About
This website hosts an audio archive and information about art and politics in the year 1984. You can listen to edited audio extracts from a series of dinners with people active politically and artistically in the year 1984 in different parts of the world.
The aim of the project is to explore and create multiple narratives of a slice of time across different international contexts. Documentation of dinners in the UK, Singapore, Australia and South Africa are available so far.
The method of researching through hosting dinners aims to create subjective interpretations of multiple, perhaps conflictual voices and memories through responses to archival material, personal testimonies and imagined scenarios.
This project has been initiated by Dr Sophie Hope, a practice-based researcher in the Film, Media and Cultural Studies Department, Birkbeck, University of London.
Read more about the background to the project here.
London
Date: 29 September 2011
Location: Studio, St. Paul’s House, 125 Deptford High Street. London SE8 4NS
Guests: Loraine Leeson, Sonia Boyce, Stephen Lobb, Flick Allen, Leila Galloway, Shirley Cameron and Roland Miller
Food: Thai salads and muffins supplied by Happy Kitchen
Singapore
Date: 28 January 2014
Location: Substation, 45 Armenian St, Singapore 179936
Guests: Russell Heng, Sasi Thiunalan, Jian Hong, Heng Leun, Souk Yee, Suan Tze and Alfian Sa’at
Co-host: Terence Chong
Food: Chicken, rice, fruit, chocolate cake
Melbourne
Date: 3 March 2014
Location: Footscray Community Arts Centre, 45 Moreland St, Footscray VIC 3011, Australia
Guests: Jon Hawkes, Robin Laurie, Uncle Larry Walsh, Heather Horrocks and Fotis Kapetopoulos
Co-hosts: Marnie Badham and Bern Fitzgerald
Food: Thai takeaway, fruits
Johannesburg
Date: 20 March 2014
Location: The Bag Factory, 10 Mahlathini St, Fordsburg 2092, Johannesburg, South Africa
Guests: Firdoze Bulbulia, Anton Harber, Faith Isiakpere, David Koloane, Santu Mofokeng, Pat Motlau, Aura G Msimang, Molefe Pheto, Malcolm Purkey, Brett Pyper, Joachim Schonfeldt and Monique Vajifdar.
Co-hosts: Gabi Ngcobo, Rangoato Hlasane, The Bag Factory (James French and Sara Hallatt)
Food: Curry take away from Bismilla
Acknowledgements
The dinners are only possible with the support of co-hosts and guests in each context. I would like to thank all the co-hosts for helping me arrange the dinners: Terence Chong in Singapore, Marnie Badham and Bern Fitzgerald in Melbourne and Gabi Ngcobo, Rangoato Hlasane and The Bag Factory in Johannesburg. Thanks also go to all the guests for attending the dinners and contributing their memories and words of wisdom. Special thanks also go to Emily Ballard for helping me with the initial dinner in London and Flick Allen and Monique Vajifdar for their advice and allowing me to tap into their vast networks. Thanks also to Backdoor Broadcasting for recording and editing the first dinner in London. While this project is mainly self-funded, The Centre for Media, Culture and Creative Practice at Birkbeck have kindly contributed £400 towards the cost of the website.