Image: Antonia Szram
Plymouth was momentarily front page of the national news this summer after far-right anti-immigrant protesters gathered in the city intent on violent confrontation with the state. It was part of a season of disorder across the country and a signal of the deeper cultural malaise that has revealed itself as a feature of our national life in 2024.
As part of the New Contemporaries public programme and Plymouth Art Weekender, Radical Ecology will bring cultural leaders from across Plymouth including Jabo Butera from Diversity Business Incubator, Alex Vessis from Devon and Cornwall Refugee Support, Marc Gardiner from Zebra Collective, Liliane Uwimama from Jabulani and Jemima Laing, Deputy Leader of Plymouth City Council to reflect on the summer’s events where far-right anti-immigrant protesters gathered in cities across the UK - including Plvmouth - intent on violent confrontation with the state. We will be asking what the riots revealed about what’s going on in the city right now and we’ll be exploring the role of art and cultural strategy in addressing the collective challenges that we face.
The day will kick off at 9.30am at KARST with a session from our Dream Ecologies collective, followed by an open conversation, After The Riots (11am-1pm), after which lunch will be available from Jabulani. In the afternoon, the programme continues with a world premiere of Antonina Szram’s film, A Silent Walk (2.30-3pm), commissioned as part of the Black Atlantic weekend last year by Radical Ecology and Plymouth Culture and produced by Cine Sisters SW, followed by a conversation around contemporary creative practice (3-4pm) with Szram and New Contemporaries artist Fergus Carmichael.