Behind the barber's: programme and selected recordings
The Museum of Non Participation
25 Sep - 25 Oct 2009
Behind Yaseen Hairdressers
277 Bethnal Green Rd
London E2
Recordings:
-Nick Davies: On Language as Violence
-Fatos Ustek: Future Imaginary
-John Phillips: Flat Earth and other stories
-Miss B's Salon behind the Salon
-Rahila Gupta: Writing and Activism Workshop
Saddar at night after a flash flood. Photograph by Brad Butler
Programme details:
The Salon and the Public Sphere
A series of salons held behind the Barbers, an intimate gathering for conversation and an exchange of ideas.
On Language as Violence
Thursday 1 October
Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Davies led an informal discussion on the role and power of the media in an international context drawing on ideas in his controversial exposé of the truth behind the headlines, Flat Earth News. Nick Davies has been named Journalist of the Year, Reporter of the Year and Feature Writer of the Year for his investigations into crime, drugs, poverty and other social issues. He is currently freelance, working regularly as a special correspondent for the Guardian.
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Writing the City
Friday 2nd October
Kamila Shamsie is the author of four novels, and a regular columnist for the Guardian. She lives in London and Karachi, and is presently teaching in New York State. This salon took the form of a discussion on the relationship of writing and literature to the way we imagine the metropolis.
On Collections
Thursday 8 October
Artist and curator Alana Jelinek delved into the politics and ethics of museum and gallery collections. Alana Jelinek is currently a fellow at the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Future Imaginary
Thursday 15 October
Critic and curator Fatos Ustek discussed the future of the Museum of Non Participation with Karen Mirza and Brad Butler as a real institution. What might the collection be, and where would it exist? Fatos Ustek is a freelance critic and curator, and edits the online contemporary arts magazine nowiswhere.
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Flat Earth and Other Stories
Saturday 17 October
John Phillips gave a reading and led a discussion under the title Flat Earth and Other Stories, don’t participate if you want. Plus a history of non participation through artistic, political and literary examples. John Phillips co-founded the Paddington Printshop (now the London Print Studio) in 1974. He has devoted much of his life to the running of this highly successful non-profit printmaking workshop, now an established model for many global art-activism initiatives.
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Sunday 18 October
The British Pakistani Foundation hosted an informal poetry recital focusing on Iqbal's Shikwa and Jawab-e-Shikwa. Themes of identity were discussed in terms of the relevance of Iqbal's vision in today's political climate.
The Architecture of Destruction
Wednesday 21 October
Architect and theorist Eyal Weizman along with other members of Goldsmiths Centre for Research Architecture led a discussion which interrogated the political relationship of architecture to violence across the globe. Eyal Weizman is an architect, curator and writer based in London. He also directs Goldsmiths College’s Centre for Research Architecture.
Miss B’s Salon behind the Salon
Thursday 22 October
Artist Ruth Beale hosted a salon event with Dave Rushton on media and autonomy. Dave Rushton was a member of Art & Language in the 1960s, he is the founder of the Institute of Local Television and has been a powerful voice in campaigning for media freedom since the 1970s. Ruth Beale’s salons take the form of open debates at public galleries taking subjects pertinent to art discourse and artists practice. In the last year subjects have included artists' political responsibilities; copyright; uses of the word 'space'; psychoanalysis and film; attraction to fascist cultural products; and the regulation of social space.
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The South Asian Women’s Creative Collective: Friday Night Social - Fun and Games Behind the Barber Shop
Friday 23 October
The South Asian Women's Creative Collective hosted an evening of participatory art, fun and chat - an evening of 2 halves.
Artist / comedienne Yara el-Sherbini hosted 2 rounds of her alternative pub quiz, Lahore-based video journalist Farzana Fiaz gave the latest from the ground and a sneak preview of some unseen clips, artist/ photographer Sara Haq offered individually tailored 2-5 minute holidays as part of her project: Space/ Time Travel Holidays Inc and Sonia Mehta brought the evening to a close with one of her unmissable unaccompanied vocal performances.
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Women's Only Events
An ongoing discussion and series of performances around the issue of The Body, Social Space and the Aesthetic of Resistance led to the decision to create a women only space, posing questions about how women might reclaim space, and imitate, accelerate and "own" everyday encounters. Tuesdays in The Museum of Non Participation sought to intervene in the assumed power dynamics of the everyday social space in Karachi, London and elsewhere. Women were invited to use this day as they wish, groups and individuals were welcome to initiate as well as participate.
Mushaira
Tuesday 6 October
Publisher Rukhsana Yasmin and playwright Yasmin Whittaker Khan hosted a special women-only Mushaira, or poetry reading. A poetic symposium held in Urdu and English.
Writing and Activism workshop
Tuesday 13th October
Founding member of Southall Black Sisters, journalist and writer Rahila Gupta drew on her experiences to lead this workshop which explored the relationship between writing and activism.
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Language Classes
For Urdu speakers wishing to learn English alongside English speakers wishing to learn Urdu. Three versions of The Museum of Non Participation’s original Urdu/English language exchange including beginners’ drop-in sessions, women’s only classes and a continuation of the previous term’s activities.
Introductory class
Saturday 10 and Saturday 17 October
A taster language class based on exchanging skills in Urdu and English.
Intermediate/beginners class
Wednesday 7, 14 and 21 October
Led by translator and language teacher, Hasan Sheikh, a continuation of our Urdu/English language exchange.
Tuesday 29 September and 6, 13 and 20 October
Arjum Wajid has worked as a journalist both in English and Urdu for over 25 years. Her informal language class provided an environment where English and Urdu speaking women could begin to learn and/or practice and improve their spoken English and Urdu through exchange, activities and conversation with some basic teaching structure.
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Scriptwriting Workshops
Saturday 26 September, 3, 10, 17 October
The Museum of Non Participation and Zammurad Naqvi led a series of experimental scriptwriting workshops for a pilot television soap opera in order to develop characters and plot lines that explore Pakistani life in the UK.
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Film Screenings
Zinda Laash
Friday 16 October
Come to the Museum of Non Participation for a special Friday night film screening. Between 6-8pm we will be showing the infamous Zinda Laash - Paikistani director Khwaja Sarfraz's Urdu-language version of Dracula, made in 1967. Also known as Dracula in Pakistan and The Living Corpse, this Lollywood classic was the first film in Pakistan to be x-rated.
Film Premiere
The Exception and the Rule
by Karen Mirza and Brad Butler
London Film Festival
Sun 25 October
NFT3
Shot primarily in Karachi, The Exception and the Rule employs a variety of strategies in negotiating consciously political themes. Avoiding traditional documentary modes, the film frames everyday activities within a period of civil unrest, incorporating performances to camera, public interventions and observation. This complex work supplemented The Museum of Non Participation.