The long and short of it: living history workshop

Join us for a storytelling workshop in conjunction with Anne-Marie Copestake’s exhibition ‘Birdsong and a bathroom’ which explores the history and experiences of the residents of the Holly Lodge Estate in Highgate as well as the ideas of home.

This workshop invites you to rethink the stories that shape us including personal anecdotes and family tales. Led by artist Alia Syed the workshop involves sharing memories through objects that remind us of home. You will need to bring an object of personal significance (which will be returned to you) that fits in the palm of your hand along with a willingness to share. The workshop relies on revealing the uniqueness of each object. Please keep your object’s identity a secret until revealed during the workshop.

The stories and images collected in this workshop will become building blocks to explore various storytelling methods and inspire creative processes. We will capture how we interpret and preserve our histories examining the richness and complexities of our cultures.

This type of memory sharing is often just the beginning; this session is intended to guide us to travel into new yet-to-be-imagined forms.

The session will end with a screening of films by Alia Syed.

Places are limited to 12 participants.

Tickets cost £5

Presented in collaboration with Holly Lodge Community Centre.

About the artist:

Alia Syed was born in Swansea Wales and lives between London and Glasgow. She has been making experimental films in Britain for over 30 years. Syed is interested in how subjectivities are produced through culture diaspora and location. Her work interrogates the protean nature of self-narration: enfolding fact fiction present and past how histories are made and unmade.

Syed’s films have been shown at numerous institutions around the world as well as several solo exhibitions at Talwar Gallery in New York and New Delhi. Most recently she was Artist in Focus at Open City Documentary Film Festival in London 2021. In 2019 Meta Incognita was shown as part of Migrating Worlds: The Art of the Moving Image in Britain at the Yale Centre of British Art and in 2022 was part of (Im)materialworlds at Sands Film Festival in St Andrews. She was Artist in Focus at Courtisane Festival Gent in Belgium 2019. Other exhibition of note include Delirium Equilibrium at KIran Nadar Museum of Art New Delhi 2018 Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2012-13 5th Moscow Biennale (2013); Museum of Modern Art New York (2010); Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sofia Madrid (2009); XV Sydney Biennale (2006). Syed films are distributed by LUX she was shortlisted for the 2015 Jarman Award and the Paul Hamlyn Artists Award in 2020.

Accessibility Information:

Getting here:

LUX is located in Waterlow Park (Highgate) near the Dartmouth Park Lodge Gate on Dartmouth Park Hill. Please note Waterlow Park is on a hill and from Archway Station there is a steep walk up Highgate Hill. You can learn more about public transport options and their accessibility on our website.

Address:

LUX Waterlow Park Centre Dartmouth Park Hill London N19 5JF UK. Entrance location on what3words https://w3w.co/rates.fallen.joins

Step Free Access:

The LUX building is wheelchair accessible and there are wheelchair accessible toilet facilities.

If you have any access needs to attend our events please contact us at +44(0)20 3141 2960 or [email protected].

Host or Publisher LUX Moving Image