Sites & Situations considers physical territories and political contexts through contemporary art practice and interdisciplinary exchange
The Sites & Situations Research Cluster at the Royal College of Art includes the MSCA Horizon 2020 Spatial Practices in Art and Architecture for Empathetic Exchange (SPACEX) research group and their interdisciplinary approach to urban crisis, combining different strategies from critical spatial practice (fieldwork, group walking, performance, mapping, art based research). Researchers and artists working in the Sites & Situations Research Cluster aim to develop inclusive ways of living together through the implementation of transdisciplinary methods and cross-sectoral practices that connect art practice with urban planning, cultural sociology, and cultural policy. We consider the way in which art practices operate in the public realm for community cohesion and how artistic interventions have the potential to generate a sense of belonging across differences.
At a glance
- Sites & Situations is a collaboration between artists, curators and design histories based at the Royal College of Art.
- Project participants organise talks, seminars, group walks and publications that address the key themes of the project.
- Sites & Situations aims to inform cultural policy by providing a platform for a range of international research projects that address arts role in urban transformation.
Key details
Gallery
More information
About the cluster
Sites & Situations considers how we engage and interact with the physical environment, and in particular urban space. This research explores how spaces evolve, how place might be imagined and reimagined, the values that inspire the creation of the space around us and the forces that lead to future understandings of our environment. Sites & Situations acknowledges that our awareness and understanding of space is significantly shaped by the way it is represented, described and interacted with through art, design, literature and culture. We seek to provide new insights via experimental methods that explore, respond to and challenge existing modes of the arts and humanities’ engagement with our environment.
Our approach
- Three presentations/events focusing on related research every term.
- The location for the Sites & Situations research presentations will be off site (locations to be decided by those presenting). However, we will also look into booking spaces for the group to use.
- The dates for the first three presentations are planned for Wednesday 27 September, Tuesday 7 November and Wednesday 6 December.
- The first meeting will include short introductions from each of the members.
- The following meetings (7 November and 6 December) will include two 30-minute presentations
- There will be a review and planning session after the first term to look at inviting public talks etc.
Outputs
SoAH Research Presents: Direct Urbanism by transparadiso (Barbara Holub/ Paul Rajakovics), 12 May 2022
Cities of the Night exhibition at RIBA for London Festival of Architecture, 1 June to 29 July 2023
The Temperament Index installation by Melanie Jackson at Aspex Portsmouth, 19 January – 1 April 2024
Spaces of coalescence featuring the works of James Bradburne, Rachel Garfield, Marisa Ferreira, Ahuvia Kahane, Carmen Mariscal, Jasper Joseph - Lester, Osman Yousefzada, 16 - 31 March 2024
