In London the accelerating construction boom is causing housing chaos for the capital’s working majority, more and more of whom are leaving the city due to steep rent rises and lack of truly affordable homes. Richard DeDomenici's studio of eight years is located in London's Aldgate East – south of trendy Shoreditch and east of the City, and is accordingly undergoing gentrification from two simultaneous fronts. He has watched with bemusement as the large block of social housing opposite has be...read more
In London the accelerating construction boom is causing housing chaos for the capital’s working majority, more and more of whom are leaving the city due to steep rent rises and lack of truly affordable homes. Richard DeDomenici's studio of eight years is located in London's Aldgate East – south of trendy Shoreditch and east of the City, and is accordingly undergoing gentrification from two simultaneous fronts. He has watched with bemusement as the large block of social housing opposite has been emptied of its residents and converted into luxury apartments, many of which will be sold to overseas investors and remain empty. As an artist he is both culpable - artists moving into run-down spaces are often a harbinger of gentrification – and vulnerable – he recently had to move out of his studio as the building's owners have sold it to property developers. This is a story that is repeated across the world, and one I propose to explore in this project. Richard DeDomenici invites the audience to mourn the loss of social housing by assembling their own flatpack papercraft model of Balfron Tower in East London, designed by Hungarian architect Erno Goldfinger, and currently being 'decanted' of its social residents. Participants are then invited to join a non-partisan, silent funeral cortege, between the Belgrade Youth Center and Belgrade Waterfront development, as an occasion to reflect and mourn together on these major changes. Upon reaching the Waterfront, mourners are invited give eulogies before cast their cardboard models into the water, and possibly set them on fire in a nod to Nordic sea burial. Mourners are invited to wear black.
