BFI: Punk - Lambeth Residency

As part of #punklondon, a year of events, gigs, films, talks, exhibits and more celebrating 40 years of punk heritage and influence in London supported by the British Film Institute, British Library, British Fashion Council, The Roundhouse and The Museum of London, we worked with ninety young people from secondary schools in Lambeth fusing dance, music, puppetry, poetry and visual arts over the course of a week last July.

The week long arts project culminated in a promenade carnival followed by a band performance using hacked music technology providing the backing for dancers, poets and actors to express their unique take on punk, ska and reggae and what it means to them under the energetic and passionate direction of Animateur Alicia Frost, Music Technologist Dave Darch and Puppeteer Tony Mason.

From https://punk.london/about/

“Always more than a musical genre, punk allowed a generation to express themselves without deference, to invent without fear, and to create without boundaries.
40 years on, and some of the most cutting edge cultural organisations and businesses in London have come together to celebrate punk in all its ragged glory.
A year long programme of gigs, exhibitions and films will look back at the excitement and energy of the movement’s genesis, and at punk as an on-going catalyst that continues to inspire, refuse categorisation and spark creativity around the world.”

Dave Darch led the charge on the hacking, making and music strand of the project exploring parallels between the rebellious punk diy attitude and today’s diy maker culture. Kicking off with a showing of Maker The Movie, young people went on to create capacitive touch musical interfaces with Makey Makeys and Touch Boards and reprogram Wiimote guitars with Pure Data amongst other things.

 It’s always a pleasure to work with a company such as The British Film Institute and take over their exciting and futuristic space at London’s Southbank. Mark Reid, head of education at the BFI, really knows how to pull a great project together and this year was no exception. Cross-arts and cross-culture gave rise to a large and clearly evident change in the children over the course of the week. From shy and self-conscious to inspired and intrigued, to performing at their peak ability by the end of the week it’s always incredibly rewarding to see the powerful impact the arts can have on young peoples well being and self belief.