SPACE

Launch:  Thursday 31 January 2008 5 - 8pm
Continuous screening: 01 February - 07 February

Foyer of Clare House, Hawthorn Avenue, Off Old Ford Road, E3

'Clare House is a twenty storey residential block situated off Old Ford Road in Bow, Tower Hamlets. Its two sister blocks were dismantled in a simultaneous controlled explosion in 2002...Clare House now stands alone as a last bastion of 60's housing.'

This project explores, shares and celebrates the cultural choices and identities of residents in Clare House, offering an opportunity for tenants to connect with their neighbours. Michael Needham examines the content and formats of popular culture already present in residents' homes, inviting young and old alike to share the films they own and enjoy.

Michael expanded and united this fractured 'video library' by inviting participants to attend 'culture clubs', a weekly opportunity for residents to bring one video or DVD from home to screen, share and discuss over a cup of tea and bucket of popcorn. 

Through these sessions and chance conversations in lifts, corridors and stairwells he compiled a list of the twenty most popular films, and from these films he has created a new video work, the 21st Story for Clare House.

As a legacy these twenty films will form the basis of an in-house video library, operating every Wednesday, where residents will be able to borrow and make new additions. 

Incorporating photographs, video and some three-dimensional pieces Michael Needham initiates and documents spatial interventions, live events and excursions situated in the public realm. He is the steering force behind Neighbourhood Watching, a continuous project he initiated five years ago on the Bethnal Green estate where he lives. www.neighbourhoodwatching.co.uk