Asset Arrest

This episode features a viewing of a £27 million house on Stratford Place in Marylebone as well as a new development at Regent’s Crescent with the amazing Feminist Economics Department, aka artist and activist Cassie Thornton. We talk about various projects of Cassie’s which address important and complex issues such as bad credit as a virus; land in relation to bodies and real estate; and collective practices of social health. Cassie gives an insight into acting as auditor or janitor for institutions and the FED’s financial witchcraft. This is one of my favourite episodes so far! And, of course, you get a glimpse into some of the most exclusive spaces in London. To quote from the brochure of Regent’s Crescent:

“London goes beyond any boundary or convention, it contains every wish or word ever spoken, every action or gesture ever made, every harsh or noble statement ever expressed”.

http://feministeconomicsdepartment.com/

EPISODE 11, and the first in Series 2, takes us to Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province in the South of China and part of the Pearl River Delta Region. In this episode I visit the Zhujiang New Town area of the city and the remnants of the city center’s last remaining urban village – Xian Cun - with architect Hu Jianyu who works as an architect for the Hong Kong office of international architecture firm KPF. We talk about the erasure of history, memory and identity for residents in the city; the relentless drive for progression and discipline; the importance of decay and aging; and the homogenization and eradication of urban informality and imagination.

References:

Lin, Y., Meulder, B. & Wang, S. (2011) ‘Understanding the ‘Village in the City’ in Guangzhou’ in Urban Studies, Volume 48. (Dec 1. 2011).

Murayama, Y., Zacharius, J., Hu, Y., Huang, Q. (2013) ‘Morphology and Spatial Dynamics of Urban Villages in Guangzhou’s CBD’ in Urban Studies Research, Volume 2013. (March 19. 2013).

Wong, S., Tang, B. & Liu, J. (2018) ‘Village Redevelopment and Desegregation as a Strategy for Metropolitan Development: Some Lessons from Guangzhou City’ in International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Volume 42, Issue 6 (August 5. 2018).

http://www.thatsmags.com/guangzhou/post/10405/photos-inside-zhujiangs-forgotten-urban-village

https://www.kpf.com/projects/location/asia-pacific

Some information about ASSET ARREST Season 2, which will launch in March! Starting with a visit to the Pearl River Delta Region cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong before travelling back to London to look at the trend of corporate "Co-Living" complexes, and how the abundance of luxury investment opportunity developments are faring now that Brexit is underway...

EPISODE 10 of ASSET ARREST is the last in season 1! This episode continues my tour of private student housing brandlords in Newcastle, with a focus on the area of Shieldfield. I attend a viewing of Barker House with Alison Merritt Smith and Hannah Marsden who, along with Julia Heslop, lead the ongoing project ‘Dwellbeing’, which is based at Shieldfield Art Works (SAW) and revolves around a group of co-researchers who live or work in Shieldfield and meet regularly to explore and address the effects of urban redevelopment in the area. I also attended a viewing of The Shield with Dwellbeing participants Ken and Val who live in the area and caught up with some students who actually live in these blocks. Listen for discussion around ideas of studentification, disinvestment in long standing communities, wasted space and architectures of convenience.

EPISODE 9 begins an exploration of the proliferation of private student housing – and resulting studentification – in Newcastle. I view a student apartment at Liberty Quay (from Liberty Living Limited) with Roger Burrows, who is Professor of Cities at Newcastle University. We discuss Roger’s research into the re-placement of the “just rich” by the super-rich in West London; and London City Island as built using ground that was dug up to make way for multi-storey basement extensions in Kensington homes; education as a means of property investment; and post-Brexit dystopias.

Episode 8 features a viewing of the ÜBerlin tower in Steglitz with the excellent Semâ Bekirović, an artist based in Amsterdam who I met whilst she was in residence at ZK/U in Berlin. We talk about her new book 'Reading by Osmosis: Nature Interprets Man', which is the most recent outcome of an ongoing project that explores the idea of non-human art production; as well as taking trees on international flights, and the depressing new life of Berlin’s famous Tacheles squat (which I will be re-visiting in detail in the new year). COOL.

Semâ studied at the Rietveld Academie and the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. Her work has been exhibited at De Appel (Amsterdam), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Hayward Gallery Project Space (London), Dutch Culture Institute (Shanghai) and on Times Square (NYC).

Find out more about Sema's work: https://www.semabekirovic.nl/

Episode 7 is a viewing of a nearly-finished penthouse at BAUWEN'S Gleis Park development, by Gleisdreieck Park in Kreuzberg, with researcher Helge Peters. We talk about community empowerment, green gentrification and the "typical Berlin mix". Helge Peters is a geographer at Oxford University currently working on public participation in green infrastructure planning. He lives in Berlin where he supports the campaign to expropriate corporate landlords.

Find out more about this campaign from 'Deutsche Wohnen & Co Enteignen' here: https://www.dwenteignen.de/

Episode 6 is a viewing of the last remaining (penthouse) apartment at Winsstraße No. 59 in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin, with architect and researcher Ana Filipovic. Ana is an architect and researcher interested in spatial transformations and their relationship to the notions of private, public and common property, especially in the sphere of collective housing and the city periphery. We talk about new property developments in Berlin, sex for rent on Craigslist, and the definition of “luxury”.

Read Ana’s essay on sex for rent, ‘Craigslust’ here: https://failedarchitecture.com/craigslust-well-have-sex-and-you-dont-need-to-pay-much-for-the-flat/

Read a recent interview with Ana here: https://schloss-post.com/the-power-structures-of-built-reality/

Episode 5 is a viewing of a 2.13 million euro two bedroom apartment in Berlin Mitte owned by some "very famous art dealers" from the US. My guest this time is artist Jan Van Esch who was in residence at ZK/U where he was working on a project exploring the idea of a remedy for the toxicity of gifts.

Episode 4 is a viewing of a 3.6 million euro two bedroom apartment in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, overlooking the Lietzensee Lake. My guest this time is researcher Pablo Arboleda. Pablo is currently a Research Fellow at Glasgow University's School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, where he is exploring how modern ruins are reoccupied creatively and collaboratively, within a contemporary European context.