Prototyping Utopias

Open University & The Glass-House Community Led Design

I was commissioned by the Prototyping Utopia project, part of the Empowering Designs Practices research project led by The Open University and The Glass-House  to create a film exploring how utopian visioning can help spark creative thinking and local action. The film uses footage and audio from two events which engaged with the local community in Bow, East London.

In June 2016, the work was screened at Somerset House as part of their Utopia Fair. It marks the 500th anniversary of Sir Thomas More's Utopia text, and Somerset House are celebrating this with A Year of Imagination and Possibility.

Based in the Somerset House Courtyard, the Prototyping Utopia's team shared the voices, stories, artefacts, drawings, models and prototypes created through the project activities in Bow, and invited the public to reflect on those visions and dream about the future of their own places using similar materials. The five minute film I created was screened as part of this exhibition.

The Utopia Fair, in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Connected Communities Programme, showcased the creative outcomes from 25 projects bringing together communities, researchers and artists around the UK to explore what utopia means to them.

AHRC Utopia Fair at Somerset House

Dates: 24-26 June 2016

Times: Friday: 17.00-22.00; Saturday: 10:00-18.00; Sunday: 10.00-17.00

Location: Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court, Somerset House, Strand, London, WC2R 1LA

June 2016