Students in the PhD Programme will join filmmakers and organisers of the Open House London event “Beyond Beck Road” in discussions with artists and residents in preparation of their exhibition. In the weeks following this important community event, students will be invited to studio visits and presentations of artists, curators, architects and residents to learn about their practices, but also about the history of Beck Road.

The research and documentation will be supported by the Goethe Institute London.

The story of Beck Road became known in the 1980s and 90s when artists and architects who had lived there since the late 1970s produced their art trying collectively to resist the rapidly changing economic conditions of escalating real estate prices, and bullish art market developments.

Today the street still kept its integrity and character, representing a unique community that is still devoted to support local artists and creative practitioners. The street with its 56 houses, railway arch studios, and private galleries can tell a fascinating architectural and artistic history of London.

The Open House London event ‘Beyond Beck Road’ showcases the work of individual & collective artists connected to the street and its environs. This event presents broad practice, involving a wide community that represents the diversity of the area coming together and provides a platform for artistic participation. The street itself becomes a public exhibition space, with residents opening their houses and studios, showing work in windows and using the street as a communal stage of common ground for sculpture, performance, film and installation.

Luke Deering, an art director and artist, and also a new student to the MA Architecture Programme designed an over 60 metre long elevated meadow that meanders down Beck Road. His installation “Reclaiming the Common” aims to reflect on the nature of communities, united and enabled through communal spaces. During the event it will allow residents and visitors to celebrate, sit, drink, talk and eat at the land we share.