Jasleen Kaur with the Portman Early Childhood Centre, Everyday Resistance: A Changing Play commission by the Serpentine Galleries, Design: Cecilia Serafini, Photograph: Mike Din
Public Practice
Serpentine’s Public Practice integrates our work across education and civic spheres to redefine the role of the arts during periods of social change.
Redefining the role of the arts during periods of social change, the programme addresses themes such as migrant rights, care, schooling, and labour with individuals and groups excluded from the decision-making processes that shape the places where they live and work. Serpentine’s Public Practice is grounded in collaborative research and learning and builds on the Serpentine’s long history of artistic commissions in social and political contexts. It includes long term and ongoing commissions and the production of toolkits and resources for change.
Serpentine North Gallery
31 Mar — 29 May 2022
Free
Artists Sonia Boyce, Helen Cammock, Rory Pilgrim and Ilona Sagar present four bodies of work, exploring stories of labour, and who cares for who and in what way.
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Ongoing
Free
A new fellowship programme supporting artists working at the intersection of art, spatial politics and community practice.
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Serpentine North Gallery
Offsite
Feb 2019 – Ongoing
Free
A three year project which sees four artists embedded in social care services and community settings in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.
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Serpentine North Gallery
Offsite
2019 - 2021
Free
Helen Cammock's Radio Ballads project looks at individual and collective power, asking where we sit within the social and political spaces we inhabit.
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Serpentine North Gallery
Offsite
2019 - 2022
Free
Ilona Sagar's Radio Ballads project asks to what extent are we a product of our 'body capital', labour and efficiency?
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Serpentine North Gallery
Offsite
2019 - 2021
Free
Rory Pilgrim's Radio Ballads project explores what keeps us afloat in moments of change and transition.
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Serpentine North Gallery
Offsite
2019 - 2021
Free
Sonia Boyce's Radio Ballads project asks how conversations can help us to conjure something concrete out of the immaterial.
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Sep 2017 – Sep 2019
Free
Together with early years workers, care takers and parents, Adelita Husni Bey asks how we can care for each other when systems of care are being dismantled around us.
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Jun 2018 – ongoing
Free
Sam Curtis invites children to lead a series of walks through their neighbourhood, exploring the ways in which we can learn to re-think the city by listening to children.
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Jan 2018 – ongoing
Free
How can cooking and eating together be a site of resistance? A project with Jasleen Kaur in collaboration with mothers and children from the Portman Early Childhood Centre.
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Dec 2019 – ongoing
Free
Across two London hospitals Jasleen Kaur and Katie Schwab explore questions of frailty, ageing, care, health, and the NHS today.
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Feb 2018 – ongoing
Free
Rehana Zaman’s residency examines the intersections of race, gender and class within the UK criminal justice system.
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Offsite
August 2018 - Ongoing
Free
In collaboration with Micro Rainbow Ain Bailey’s residency explores the role that sound plays in identity formation.
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30 Jan 2019
A resource sharing how to implement Theatre of the Oppressed in the ESOL classroom and migrant organising contexts.
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Online
Ongoing
An education resource for teachers to rethink the ways we talk about colonialism and its legacy in schools.
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30 Jan 2019
A resource sharing how to implement Theatre of the Oppressed in the ESOL classroom and migrant organising contexts.
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1 Mar 2017
Supporting early educators to form solidarities children advocate for free play in the state school system.
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1 May 2015
A classroom game which invites children and teachers to explore the transition from primary to secondary school.
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4 Jan 2018
Free
Year 6 children collaborated with artist Adam James to create a game about living and working together.
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Sep 2017 – Sep 2019
Free
Together with early years workers, care takers and parents, Adelita Husni Bey asks how we can care for each other when systems of care are being dismantled around us.
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Online
1 Sep 2016
A research for educators to develop anti-sexist, LGBTQ+ positive and anti-racist Relationships and Sex Education (RSE)
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Online
Ongoing
A resource for English teachers to explore the potential of poetry to address diverse personal histories.
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Online
Ongoing
A resource to help educators create space for conversations about race and racism.
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Online
24–25 Jun 2023
"What is it to be oneself?"
Educators joined artist Jade de Montserrat for online workshops exploring self-image and identity.
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Online
Ongoing
An education resource for teachers to rethink the ways we talk about colonialism and its legacy in schools.
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Serpentine North Gallery
31 Mar — 29 May 2022
Artists Sonia Boyce, Helen Cammock, Rory Pilgrim and Ilona Sagar present four bodies of work, exploring stories of labour, and who cares for who and in what way.
