Thursday 27 August 2009

art shenanigans this weekend

get off the streets and onto the bench...

the lrm have been asked to participate in 'the space is the place' which is being organised by conor who some of you will recall from TRIP (and the pub!) last year. http://www.ncad.ie/gallery/space_place.shtml

Its rather short notice but the plan is to re-materialise the bench project for at least the duration of the gallery opening but probably 12 hours on saturday (for logistical reasons i am not up for a 24hour stint this weekend) and twitter reports and pictures so they can be exhibited in dublin in real time.

here's the blurb from last year:

The Bench Project
A day in the life of street furniture of How to Explore the City Whilst Sitting Still… Morag was trying to deal with the contradictions inherent with organising a festival of walking whilst it hurts to stand up and decided to take loitering to its limit and make a city centre bench her home for 24 hours. Well, the view is bound to be better than the telly. Please come and say hello, have some cake

i'm taking some fairy lights and cushions and a picnic and a portable blackborad to make the bench more hospitable but looking for other ways to make it more interesting,(aside from the inevitable debate about public space and surveillance) i quite fancy making it the premise for other interventions. The problem is i can't think of any.... thoughts much appreciated....

and if you arent shambala-ing/AR gathering/prideisaprotesting/climate camping/bank holidaying please stop by... its not as exciting as all those other lovely things happening on saturday - but i am dead nervous and don't just want to be a random bitter eccentric sat on a bench all day!

for the location of the bench please text 07974929589 or you can follow the action via the all new (and probably temporary) lrm twitter feed, imaginatively found under thelrm

the lrm: an apology

to everyone waiting for a reply to an email or text or comment and to all the blog posts pending. i really appreciate everyones queries and comments but i've not been terribly well of late and its proved a bit tricky juggling everything. as many of you may be aware i have a full time job and a serious music habit to juggle as well... normal (ha!) service will be resumed shortly. If anyone does fancy helping with admin stuff or giving me lots of money* so i can loiter full time please don't be shy (*not lots really but i do have to pay rent)

there are some exciting things brewing: a new LRM era is about to begin with a bench... xx

sexy geography



Don't forget today is the day for concrete alchemy... i do love the mancunian way

there is also many other public events around the royal geographical society conference, i've been putting posters up but not sure i have remembered to blog...i went to the session People’s Plans: opportunities for radical planning in the 21st Century yesterday and it was really interesting, met some very inspiring people...

upcoming events at Ida Kinsey Village Centre
17 Guide Post Rd., Ardwick, Manchester, M13 9HP

as part of the Royal Geographical Society annual conference, 2009 -
the participatory geographies working group (see www.pygywg.org) are organising the following sessions outside academic conference space, to encourage wider public debate on issues of critical geographical relevance ~ everyone is welcome to come along!

Thur. 27th August: 2.30 – 4.20

Inconvenient Truth: the imperative for Geography to do something urgent about climate change
for more info contact Sophie svw05@aber.ac.uk

4.50 – 6.30

Fuller Geographies: a session of radical, bold, brash, perhaps blunt, but bloody inspiring public geography!
for more info contact Kelvin kelvin.mason@cat.org.uk

6.45 for about an hour (?!) followed by refreshments

pygywg AGM ~ members discuss the future of the group
NB membership is open to all and free!

Fri. 28th August: 11.10 – 12.50 then 2.40 – 6.30

The right to stay put: contesting displacement in urban regeneration / development schemes, sessions 1- 3
for more info contact Chris c.allen@mmu.ac.uk or Lee l.crookes@sheffield.ac.uk
or Stuart S.N.Hodkinson@leeds.ac.uk or Tom tom.slater@ed.ac.uk

Sat 29 th August: 10.00 – 12.30 then 1.15 - 6.00
The right to stay put, session 4: roundtable, field-trip, films and evening social

details of the Royal Geographic Society and the wider conference can be found at www.rgs.org

more on the right to stay put

This is a general invitation to all those interested or active in urban resistance to gentrification, displacement, mega-developments and privatisation to participate in our event - The Right to Stay Put:
Contesting Displacement to Urban Regeneration and Development Schemes - as part of this year's RSG-IBG Conference in Manchester in August.

The Right to Stay Put: Contesting Displacement in Urban Regeneration

Friday 28th and Saturday 29th August

Venue: Ida Kinsley Village Centre, 17 Guide Post Road, Grove Village, Manchester M13 9HP

A Participatory Geographies Working Group event as part of the Royal Geographical Society / Institute of British Geographers Annual International Conference - see www.rgs.org

Free admission / open to public

Description of event:
It is now 25 years since Chester Hartman first advanced the notion of the 'right to stay put' for lower income group struggles against gentrification. Since then, gentrification and related processes of privatisation and marketisation have become integral to neoliberal urban strategies across the world. Despite this proliferation, academics have generally responded poorly to Hartman's call to arms. Rather, as Slater observes (2006, 2008), gentrification research has generally lost its critical edge, and from some quarters gentrification has even been celebrated as beneficial to incumbent low-income groups (Freeman, 2006; Vigdor, 2002). This is not our experience and with this session we seek to restore Hartman's principle to the heart of gentrification research by inviting contributions from activist geographers in the widest sense of the term (academics, teachers, housing professionals, campaigners, trade unionists and ordinary residents) to share and exchange their experiences, insights and methods to better defend people's 'right to stay put'. In the spirit of making geography 'relevant' beyond the policy-academy complex, the session will have a practical orientation and will offer reflections, stories, tactics, lessons and strategies for developing successful urban resistances. The aims are to: (1) share experiences and develop practical knowledges about what works in urban resistance; (2) create an educational space for encounter and dialogue between those involved in similar critical work and activism; and (3) start to develop an action research network and a knowledge/resource base for wider dissemination.


A variety of speakers will recount stories of regeneration and resistance from around the world, including London, Berlin, Zurich, Mumbai, Istanbul, Toronto, Dublin, Chicago, Glasgow, Melbourne, South Africa, Möllevången as well as addressing questions of building (un)successful local and global networks of opposition and creating alternatives.


The event will have 4 main sessions:

Sessions 1-3 will take place on 28th August. Session 4 will happen on 29 August.

Session 1 (11am-1.40pm) explores gentrification and displacement in action.

Sessions 2 (2.40pm-4.20pm) and 3 (4.50pm-6.30pm) explore resistance in action.

Session 4 (10.30am-lunch-3pm) explores how we can develop local to global strategies, networks and alternatives and will be split between papers and an open roundtable 'working' discussion. It will be followed by a tour of Manchester's urban development and struggles, and then a social-benefit event in the evening with films.


Full details, including venue directions and programme, on www.autonomousgeographies.org/righttostayput

Details of the other amazing Participatory Geographies events being put on at the Ida Kinsley Village Centre during the RGS-IBG conference can be found here: http://www.pygywg.org/news/rgsibg2009.htm

Session Organisers:
Chris Allen (Manchester Metropolitan University), c.allen@mmu.ac.uk Lee Crookes (University of Sheffield), l.crookes@sheffield.ac.uk Stuart Hodkinson (University of Leeds), s.n.hodkinson@leeds.ac.uk Tom Slater (University of Edinburgh), tom.slater@ed.ac.uk

Dr Stuart Hodkinson
School of Geography
University of Leeds
LS2 9JT
0113-343-1820
s.n.hodkinson@leeds.ac.uk