Shoreditch film project captures local life

Ricardo Gouveia at Franco's Rivington Place. Photograph: Tim Sullivan

Shoreditch residents have been invited to contribute to an upcoming exhibition by filming and interviewing people who live and work in the area.

The now trendy locations around Shoreditch High Street were once in the shadow of a notorious slum.  The Old Nichol was home to the Kray twins’ grandfather and was also immortalised by Arthur Morrison’s novel A Child of the Jago.

The new project to document the area is an initiative of the Institute of International Visual Arts (Iniva), which is is based just west of the High Street at the Rivington Place gallery.

Iniva’s education curator, Teresa Cisneros explained that the gallery used to be a shoe factory, making it an example of how Shoreditch has transformed: “Shoreditch has been regenerated and now it’s being gentrified with the big names and big labels moving in.

“This is a project that we’re undertaking to try and get to know our neighbours.”

Despite the changes that have occurred in the area, Cisneros believes that there is a surprising amount of unconventional interaction in the community: “There’s a lot of bartering, there’s a lot of exchange and friendly competition.”

Iniva hopes to reveal the alternative business methods operating throughout Shoreditch and record how they fare in the aftermath of the recession and the 2012 Games.

“Not everyone’s going to be affected [by the London Olympics] but some people are going to lose their homes, by being priced out of their communities.

“For me, the free market economy is the biggest player in this. What happens to the small business owners, what happens to the local communities? I’m interested in following it for the next three years.”

Shiraz Bayjoo is taking the creative lead on the project. Previously Bayjoo made 150 Voices, a film documenting dispossession in association with the East London homeless charity, Providence Row.

As a three-year initiative, At the Intersection: Art and Economies, will explore local creative approaches to economics before, during and after the 2012 Olympics.

This year, the films will be exhibited at Rivington Place from 19-23 July and will also be available online.

At the Intersection: Art and Economies
Iniva
Rivington Place
EC2A 3BA
020 7729 9616