible Studies, the Project’s home.

Free Cinema School Salon: Al Ard (The Land)

Hosted by Karem Ibrahim

Saturday 28 January 2012, 5-7pm

Centre for Possible Studies

21 Gloucester Place, London W1U 8HR

 Free

 Screening Al Ard (The Land), 1969

Directed by Youssef Chahine, Written by Hassan Fuad from the novel by Abderrahman Sharkawi
Cinematography by Abdelhalim Nasr
Edited by Rashida Abdel Salam
Original music by Ali Ismail
Egypt, 1969, Misr International Films, DVD, color, 130 min
Arabic with English subtitles

The Centre for Possible Studies is hosting Direct Speech Acts II, a programme of experimental workshops exploring the relationship between political speech and action initiated by members of film collective no.w.here, Karen Mirza and Brad Butler and led by theatre director Frances Rifkin involving activists, artists and members of the Migrant Resource Centre. The theatre group are preparing for a political theatre piece that will be presented in 2012.

Theatre group participant and artist Karem Ibrahim will host January’s Free Cinema School Salon. Marking a year since Egypt’s ‘day of rage’ on Tuesday 25 January 2011, where millions took to the streets to oppose President Hosni Mubarak’s regime, the Salon will feature a screening of the late Youssef Chahine’s Al Ard (The Land). Produced in 1969, Al Ard tells the story of a group of Egyptian peasants or fellahin, struggling to retain their land and a sense of solidarity in the face of the landed gentry’s attempts to usurp it and maintain oppressive rule.   By emphasising solidarity, Chahine indicates what he considers the only way the fellahin (peasants) have a chance at getting their rights, although it is the struggles of fragmenting unity which drive the latter parts of the film.  Considered by many critics to be Chahine’s finest film, it is one which mirrors many of his views of his native country. With elections underway in an Egypt ruled by military forces, Karem Ibrahim will discuss the film’s themes of political speech, struggle and action.

Upcoming Free Cinema School Salons will visit the history of political theatre in Brazil and the UK and their filmic counterparts.

Upcoming Salons:

Saturday 25 February 2012, 5-7pm

The Imprint installations will be on view at the Centre for Possible Studies from 1-5pm from Tuesday 31 January – Friday 3 February 2012.

For more information, please see: www.thefabelist.com

Free Cinema School Salon: Direct Speech Acts II  

Saturday 3 December 2011, 5-7pm

Centre for Possible Studies

21 Gloucester Place, London, W1U 8HR

 Free

The Centre for Possible Studies is hosting Direct Speech Acts II, a programme of experimental workshops exploring the relationship between political speech and action initiated by members of film collective, no.w.here, Karen Mirza and Brad Butler. The theatre group are preparing for a political theatre piece that will be presented in Spring 2012. At the Salon on 3 December, participants will present films, ideas and images produced through the Theatre of the Oppressed process developed by Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal.

Participants in the Direct Speech Acts workshops, led by theatre director Frances Rifkin, include: Carlo Bellanova, Monika Burzykowska, Brad Butler, Simin Cox, Janna Graham, Karem Ibrahim, Yemane Kassa, Amal Khalaf, Grace Kyne-Lilley, Tatsiana Lizahle, Elizabeth Mahlanze, Laura Marziale, Karen Mirza, Liudmila Novikova, Luca Pieri, Qing Ren, Edelquinn Neri Santiago, Enrico Sibour, Rafael Zamuriano

Upcoming Free Cinema School Salons will visit the history of political theatre in Brazil and the UK, including Augusto Boal and Banner Theatre as well as their filmic counterparts.

Upcoming Salons:

Saturday 28 January 2012, 5-7pm

Saturday 25 February 2012, 5-7pm

Free Cinema School Salon: Direct Speech Acts II

Saturday 5 November 2011, 5-7pm

Centre for Possible Studies, 21 Gloucester Place, London, W1U 8HR

Free

For the first public event at our new location, the Centre for Possible Studies will be hosting a Free Cinema School Salon on Saturday 5 November 2011 from 5-7pm.

Members of no.w.here collective, Karen Mirza and Brad Butler, are currently in residence at the Centre for Possible Studies with theatre director Frances Rifkin, local activists and the Migrant Resource Centre exploring the relationship between political speech and action.

