Theatrum Mundi is a centre for research and experimentation in the public culture of cities, expanding the crafts of city-making through collaboration with the arts and developing imaginative responses to shared questions about the staging of urban public life. Based in London and Paris, they work through performance, design, publishing, research and teaching with partners across Europe and the Mediterranean.
In 2022 Theatrum-Mundi launched TM Cohort – an intergenerational focused on knowledge exchange connecting architecture and urbanism. 2022’s cohort focused on the theme of displacement, using different lenses to uncover a multitude of personal stories of urban change, shape-shifting and transmutation. TM Cohort explored this central theme through four dedicated workshops on choreography, sound, writing, and infrastructure led by filmmakers, housing activists, performers, writers, and artists.
The 6-month curated program of workshops, talks, walks, and activities was led by Chiara Ambrosio, Gascia Ouzounian, Andrea Luka Zimmerman, Arman Nouri, Adesola Akinleye, Adam Moore and Susannah Haslam amongst others.
Participants developed their thinking and practice through the co-production of knowledge, establishing a platform for sharing cross-disciplinary ideas on city-making and co-produced a series of five zines proposing imaginative responses to shared questions about the staging of urban public life.
I explored embodying otherness with TM-Cohort 2022 artists Hanou Amendah, Dhara Bhatt, Shani Haberman, Jamie Hignett, Eloise Maltby Maland, Rhea Martin, Chris Miller, Alisa Oleva, Jasmine Pajdak, Morgan Senior, Binoli Shah, Jasmine Shigemura Lee, Dr Rajinder Singh, Alice Thompson, Darshana Vora, Florence Wright.
Embodying Otherness uses choreography as a tool to approach displacement not as something that is forced upon and endured by individuals and social groups but as a necessary act for living. And questions how we can challenge codes embedded in urban design that limit our right to be and move in the city, and strive to attune to constant changes within our surroundings.
Geological time. Geological tissue. Architectural Tissue. My workshop examined architectural tissue, investigating a specific site as a group through touch, movement and photography, and examining movement taking place in, through, and around the built environment.
TEAM Cecily Chua, Lou-Atessa Marcellin, Labeja Kodua Okullu
COLLABORATORS Susannah Haslam, Adesola Akinleye, Elahe Karimnia, Arman Nouri, Gascia Ouzounian, John Bingham-Hall, Anthony Badu, Senam Badu, Chiara Ambrosio, Chooc Ly Tan, Adam Moore, Marta Michalowska, Andrea Luka Zimmerman
The 6-month program culminated in a 2-day summer school of creative workshops which were developed and led by the TM-Cohort 2022 artists Hanou Amendah, Dhara Bhatt, Shani Haberman, Jamie Hignett, Eloise Maltby Maland, Rhea Martin, Chris Miller, Alisa Oleva, Jasmine Pajdak, Morgan Senior, Binoli Shah, Jasmine Shigemura Lee, Dr Rajinder Singh, Alice Thompson, Darshana Vora, Florence Wright.
Photos © Adam Moore 2022