ACTION OF STREET / ACTION OF ROOM: A DIRECTORY OF PUBLIC ACTIONS
Febrik project: Residency, publication London, 2015–16 Commissioned by Serpentine Galleries
This participatory project was conceived by Febrik and commissioned by Serpentine Galleries. The collective worked with young people – aged 14 and 15 years-old – from the Westminster Academy as part of the Youth Forum residency at the gallery to map their experiences of public spaces, and how this differed from privates spaces, and the subsequent dialogue between the two.
The group used small video cameras and film to realize public actions in different locations around Church Street in the Edgware Road area of London. These actions took the form of activities and direct responses that they undertook using their bodies, personal possessions and props borrowed from the urban site of the project. The actions mapped and documented the young people experiences in public space. Their actions crossed social and spatial limits, pushed boundaries and speculated on change for the future of public space. These public actions were coupled with another set of actions inside the studio room through discussions and exercises about the role and responsibilities of the young people, reflecting on the project’s participatory and group work processes. The dialogue between the actions in the street and the actions in the room opened up a space of reflective thought and critical action between these two seemingly separate physical sites. The resulting publication, Action of Street/Action of Room, was first displayed at Church Street Library, London, in 2016. The book was designed by Marwan Kaabour; it can be downloaded for free on the Serpentine Galleries website. There are also free printed copies available on request.