Laura Oldfield Ford in residence

13 Apr-22 May 2015

Overview

Laura’s research in Digbeth, where Grand Union is situated in Birmingham, will start with a series of walks or dérives that shift away from psychogeography and become more ‘sociogeographic’ ie draw on multiple voices and narratives not just her own subjective engagement with place. She hopes to sift through the territory using sound, photography, drawing and painting to construct a cognitive map where memories might be activated and stories disseminated through the process of walking. She is interested in the countercultural history of the area, the alternative scenes around the Ragmarket and the Bullring and also the Irish community and the pubs around Digbeth coach station. She will consider which groups are occupying the area now and how the nature of this occupation has shifted over recent decades. She is interested in nomadic and transient zones, hostels for migrant workers, provisional encampments and the coalescence of marginal political and religious groups.