On Infrastructure Masterclass

Over two days, you will take part in interactive and conversational activities exploring cultural infrastructures led by urbanist and researcher Cecily Chua and Anthony and Senam Badu, founders of flat70 art collective. We will question what it means to be a ‘cultural institution’ and expand the notion of who gets to be a ‘cultural producer’. As part of the course, you will receive three publications part of our Cultural Infrastructure collection: It’s always a work in progress, Infrastructuring and Performing Projections.

Hosted by Flat 70 and Groupwork

Dates: 25th-26th February 2023 

Time: 1-5pm

Fee: £140 / £100 (concession- unwaged, low income, disabled)– 2 day masterclass 

£640/ £512 (concession) – Multi masterclass package (sign up to all four and receive 20% discount on overall fee) + get free membership for one year, 9 editions and 2 books. If you are interested, please email us first to make sure there is spaces available.

Email your questions to lou@theatrum-mundi.org

BOOK

Displacing, appropriating, reclaiming: culture and regeneration in Elephant and Castle

Anthony and Senam Badu

It is both a sign of the times and a testament to the particularities of Elephant and Castle that the area and its recent history must contend with the centrality of ‘art’ and ‘culture’ in the unfolding of its regeneration story. In this workshop, we will focus on three distinct yet interdependent processes  – displacing, appropriating, reclaiming – that define the discord and harmony between ‘art’, ‘culture’ and ‘regeneration’. Gravitating around Flat 70, a community arts space situated at both the geographical and narrative heart of Elephant and Castle, we will explore the area’s variety of cultural forms, spaces and actors, and the (de)constructing relations they share with its regeneration. 

Urban Backstages

Cecily Chua

This workshop will explore Theatrum Mundi’s ongoing research project, Urban Backstages, looking at the hidden forms of production that underpin the cultural life of the city. We set out to challenge the narrow definitions of culture in planning, identifying the inherent inequalities in investment for culture. Cultural regeneration strategies often default to funding landmark cultural institutions, public sites where culture is consumed and displayed, often overlooking hidden sites such as workshops, rehearsal spaces and warehouses where cultural production takes place. We will explore through games and narrative exercises the spaces and infrastructures that underlie cultural production in the city, placing practices including cooking, writing, rehearsing, supplying, and making, alongside more traditionally recognised forms of artisanship.

Workshop leaders:

Anthony Badu is a writer, social impact producer & filmmaker working between Accra & London. He has worked with broadcasters, festivals, charities, galleries, universities and the UK Government. Raised & based on the Aylesbury Estate until his home was repossessed in 2020, Anthony continues to be at service to Aylesbury residents with over 5 years experience as an advocate & community organiser.  Anthony created the flat 70 project to increase access to the arts and to hold space for cultural transfusion.

Senam Badu is a marketing professional with over six years of experience in the advertising sectors of Paris and London. She has worked with a range of multinational brands and delivered global campaigns across FMCG, technology & hospitality. She brings a meticulous and constructive criticism to communications on the project space, our partnerships and our community impact. Senam is particularly interested in supporting the work of black LGBTQ+ artists & makers to help them reach wider audiences.

Cecily Chua is Director at Theatrum Mundi leading on Design, Research, and Editorial. She has a background in architecture and urban design. Cecily leads Theatrum Mundi’s publishing platform, TM Editions, set up to explore notions of the city through different practices, perspectives and cultures, connecting architecture and urbanism with the crafts of the stage. As a researcher Cecily has worked on a number of commissioned studies focusing on cultural infrastructure, and is part of the team behind Theatrum Mundi’s Urban Backstages project.