Myths of Social Capitalism screenings

Rastko Novakovic and I have made a new preliminary version of Myths of Social Capitalism.

It will be screening today in the Taking Place programmes curated by Duncan White and me for British Artists' Film and Video Study Collection in the Black Maria at Central Saint Martins, King's Cross, and at Self Organised London space at Eileen House in Elephant and Castle
 
This is a 'preliminary version', a work in progress if you like, because it bears little resemblance to what we are intending the film to become. This version sets out the stall of the project, introduces the context which is Southwark Council's woefully incompetent management of the Heygate Estate. The estate, which is now emptied of most of its residents, has been sold to developer Lend Lease for an absurdly small sum. Lend Lease plan to build a luxury residential estate on the site, and where there were once more than 1000 social housing households there will be fewer than 80 'affordable'.

This version of the film combines ensemble voice performances recorded on the estate which parody the language of regeneration planning as found in documents such as the Lend Lease masterplan, constructions of landscape images shot on and around the estate, and text outlining the estate's recent history and current situation.

Many of the details of the Heygate saga and other attempts at gentrification in Southwark can be found on the Southwark Notes website.

Myths of Social Capitalism

Elmington Estate revisited

Nearly six years ago, in December 2005, I posted this short sketchy video which animates views of council flats undergoing demolition. The photographs were taken in August 2005, the Elmington Estate being demolished is just on the edge of Burgess Park on Edmund Street, Camberwell, South London. I have just reposted it as part of an occasional series for which I plan to post 'archival' Direct Language videos as some of the links to the original videos at the Internet Archive seem to be broken.

Looking back at the video I was curious to see what had become of the site after the credit crunch. I was expecting to find the estate to be replaced by some kind of new development, hopefully retaining some social housing at the very least. I was slightly surprised then to find that, in spite of being demolished, as this view from Google Maps attests to

it has been transformed into a wasteland by Southwark Council, which has since handed it over to Notting Hill Housing for regeneration.

On the face of it Notting Hill Housing seems to be a perfectly responsible, local organisation with an interest in social housing, which is in some contrast with the global developers the council uses elsewhere for more lucrative high profile developments such as the Heygate Estate at Elephant and Castle. But after six years the site remains uninhabited, where the decanted residents are now who knows, or whether they to be part of the new community, and the regeneration plans as outlined by Southwark Council are ambiguous indeed.