Interior Realms Compilation by Theatrum Mundi

On this episode of In Conversation, I had the pleasure of speaking with our TM research fellow, Susannah Haslam, and our studio manager, Lou-Atessa Marcellin.

Susannah and Lou have cultivated a friendship as they cultivated a garden together in south London. During these outdoor encounters, they’ve mused on ecosophy, how we can learn from non human organizations and what a return to modular principles of education, and lifelong learning could mean for our societies.

Susannah will tell us more about her fellowship with Theatrum Mundi, which draws on her doctoral studies and interest in alternative educational curricula. What does it actually mean to build a cultural institution? We will also discuss the tension between innovation and stability, learning and unlearning, and the benefits and risks of becoming institutionalised.

Lou is the founder of DIASPORE, a multidisciplinary research platform, as well as the School of Ronces (formerly NEWS seasonal school), which explore the making of landscapes in rural and urban environments.

Image from: Eva Rowson's workshop at Tate Modern for Talking with Neighbours: reimagining the institution.

Through this dedicated set, London based DJ, artist, and vocalist, Shannen SP — known for her work with esteemed UK label Hyperdub, and her co-curation of the Ø event with Kode9 — responds to the theme of the ‘political voice’ for the launch event of the publication Sonic Urbanism: The Political Voice. Shannen conceived the mix as an Afro-Industrial blend of sounds, such as gqom, kuduro, batida, and dancehall, emerging from different corners of the world.

Event curated by Andrea Cetrulo.

On this episode of our In Conversation Series we have invited two formidable friends to share their thoughts on a theme they have been exploring together: Silence and Stillness.

Theatrum Mundi founder, sociologist and musician Richard Sennett, and choreographer, lecturer and Theatrum Mundi Fellow, Adesola Akinleye, exchange their impressions on the role of silence and stillness in their own practice, and the ways in which they influence our being in cities.

What do the acts of improvisation, scoring, and designing a city tell us about intentionality, nowness and presence? And how can silence and stillness disrupt, emphasize, or resist a linear narrative in music, dance and architecture?

On this month’s In Conversation podcast, architect Fani Kostourou, associate at Theatrum Mundi, is joined by architect Blanca Pujals and engineer and dancer Ellie Cosgrave to discuss bodies and voices at the centre of city making.

Who is visible or audible in public space, and how can interdisciplinary be incorporated into what are fundamentally data driven disciplines like engineering, and an architecture based on standardised measures of the body?

Blanca is an architect, spatial researcher and critical writer. Her cross-disciplinary practice engages with questions of geographies of power, the philosophy of science and transnational politics. Ellie Cosgrave is a civil engineer, lecturer at UCL, as well as a trained dancer who has contributed in the development of Theatrum Mundi’s ongoing project Choreographing the City.

On the second edition of TM Live, TM's Programme Curator Andrea Cetrulo is joined by Tyler Sonnichsen, cultural geographer and lecturer at Central Michigan University, who studies music, media, and oral histories. Through a selection of four DIY home brewed albums—some created in isolation—Tyler informs TM's ongoing research on the home as infrastructure for cultural production, as well as the politics of music circulation, DIY aesthetics and media representations.

Tyler's album selection:

1 - Bomb! The Music Industry

2 - The Twilight Singers – ‘Powder Burns’

3 - The Streets - 'Original Pirate Material'

4 - The Mountain Goats ‘All Hail West Texas’

On this first podcast of TM Live, Andrea Cetrulo, Programme Curator at TM, is joined by Brazilian performance artist Paul Setúbal, and architect and TM Associate Elahe Karimnia. Touching on themes of the body, choreography, and violence, this conversation informs TM's ongoing research project Choreographing the City, which questions the ways we move in cities and how choreography can challenge or reveal our understanding of urban design.