A Line is There to be Broken: Constructing Sites

'Urban Edge' Workshop and Seminar: Centre for Urban & Community Research, Goldsmiths, University of London with Tristan Fennell, David Kendall, and Gesche Würfel What could link the Lower Lea Valley in East London, Dubai, and Tokyo? London and Tokyo are long established so-called Global Cities whereas Dubai is an emerging one. Quite commonly, Global Cities host mega events like the Olympics. All these cities attract tourism and there is a strong desire to maintain and develop leisure spaces and sports facilities that present and publicise each city as an attractive, well-maintained destination to visitors. Over the course of the past 30 years the Olympics have been transformed from a sporting to an economic event with a focus on urban regeneration. Urban regeneration has also been a major focus of London’s Olympics 2012 application. As we are situated in London this workshop will focus on East London where the 2012 Olympics will take place. The workshop will run in conjunction with the exhibition A Line is There to be Broken at Viewfinder Photography Gallery in Greenwich, London, SE10. The photographs in the exhibition draw visual and spatial influences from the following questions: How could people construct improvised or temporary leisure spaces or sites? Who has the right to do certain types of activities in these spaces? Do sites exist or is it impossible for them to develop where new barriers and material objects exclude access to the land? How could physical barriers and objects become part of this process? How could temporary leisure spaces become public platforms or political tools that could influence planning decisions and regeneration processes? The workshop will consider how to answer these questions photographically and will take place around the periphery of the 2012 Olympic site in East London. In the morning we invite participants to walk with us around the Olympic site in Stratford-Hackney Wick and hear more about the ‘theoretical implications’ of constructing this site. In the afternoon we will return to Viewfinder Photography Gallery to view and discuss photographs made during the workshop and discover spatial and social links with the photographs in the exhibition. A nominal cost of £10 is charged for the workshop. Booking is essential: [email protected] and limited to 20 places. For further information about Urban Edge contact Professor Caroline Knowles, CUCR, Goldsmiths: [email protected] Viewfinder Photography Gallery, Linear House, Peyton Place, London, SE10 8RS, UK www.viewfinder.org.uk www.tristanfennell.com www.david-kendall.co.uk www.geschewuerfel.com www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/cucr