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Serpentine North Gallery
Offsite
Feb 2019 – Ongoing
A three year project which sees four artists embedded in social care services and community settings in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.
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Summer 2021
An Artist-in-Residence will work with local communities to design and create the Becontree Broadcasting Station for Valence Library.
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Offsite
August 2018 - Ongoing
In collaboration with Micro Rainbow Ain Bailey’s residency explores the role that sound plays in identity formation.
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Jun 2018 – ongoing
Sam Curtis invites children to lead a series of walks through their neighbourhood, exploring the ways in which we can learn to re-think the city by listening to children.
Read more +
Jan 2018 – ongoing
How can cooking and eating together be a site of resistance? A project with Jasleen Kaur in collaboration with mothers and children from the Portman Early Childhood Centre.
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9 Apr 2011
ACT ESOL is an ongoing practice-led collaborative action research project initiated by Serpentine Projects in partnership with English for Action.
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4 Jan 2018
Year 6 children collaborated with artist Adam James to create a game about living and working together.
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5 Apr 2006
This project brought together an architect and a design collective to work with the residents of a care home.
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10 Apr 2020
This project worked with residents and shop owners in East Street Market, one of the oldest street markets in London.
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13 Apr 2010
A film by Marcus Coates, the result of a long-term residency by Coates at St John's Hospice.
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23 Jul 2010
A 16mm film conceived in the format of a television play and set in a care home.
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28 Nov 2016
A series of educational videos highlighting the different issues migrants could potentially face working in Europe today.
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11 Jun 2018
Taylor Le Melle and Daniella Valz Gen were the first artists and writers to undertake the Writing the City residency programme.
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15 Apr 2020
A publication based on a series of public walks in the local Church St area hosted by Chris Jones and Sam Curtis.
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8 Apr 2013
A proposition to work with residents of care homes experiencing dementia and with care workers in the context of residential care.
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8 Apr 2016
A design and research collective based on the Public Space Seminar at the Serpentine Gallery’s Centre for Possible Studies.
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8 Apr 2016
Seymour Arts is a collaboration of community spirit, a meeting of minds of like-minded people.
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Dec 2019 – ongoing
Across two London hospitals Jasleen Kaur and Katie Schwab explore questions of frailty, ageing, care, health, and the NHS today.
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Available from June 2021
This resource encourages young people to engage with the climate crisis.
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1 Apr 2015
Implicated Theatre devised workshops and performances during their residency with the Serpentine’s Edgware Road Project.
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Offsite
20 Feb 2020
Artists, activists and educators came together to rethink the ways we talk about colonialism and its legacy in schools.
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Offsite
26 Nov 2019
A forum that brought together parents, carers, educators, activists, and artists to ask how we can create a network of support.
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1 May 2017 — 26 November 2019
In collaboration with children, parents and early years workers, Emma McGarry and Adam JB Walker ask how we can resist disability discrimination in the education system.
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Offsite
16 Nov 2019
ACT ESOL Language, Resistance, Theatre training workshops explored how to implement Theatre of the Oppressed in the ESOL classroom.
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Offsite
19 Oct 2019
ACT ESOL Language, Resistance, Theatre training workshops explored how to implement Theatre of the Oppressed in the ESOL classroom.
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Serpentine South Gallery
12 Oct 2019
Children and families joined Family Artists-in-Residence One of My Kind to discover and share the interests we have in common.
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Serpentine South Gallery
8–10 Oct 2019
Free, artist-led workshops for school groups with the Schools Artist-in-Residence 2019, poet and writer Belinda Zhawi.
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Sep 2017 – Sep 2019
Together with early years workers, care takers and parents, Adelita Husni Bey asks how we can care for each other when systems of care are being dismantled around us.
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Serpentine South Gallery
12 Sep 2019
Artist Adelita Husni Bey and the Portman Early Childhood Centre launched their new illustrated book Who Cares?
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1 May — 1 Sep 2019
A family pack designed for children and families to imagine new ways of living together with others.
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Serpentine South Gallery
10–11 Aug 2019
Artists One of My Kind (OOMK) designed a collaborative city with children and their families.
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Serpentine South Gallery
9–12 Jul 2019
Poet and writer Belinda Zhawi, Artist in Residence 2019, led a series of creative writing workshops with school groups.
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Serpentine South Gallery
29–30 Jun 2019
A weekend of art, activism, posters and storytelling.
