20 July 2011 ~ Door-to-door visits to residents of  James Hammett House

23 July 2011 ~ No Spitting project opened at the Dorset Estate. We welcomed the participation of residents who cam to share food and learn carrom from Mr H. from the Carrom Shop.

25-29 July 2011 ~ Dominique and Mihaela set up the event marquee each day in Ravenscroft Park. We met many residents in this way. We also help some impromptu art workshops with the local children who helped us construct an installation of tags recording their wishes and drawings. The installation was created in the James Hammett staircase for the Festive Day on Saturday 30 July.

26 July 2011 ~ Mihaela and Dominique create the ‘staircase intervention’: painting the bolts on the staircase in different colours.

28 July 2011 ~ Photographer Othello Desouza-Hartley lead local teenagers in a photo workshop. Using disposable cameras, he brought the attention back to the fundamentals of idea, subject, framing, instead rather than the instant gratification of the digital camera. As we had extra cameras local parents and children eventually joined in. The photos were printed and exhibited on floor 6 James Hamett House on Saturday 30 July.

30 July 2011 ~ Festive Day at the Dorset Estate. We began with architect Charlotte Khatso‘s architectural tour of the estate, documenting and discussing Berthold Lubetkin’s ideas and designs. The tour lead straight into the events taking place in James Hammett House.

The spiral stairwell in James Hammett House was the location for the Festive Day’s main event. Starting with Kazimierz Jankowski‘s popcorn machine on the ground floor, the stair’s lead up to the Interval space on the 2nd Floor where visitors could enjoy some delicious sustenance to lead them through the performances and art. At Flat 20 on Floor 2, Marcin Dudek‘s inflatable sculpture was installed in a local resident’s flat. Floor 3 was home to Lily Farling‘s Finger Puppet Dance Show. Floor 4 was animated by artist Beatrice Jarvis‘ dance in response to the architecture. She was accompanied on violin by Ashanta. Floor 5 housed the carrom boards for a ludic pause. Floor 6 were made into an exhibition space for the photos taken by residents during the photography workshop. Floor 7 was a film projection of views and stories seen from Flat 75. Floor 8 saw part 2 of Beatrice’s dance. Floor 9 was the interactive part of the tag installation where the audience could fill in their own tags. Floor 10 was sitar player Chris Cook‘s stage and the culmination of the climb. Chris improvised along with local resident Cathy from flat 76, who played her favorite tune on her mobile phone while Chris improvised along to it. Throughout the event Dominique performed a walk along the staircase, as a way of  bringing attention back to the staircase as a device for connecting people.

The event was attended by local residents and we would like to thank all those involved in helping us for their participation: in particular Amina from Flat 20, Shaqil and Nasrin from Flat 74, Cathy from Flat 76. Many thanks to all those who attended and participated.