October 25, 2010

At the end of an extraordinary week, culminating in dancing to live klezmer in pouring rain and mud, The East London Sukkah came to an end. Talks on veganism, squatting, anti-aviation activism, faith, migration and the French state, radical Judaism, films on UK eco-activism, the Yes Men and Punk Jews, music from Muslim rappers and klezmer bands, meals both real and conceptual, and an amazing number of diverse and wonderful participants.

The Sukkah was an experiment in public space - one that was defined, yet open. It was an experiment in religion, suggesting a form of religious practice that is neither fundamentalist, nor acquieces to the agenda of the Liberal state. It was an experiment in creating dialogue that is respectful but not superficial.

To say that the Sukkah succeeded in all its aims would be trite - its aims were frequently utopian, and so the most it could do was provide a fleeting mirage of better and more durable ways of living. Having said that, those who participated in many programmes during the week testified that a heady mix had been created, and that the experience was a week of huge excitement, creativity, and joy.

Thanks to everyone who made it happen.

12:01pm  |   URL: http://www.eastlondonsukkah.org.uk/post/1398922087/at-the-end-of-an-extraordinary-week-culminating
(Notes: 1)
  
October 6, 2010

A huge thank you to Hackney’s amazing support of our East London Sukkah project situated in Towerhamlet’s Spitalfields City farm.

It is safe to say that without palettes from Dalston Market, branches and twigs from Springfield and Clisshold park and bark chip from Hackney’s trees, this project would have never been as fantastic as it was.

We are especially grateful to Dave O’Toole from Hackney Waste, Darrel Abercrombie, head of Hackney parks and open spaces and Mark, Dean, Jim and Steve from the Hackney Tree Unit and their respective team members who have been a pleasure to work with.

12:15pm  |   URL: http://www.eastlondonsukkah.org.uk/post/1256304915/a-huge-thank-you-to-hackneys-amazing-support-of
September 28, 2010

Path of Spices

Walk down our path of spices, smells filling the air of cumin, coriander, and curries from the BanglaTown grocery down the road …

5:49am  |   URL: http://www.eastlondonsukkah.org.uk/post/1203862434/path-of-spices-walk-down-our-path-of-spices
September 25, 2010

Schoolchildren from The East London Mosque came to decorate the Sukkah, hanging laurel leaves from the roof, and creating stories about shelters and the meals of the future. Workshops led by artist Orly Orbach, photographs by David Kendall.

(Source: eastlondonsukkah.org.uk)

7:54am  |   URL: http://www.eastlondonsukkah.org.uk/post/1184469834/schoolchildren-from-the-east-london-mosque-came-to
Filed under: east london sukkah east london mosque jewdas sukkah 
September 24, 2010

The walls go up! Photographs by David Kendall.

3:44am  |   URL: http://www.eastlondonsukkah.org.uk/post/1177822408/the-walls-go-up-photographs-by-david-kendall
(Notes: 1)
  
September 24, 2010

More of the East London Sukkah build. Photographs by David Kendall.

1:38am  |   URL: http://www.eastlondonsukkah.org.uk/post/1177451369/more-of-the-east-london-sukkah-build-photographs
September 23, 2010

Food Rules! A conversation meal with artist Synnove Fredericks (Friday)

Synnove is a designer motivated by social interaction, specifically exploring our relationship with food. By using the design process, she creates product and service proposals, which challenge public perception, stimulate debate and conversation.

She works with communities across London establishing food growing and wildlife gardens. Her current projects includes a pop- up bacteria and fungi farm at FARM:shop in Dalston, London. She is also part of the rural collective, Limina, exploring creative events, conversations and design process.

Her work has been shown internationally in the context of both product design and the culinary world, including London and Tokyo design week, The Museum of Modern Art in New York (MOMA) and Abergavenny Food Festival.


The meal will be prepared with Jarred Henderson of London Harvest.

7:29am  |   URL: http://www.eastlondonsukkah.org.uk/post/1172516142/food-rules-a-conversation-meal-with-artist
September 21, 2010

Day 1 of the Sukkah build. Photographs by David Kendall.

6:57am  |   URL: http://www.eastlondonsukkah.org.uk/post/1160927474/day-1-of-the-sukkah-build-photographs-by-david
September 21, 2010
Dust to Dust, 2010, Antonia Claire Grant. Oils, ungents, organic and plant matter, electric fans, hotplates. Artist Antonia Claire Grant has designed a performance for our sukkah. Dust to Dust is an allegorical narrative exploring the end of conceptualism in favour of factualism. Contemporary Religion like Art responds to cultural shifts and a need to belong. A kinetic sculpture. Statement: I used to work as a commercial chef and that has informed much of my art work - its about how I achieve a sensibility while working with in the structures of natural harmony and nature’s order. Back then I collaborated with the elements – fire steam, heat, temperature, the fibres and structures that make up the food stuff, how they were to be broken down and re-imagined by the transformation happen in my hands. My hands were subjected to burns, blisters, freezing, cuts, strains, tensions, pain – all these senses inform me of my sense of self as a material, and why I sometimes look to create sculptures using non-traditional materials in traditional ways. Sculpture for me currently is about an exploration of the idea of creativity, how an imagined flights of fancy or daydream, how these altered reality, come into being how the mind is able to invent ways to circumnavigated nature’s structures in order to construct what our minds achieve.

Dust to Dust, 2010, Antonia Claire Grant. Oils, ungents, organic and plant matter, electric fans, hotplates.

Artist Antonia Claire Grant has designed a performance for our sukkah. Dust to Dust is an allegorical narrative exploring the end of conceptualism in favour of factualism. Contemporary Religion like Art responds to cultural shifts and a need to belong. A kinetic sculpture.

Statement: I used to work as a commercial chef and that has informed much of my art work - its about how I achieve a sensibility while working with in the structures of natural harmony and nature’s order. Back then I collaborated with the elements – fire steam, heat, temperature, the fibres and structures that make up the food stuff, how they were to be broken down and re-imagined by the transformation happen in my hands. My hands were subjected to burns, blisters, freezing, cuts, strains, tensions, pain – all these senses inform me of my sense of self as a material, and why I sometimes look to create sculptures using non-traditional materials in traditional ways. Sculpture for me currently is about an exploration of the idea of creativity, how an imagined flights of fancy or daydream, how these altered reality, come into being how the mind is able to invent ways to circumnavigated nature’s structures in order to construct what our minds achieve.

6:48am  |   URL: http://www.eastlondonsukkah.org.uk/post/1160902370/dust-to-dust-2010-antonia-claire-grant-oils