Vacant Scenographies Workshop led by RESOLVE

Reintroducing a process first tested digitally with Arts Catalyst Sheffield, here participants will manipulate sound to capture and project sonic narratives of vacancy. Using material foraged in previous sessions, participants will build DIY phonographs to capture sonic traces that will contribute to a soundscape to reimagine vacancy

EVERYTHING MUST GO!

“Often when there’s no logic, is when you know you’re in someone’s dream” – adrienne maree brown, “We are in a time of new suns”, interview with Krista Tippett for ‘On Being’, 2022

Since the 12th century, a dream of Croydon Town Centre has been pinned up and torn down time and again, papering over unappealing realities to make way for new imaginaries. From John Whitgift to James Marshall, Kennards to Westfields, the high street holds traces of the schemer, plotting to shape its past and future in his image. As each dream fades, communities are left with the tombstones of the underimagined, vacant shops and empty high streets that weren’t detailed out in yesterday’s plan.

We are encouraging communities of Croydon to join us on a process of collective reimagination. Across 6 workshops we will use sound, mapping and hands-on making to interrogate Croydon’s current condition and reimagine a community-centred future. Participants will share their experiences of and connections to the local area, trace and manipulate sounds and forage discarded material in order to build a tool-kit to reimagine vacancy in Croydon Town Centre and rehearse new models of high street operation. The work will contribute to Turf Projects latest season, MakeRoom, and provide input into a blueprint for regenerative spatial practice in Croydon’s vacant town centre.

The power to reimagine is not new, nor is it radical. And this time it won’t be led by a guy named John (or James).

ABOUT RESOLVE COLLECTIVE

RESOLVE is an interdisciplinary design collective that combines architecture, engineering, technology and art to address social challenges. They have delivered numerous projects, workshops, publications, and talks in the UK and across Europe, all of which look toward realising just and equitable visions of change in our built environment.