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Serpentine South Gallery
27–29 Apr 2019
One Of My Kind invited children and their families to come together to think about what we give and take from the natural world.
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Serpentine South Gallery
23–25 Apr 2019
The Sprig Studio facilitated creative writing workshops with school groups exploring the themes of home, memory and cityscapes.
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18–29 Mar 2019
What are the sounds of home? What does home mean to us? What emerges when we listen together?
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Serpentine South Gallery
16 Mar 2019
Kaur's work is an ongoing exploration into the malleability of culture and the layering of social histories.
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Offsite
12 Jan 2019
ACT ESOL presented their new publication ACT ESOL Language, Resistance, Theatre at Conway Hall.
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1 February 2017 — 9 January 2019
Artist Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad and children aged three and four set out to activate the local built environment as a space for free play and imagination.
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1 March 2016 — 30 December 2018
The University of Nottingham conducted research into community-based, participatory arts programmes focused on children and young people.
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Serpentine South Gallery
13–14 Oct 2018
Children and their families playfully posed as mannequins in a temporarily mirrored studio.
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Serpentine South Gallery
9–11 Oct 2018
Artist and dancer Zinzi Minott led a series of movement-based workshops with children and young people.
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Serpentine Pavilion
27 Sep 2018
Building on the Radical Kitchen: Recipes for Building Community and Creating Change programme launched in 2017, Serpentine presented a second season of its lunchtime gatherings in the S...
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Serpentine Pavilion
20 Sep 2018
Chefs from Ghetto Gastro address yams as part of Radical Kitchen 2018
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Serpentine Pavilion
13 Sep 2018
Chefs from Mazí Mas discuss rice as part of Radical Kitchen 2018
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1 Jun — 1 Sep 2018
A Family Pack for children and their families using The Mastaba on Serpentine Lake as inspiration.
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1 Jun — 1 Sep 2018
An opportunity for families to reflect on and play with time in association with Frida Escobedo’s Pavilion
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Serpentine South Gallery
11 Aug 2018
Artists Harold Offeh and Veronica Cordova de la Rosa invited children and their families to create costumes inspired by Chac Mool.
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Serpentine Pavilion
12 Jul 2018
Design duo Formafantasma discussed gold and recycling technological objects with design critic and writer Alice Rawsthorn.
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Serpentine South Gallery
9 Jul 2018
Artist and dancer Zinzi Minott led a series of movement based workshops with children and young people.
The artist-led sessions explored the connections between Zinzi Minott's ar...
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7 March 2016 — 4 July 2018
Albert Potrony worked with children to investigate the value and possibilities of free play in the school system.
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Serpentine South Gallery
30 Jun — 1 Jul 2018
Artist Harold Offeh invited children and their families to think about themselves as sculptural material.
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Offsite
12 May 2018
How can we re-imagine the communities we live in? What does social practice in arts education look like today?
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Serpentine South Gallery
2–4 May 2018
The sessions formed connections between Zinzi Minotts' artistic practice and the Serpentine exhibition programme.
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Serpentine South Gallery
28–29 Apr 2018
Artist Harold Offeh invited children and their families to work together to create imagined music album covers.
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Serpentine South Gallery
27 Jan 2018
Artist Adam James discussed his practice and recent projects.
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Online
18 June 2015 — 22 December 2017
A digital platform and nationwide campaign to encourage young architects to design cities of the future.
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Serpentine South Gallery
11 Nov 2017
Husni-Bey discussed her influences and practice, which focuses on the complexity of collectivity.
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30 Oct — 10 Nov 2017
Students worked with Collective Creativity to ask questions about surveillance, police brutality and the future of policing.
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Serpentine South Gallery
21–22 Oct 2017
Children and their families joined artist duo Sisters From Another Mister to explore the idea of the body as a camera.
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Serpentine South Gallery
2 Sep 2017
Educators came together to think about how to open up conversations about race and racism in the classroom.
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1 Jun — 1 Sep 2017
The Portable Mural featured a cyanotype print of a woven tapestry with prompts for looking around the Pavilion.
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Serpentine South Gallery
19–20 Aug 2017
Artist Albert Potrony, children and families to came together to consider the importance of play in public space.
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Serpentine South Gallery
22–23 Jul 2017
Namuun Zimmermann and Rike Glaser invited families to come together to create flags for times of separation and uncertainty.
