Yard Life

Yard Life is a one-off, living exhibition and celebration, introducing a typical yard in the threatened industrial area around the Old Kent Road and microcosm of the overall network of interconnected businesses and people in the area. Sharing this single yard are tray makers, metalworkers, stone carvers, carpenters, leatherworkers, graphic designers, architects, film-makers and set designers- the epitome of Jane Jacobs' mixed city. During the week, the yard operates both as a delivery yard and a workspace and is vital for the ecosystem of the economy, itself vital for the ecosystem of the city.

We are hosting an exhibition and open house, cinema screenings and party in the yard, and open up the highly-skilled manufacturers' and designers' workshops that use it, so you can experience the extraordinary potential of these places to enrich the city by weekday and weekend; by day and by night.

Open House – Canaletto observed the inner workings of manufacturing on his daily walks around Venice. Visit the modern-day equivalent and observe the inner workings of the stone carver workshop, the metal tray factory and lots more making and design studios that share the yard. Contrary to hyperbole, we don't live in a dematerialised world, and the mixed city will be the most sustainable one.

Cinema – We've constructed an outdoor cinema in the Yard. Watch films made by local filmmakers and other carefully selected films. Enjoy a family-friendly blockbuster on Sunday.

Exhibition – We've collected beautiful prototypes produced by local manufacturers, themselves amongst the highest skilled manufacturers in the world. Be prepared to enter into a sculpture park of high quality process work across scales and materials, from gigantic armatures to clay miniatures.

Party – Saturday will kick off at 2pm with oven baked goods and relaxed drinks and crescendo to an evening party. We have local DJs and some juicy speakers. By Sunday we will be all cleaned up and ready for an all-ages drawing workshop led by Toby Connor of OKRA studio. Let the good times commence!

YARD LIFE Programme

Saturday 22nd June

2pm – 6pm – Exhibition & Open House
6pm – 12am – Yard Party

Sunday 23rd June

Sunday
11am - 9pm
Workshops, Cinema, Food, Drinks

Free Workshops

Saturday Workshop:

3pm – 5pm Life Drawing with Artist Ed Firth

Ed has been encouraging people of all backgrounds and skill levels to engage in drawing, running his successful East London Life Drawing classes for the past four years. We’ve managed to draw him south for a one-off session, where our pencils will drift between the collected objects and the human form. Open to all!

Sunday Workshop & Cinema Schedule:

Free Workshops

11am
Yoga in the Yard
preciousbreathsyoga

1pm
Storyboarding Workshop
Rainbow Collective & Bell Gardens Animation Club

3pm
Film-making Workshop
Taylan Mutaf

5pm
Yard Mapping Workshop
Toby O’Connor

Free Cinema

12pm
Selected Animated Shorts including the award-winning Foodbank & the Fidget Spinner
Directed by Bell Gardens Animation Club & Rainbow Collective

1pm
Lunchtime Intermission

2pm
Carpenter State
Directed by Dorothy Allen-Pickard
A documentary about the mothers evicted from the Focus E15 hostel who occupied the Carpenter Estate in Stratford in a fight against evictions, to stay in London and for housing for all.

3pm
Concrete Soldiers UK
Directed by Nikita Woolfe
Concrete Soldiers UK tells the story of the destruction of council estates including the local Aylesbury Estate, the social cleansing of those who live there and residents who are fighting back, and giving hope to others whose homes are threatened, both in London and across the UK.

4.30pm
Dispossession
Directed by Paul Sng
An investigation of the ongoing social housing crisis sweeping through the UK, taking an eye-opening look at the neglect and increased demolitions that are tearing communities apart, including the local Aylesbury Estate.

6.30pm
Blockbuster film screening!

Yard Life is hosted by OKRA studio, Kaymet London Ltd, London Stone Carving, Studio Lorenz Klingebiel, Vangelis Moscopoulos, Kezia Harper, Taylan Mutaf, Standard Grilles / Rhys Allen Ltd, Orinoco, James Pockson, Antoine Marinot, Gareth Lindsay, Hannah Woolfe, Max Johns