Jackie 1973 by Erica Dobbs
Archival image used by Tom Hunter in the making of A Palace for Us 2010
Tom Hunter: A Palace for Us The Serpentine Gallery, in collaboration with Age Concern Hackney, launches a major new film commission by London-based artist Tom Hunter
8 December 2010 – 20 January 2011
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Source: The Serpentine Gallery
The film is produced as part of the Serpentine’s ongoing SkillsExchange project, and is the result of a long-term residency that Hunterspent on the Woodberry Down Estate in Hackney, east London. A Palace forUs documents 50 years of life of the estate through the testimonies ofresidents who have lived there since it was first built
Constructed as a response to the wreckage of World War II bombing, theWoodberry Down Estate was begun in 1946 and completed in 1962, at whichtime it was heralded as an ‘estate of the future’. The 57 housing blocks onthe estate provided 2,500 homes for people living in impoverishedaccommodation in the area.
The film includes first-person accounts and flashbacks to three definingmoments in the estate’s history. Beginning with the bombing of StokeNewington in 1944, it encompasses residents’ memories of the 1950s,when the estate was a lively social space for young people, and then moveson to the 1960s, depicting the first generation of children born on the estatescrumping apples on its grounds. The film ends in the present day; theestate’s older residents are currently playing an important role in shapingthe future of Woodberry Down as it undergoes a major regenerationproject.
The film is part of the Serpentine Gallery’s Skills Exchange project, in whichartists, designers and architects work in collaboration with older people,care workers, young people and activists to exchange skills and developideas for social and architectural change.
Skills Exchange begins with the premise that people in the later stages of lifepossess many skills, insights, memories and ideas that are not only usefulbut vital to our understanding of, and planning for, the future. Whether theydocument the transformation of a neighbourhood or a transitional period inlife, Skills Exchange projects take place at moments in which change isimminent – occasions when older people are often marginalised andexcluded.
A Palace for Us is the second film project by Hunter, who is well known forhis photographic works which reference painterly traditions in depictingthe lives and histories of London’s East End. The sensitivity of theproduction reflects Hunter’s in-depth knowledge of the area and itsresidents
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