This screening will look at examples of voice, silence, gesture and authority through a series of film clips assembled by participants in the Direct Speech Acts workshops.

In upcoming Free Cinema School Salons we will be visiting histories of political theatre such as Augusto Boal (Br) and Banner Theatre (UK) and their filmic counterparts.  Save the dates!

Saturday 3 December2011, 5-7pm

Saturday 28 January2012, 5-7pm

Saturday 25 February 2012, 5-7pm

Web Apps: Open Content and Software Approaches 

Wednesday 26 October, 6-8pm

Thursday 27 October,12noon–7pm

Centre for Possible Studies: 21 Gloucester Place, London W1U 8HR (OUR NEW LOCATION!) 

Free, please book!

As part of their residency with the Serpentine Gallery, CAMP will be holding a two day workshop following the launch of http://edgwareroad.org earlier this year.  The workshop will be led by Sanjay Bhangar, exploring emerging web technologies often clubbed under the umbrella term “HTML5″ and what this could mean for independent practitioners, developers, technologists, and what the current flame wars around web standards imply for the future. The workshop includes a demo and code overview ofhttp://edgwareroad.org, an in-browser tool to rapidly create print objects from shared archives, and video tools related to http://pad.ma, an HTML5-based text-annotated video archive.

The workshop is aimed toward people with some familiarity with the web and standards processes, but is also open to anyone with an interest in online video, print design, open content and software, and independence in general!

Following the first session on Wednesday, day two is an open ‘hack-day’ to explore questions and ideas raised in day one.

Please note: The Centre for Possible Studies has now moved to a new location… I will post pictures up soon! 

For more information please contact Amal Khalaf amalk@serpentinegallery.org

‘I Love Egypt’, Speak out!
A two-day Temporary Learning Camp
Friday 30 September – Saturday 1 October

10am-6pm daily

Speakers’ Corner, Hyde Park, London

With Susan Hefuna and Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad, Tammy Arjona-Wheeler, Gill Clarke, Mina Noshy, Westminster Academy

The Serpentine Gallery presents a free two-day public event of debate and exchange at this historic Londonlocation. The Learning Camp brings people together to share ideas about self expression and protest from two cities,London andCairo, which have seen great changes in recent months.

The Camp, led by internationally acclaimed artist Susan Hefuna is open to everyone and includes programmed and spontaneous seminars, sound and video installations, dance performances, live talks and debates relating to personal experiences fromTahrir Square to the recent demonstrations inLondon. People of all ages are invited to exchange ideas about political speech in formats that challenge traditional relationships between teachers and students: those who speak and those who listen.

The activities will be hosted in seven specially commissioned tents, designed by Hefuna, and made by traditional tentmakers inEgypt. They are inscribed with messages of hope, experiences from the recent revolution and personal statements from the people ofCairo.

Since 2009 Hefuna has facilitated exchanges betweenLondonandCairoas part of the Serpentine Gallery’s Edgware Road Project. For the Learning camp she will be joined by London-based designer Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad, choreographer Gill Clarke, and staff and students fromWestminsterAcademy, who have collaborated over the past year. Guests, including Mina Noshy, from SAWA workshops and William Wells, Director of Townhouse Gallery, (Cairo), will relay project participants’ first hand experiences of the events leading to the departure of Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

Visitors will participate in workshops facilitated by students atWestminsterAcademywho collaborated with designer Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad to create experiences that question the stereotyping of young people inLondon. London-based designer Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad and students atWestminsterAcademySchoolhave for the last year been attending ‘the Public Space Seminar, a weekly collaborative investigation held at the Edgware Road Project’s base, the Centre for Possible Studies. Developed as an experiment in how vocational education could be re-tooled as a training in critical thought and action, during the Public Space Seminar students, artists and curators developed strategies for engaging others in discussions related to gentrification, the vilification of youth and relations of power in the school, all in relation to the Edgware Road neighbourhood. These activities will be re-staged throughout the day under the title ‘Speak Out’, specifically addressing the event’s location at Speaker’s Corner, a historical place for public meetings and demonstrations inLondon.

Dance performances choreographed by Gill Clarke, Tammy Arjona Wheeler with teachers and students from Westminster Academy explore the dynamic between the group and the individual in costumes designed for each student by Hefuna and will take place in the Park throughout the day.