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30 October 2014 — 30 June 2017
Invisible Spaces of Parenthood’s collaboration with the Portman Early Childhood Centre draws attention to the marginalisation of early years practice.
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Serpentine South Gallery
9–12 May 2017
The Early Years Atelier was designed around the principles of child-initiated play, hands-on experience and collaboration.
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Serpentine South Gallery
6–7 May 2017
Throughout a two-day voice workshop, artist Jenny Moore invited families to join their temporary experimental choir.
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Serpentine North Gallery
27 Mar — 7 Apr 2017
Young people and artist collaboration agency for agency developed a series of performative actions that question and explore what it means to work.
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Serpentine South Gallery
10 Dec 2016
Paul Maheke discussed his practice in the Serpentine Galleries Education Space.
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Serpentine South Gallery
17 Nov 2016
Frances Rifkin led a workshop for educators exploring Shakespeare through the lens of radical political theatre.
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31 Oct — 11 Nov 2016
Young people worked as co-researchers with artist collaboration agency for agency to critically consider issues around work.
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9 Nov 2016
An open modular ‘stage’ by artist Alia Farid, re-envisaged for Edgware Road was used by the public in different ways.
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Serpentine South Gallery
22 Oct 2016
Harold Offeh presented a talk on his practice in the Serpentine Galleries Education Space.
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Serpentine North Gallery
8 Sep 2016
A workshop for educators exploring poetry as a method to understand and develop personal identities.
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1 May — 1 Sep 2016
Anna Lucas created a kit of parts for families to use to explore the 2016 Pavilion and Summer Houses.
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Serpentine South Gallery
20–21 Aug 2016
Katie Schwab and families worked together to explore different forms of life writing, using colour, shape and language.
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Serpentine South Gallery
16–17 Jul 2016
Families joined artist Renata Bandeira for a weekend of shape-shifting sculpture and movement.
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13 Jan — 6 Jul 2016
Students from Westminster Academy investigated the structures of power in school and society.
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June 2016
A sonic theatrical performance created through a year-long collaboration between Implicated Theatre and migrant hotel workers.
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Serpentine South Gallery
12 May 2016
Bedfellows brought together educators to discuss current forms of sex education and imagine alternatives.
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1 May 2016
A resource to support teaching staff preparing for the transition from primary to secondary schools.
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Serpentine South Gallery
30 Apr 2016
Bedfellows led a discussion through a past, future and present of their engagement with the Serpentine.
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4 April 2013 — 20 April 2016
Anton Kats undertook a multi-year residency between 2013–2016 at Westmead Elderly Resource Centre and Carlton Dene Care home.
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12 Jan — 30 Mar 2016
A collaboration between Febrik and students from Westminster Academy.
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Offsite
11 Mar 2016
Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad led a workshop to design and programme a community-run bookshelf for Church Street Library.
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7 Sep — 9 Dec 2015
The Serpentine Youth Forum with artists Chloe Cooper, Jenny Moore and Phoebe Davies present The Making Of… A Radio Show.
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Serpentine South Gallery
24 Oct 2015
This Artist Talk highlighted Andrea Francke and Kim Dhillon’s research into parenthood, childcare and Early Years Education.
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1 Jun 2015
Through dance, drawings and conversation, children reflected on primary school and explored their expectations about secondary school.
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1 Nov 2013
Anton Kats and a group of 15-16 year olds from Westminster Academy came together to develop Radio S.O.N.A.R.
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18 Apr 2013
An exhibition by Ultra-red with students and teachers from St Marylebone Church of England School in London.
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Offsite
12 Dec 2012
The 2012 Carers' Congress illuminated the publication Art + Care: A Future, which explores urban transformation and the politics of care.
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23 May 2012
A report exploring urban transformation and the politics of care
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Serpentine South Gallery
6–28 Apr 2012
On the Edgware Road made public three years of research generated by the Serpentine's Edgware Road Project.
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6 Mar — 26 Apr 2012
On the Edgware Road made public three years of research generated by the Serpentine's Edgware Road Project.
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30 Jan 2012
A publication that speculates on future alliances between the fields of art and elderly care.
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1 Apr 2010
Public 10 designed ways of making future planning more accessible to those who lived in the Edgware Road area.
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8 December 2010 — 20 January 2011
Tom Hunter's film was the result of a long-term residency spent on the Woodberry Down Estate in Hackney, East London.
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1 January 2002 — 31 December 2006
Dis-assembly was a four-year project with the staff and students of North Westminster Community School.
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