Theatrum Mundi Presents: The Urban Backstage
Can we design the conditions for culture?
An initial question that led Theatrum Mundi to the larger project ‘Urban Backstages’ a multi-year case study of several large cities and the cultural producers that reside in them.
If we think of the public facing cultural sites, largely aimed at national and international tourists and visitors, such as monuments, museums, galleries and theatres, where culture is consumed and displayed as the ‘urban stage’, then its behind-the-scenes counterpart is the ‘urban backstage’, which includes both the hidden spaces where cultural production takes place and the underlying conditions that underpin these activities.
The urban backstage is made up of invisible networks, relationships and labour that exist out of public view in our cities and are vital in fostering and cultivating a shared cultural identity and sense of belonging in our urban spaces.
The films curated here, move through the intellectual discourse surrounding the urban backstages, from the first question that seeded this journey through to the whole project that created a myriad of conversations, projects, to arrive at this new publication from Theatrum Mundi.
The film will be followed by conversations between Urban Researchers of Theatrum Mundi, the filmmaker Jo Prichard and Co-Founder of We Made That Oliver Goodhall.
Making Cultural Infrastructure: Can we Design the Conditions for Culture? (LSE Cities, 2017, 11 mins)
Theatrum Mundi has been concerned with the spaces of artistic production and display in the city. This short film gathers a few cultural producers within London to address the following question: What are the infrastructural conditions for culture, and can they be designed into the city?
London Made (Alice Masters, 2017, 18 mins)
We Made That co-founders Holly Lewis and Oliver Goodhall are also fascinated and concerned with the urban backstage. This film celebrates the people, processes and places that make London a productive city. Looking behind the stage, this exhibition explores the ‘back of house’ supply threads of one of London’s most distinctive cultural venues: the Barbican. Set makers, food and drink manufacturers, lighting specialists and logistics companies are just a sample of the activity that makes London thrive.
Backstage Production (Lucia Sceranková, 2021, 7 mins)
Shining a light on the often invisible cultural producers in London’s Elephant & Castle. Featuring makers from the Latin American community, artists from the Pullens Yards Residents Association, the film gives each group a platform to voice their contribution to the area’s cultural identity.
The Palace (Jo Prichard, 2021, 29 mins)
A loud, emotional portrait of a reluctant goodbye to The London Palace Bingo Club – told through the stories of the regulars that loved and depended on it, and the owner who couldn’t save it.