Other events include:

- Local youth collective Freqout! will run a media tent engaging people in video-based activities

- Berlin-based designers Ben Wittner and Sascha Thoma of eps51 will messages on banners and posters

- Open Assembly will allow any individual or group to propose a workshop or discussion topic

- Greetings fromCairo, a Raffle with gifts fromEgypt

This event is dedicated by the artist to the Egyptian people and connects recent events inEgyptto Speakers’ Corner, a historical place for public meetings and demonstrations inLondon. Produced in collaboration with the Townhouse Gallery inCairoandWestminsterAcademy.

See below for a detailed schedule of workshops and events

ONGOING WORKSHOPS

Daily at the Learning Camp from 10-6pm

‘I Love Egypt!’

A tent installation with sound and video works recorded during the SAWA workshops at the Townhouse Gallery,Cairothat ran in May 2011 with artistSusan Hefuna.   Participants in the SAWA workshop share stories and experiences of the 18 days inTahrir Squareleading up to the fall of Mubarak and what has followed.  Mina Noshy of the Townhouse Gallery will take students on a tour of the tents and describe the workshops and experiences ofCaironow and then. 

What’s your wish?

Write your wishes for the future inLondonandCairowith artistSusan Hefunaand facilitator Polly Brannan.  Followed by aCairo StreetRaffle!

Movement for Movements

A dance and movement workshop facilitated by students fromWestminsterAcademyand choreographer Gill Clarke explores collectivity through the body.

Pixel Pattern Mosaic  

Poster making with fonts in English and Arabic by eps51, Berlin-based graphic designers who made the fonts featured on the event invitation. They will work with Abake, a London-based design group. ‘Two oppositional scripts confront each other in the age of digital type-design. Working with Arabic and Roman means working with two different languages, two different scripts with different visual characteristics and two opposing writing directions’

Questioning Questions

Students fromWestminsterAcademyon work experience in 2010 collaborated with designer Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad made a collective called Public Ten. They will run activities derived from their research into the politics of the local area exploring the power of questioning and why and by whom questions are asked in these processes.

Face Value

Students fromWestminsterAcademyon work experience in 2010 collaborated with designer Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad to make a collective called One Diverse Vision. Together they will facilitate a portrait.

E-flux, July 2011 http://www.e-flux.com/shows/view/9875

Arabnews.com 24/8/2011 http://arabnews.com/lifestyle/art_culture/article493129.ece

At the Serpentine, London Review of Books, 8/9/2011  http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2011/09/08/yasmine-el-rashidi/at-the-serpentine/

Turning the Pages of History, CNN, 12/9/2011  http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/09/12/durgahee-bidoun-middle-east-books.cnn?iref=allsearch

 For those who missed it, see here: http://vimeo.com/28656589

Special thanks goes to the amazing Sadat, DJ Funkyeast (See Eastern Tempatations at Darbucka Club, London), Noov El Senary, Yasmine El Rashidi and all the Bidoun Team!

All photos (c) Polly Bradden

UK Libraries: Struggles for the Knowledge Commons

 Saturday 27 August 2011, 3pm

Free, no booking required

 Leading writers, scholars and artists in dialogue with the Bidoun editorial collective in a series of Saturday seminars.

We have dedicated the final Bidoun Library Seminar to a meeting on libraries.  Participants reflect on current struggles around the closures and drastic cuts affecting public libraries in theUK.  Join representatives from the Library Campaign, the Feminist Library, New Cross Library, the Goldsmiths Library Occupation and others to discuss and strategise. 

On Library cuts and closures in the UK (sourced from voicesforthelibrary.org.uk): 

-Over 500 public libraries, including 60 mobile libraries, are currently under threat of closure and the number could increase to 800

- The duty of a local council to provide a ”comprehensive and efficient library service” is a legal obligation under the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act.  

-Some councils are suggesting that library services can be run by volunteers and many are under threat of being privatised. 

For more information on closures and campaigns, please see:

www.librarycampaign.com

www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk

http://feministlibrary.co.uk/

http://goldsmithsinoccupation.wordpress.com/

http://www.publiclibrariesnews.com/

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/1269

PLEASE NOTE:  There  will not be  a seminar on Saturday 3 September as previously advertised.