Description of Performance Lecture:

The Interface comprises 13 different wall clusters or ‘peacelines’ situated throughout Belfast. Specifically designed to respond to an evolving set of local actions, events and spaces of conflict, the wall clusters both demarcate a territorial condition and form a backdrop for the performance of expressions of cultural identity. Over many years, the areas around each wall cluster have accumulated deposits and debris, forming a unique and local archive in space and time; a geographical, historical, psychological and emotional ‘field’. In this 20 minute performance lecture we work with drawing, video, mapping and writing to catalogue this archive; to survey this field.

Description of Event:

EDGE— Situated practice in art, architecture and urbanism

Organised by the UCL Urban Laboratory and Folkestone Triennial 2017, with additional support from the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL and The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL.

Curated by:

Lewis Biggs (Folkestone Triennial)
James O’Leary (The Bartlett, UCL)
Kieren Reed (The Slade, UCL

EDGE

Where an area that is known or privileged meets another that is unknown or ignored; a point of balance between contrary or diverse phenomena; a place of connectivity and interaction.

This trio of day-long symposia, presented as part of Folkestone Triennial 2017, explores the concept of situated practice in contemporary art, architecture and urbanism. The events bring together practitioners and thinkers at three ‘edge’ locations connected by the High Speed 1 railway, which acts a geographical link and embodies ideas associated with community, connectivity and escapism.

Through each of these events we invite participants to respond to a series of ‘edge’ locations, drawing on their own individual approaches and fields of operation to investigate particular sensory, social, environmental and other conditions. Over the course of the three days we hope to generate a wider conversation exploring the creative use of interstitial spaces.

All are welcome to participate in this interdisciplinary adventure. The audience is invited to follow from one event to the next, engaging with each place as a creative asset and manifestation of a particular kind of ‘edge’:

GATEWAY (14 Sept)
UCL Bloomsbury, London

The Gower Street campus of UCL was planned and built on the urban/rural edge of nineteenth-century London, a ‘learning’ gateway through which generations of students have now passed, and one which now runs up against the King’s Cross development, conceived as a mix of ‘knowledge’ and ‘transport’ gateways.

PERIPHERY (7 Oct)
Here East, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

Investment for the 2012 Games brought rapid development to the previously neglected Stratford area. Here East, within the former press and broadcasting centre of the Games, is envisaged as a cluster of innovators and digital makers, whilst the Stratford Waterside development will bring new institutions including the V&A, Sadler's Wells, London College of Fashion, and UCL.

BORDER (4 Nov)
Quarterhouse, Folkestone

For the third and final event, we consider Folkestone. At the littoral edge of southeast England, its urbanism connect equally with water and land. From 1842 to 1992 it was the main pivot for passenger transport between France and England, and with the more recent construction of HS1, Folkestone has been gifted the questionable status of dormitory suburb to the Capital.

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/24997