Atlantic Railton: LIVE
This live programme is an extension of Bailey’s new sound work, Atlantic Railton. Mason Jordan will perform a lyrical response that draws on transcripts from Bailey’s commission, bringing in new reflections from spatial politics, architecture and Black geographies, alongside a constellation of voices, sounds and music from Bailey’s original composition.
Following the performance there will be a live DJ set by Rabz Lansiquot.
About Atlantic Railton
Atlantic Railton is a new sound work by the artist Ain Bailey and takes its name from Atlantic Road and Railton Road in Brixton, South London. Home to significant Black British intellectuals and activists including C.L.R James and Olive Morris, both locations were also the meeting points for various social movements and community groups including the Black Panthers, Brixton Black Women’s Group, and where the Brixton uprising took place in 1981. Bailey draws on these histories, weaving familial and personal relationships with different sites of community organising that were active between the early 1970s to the early 2000s; including Brixton Neighbourhood Community Association, Big Up and Lambeth Women’s Project.
The piece brings together a series of intimate conversations led by the artist’s collaborators Sharon Elliott, Claudette Parry, Ego Ahaiwe Sowinksi and Marc Thompson that sonically reflect on the memories, actions and relationships held in these sites of community care and resistance. The sound composition is a constellation of the collaborator’s voices, new field recordings from the sites referenced, archival sounds of protest and traditional steel-pan songs played by Matthew Phillip from Mangrove Steel Band.
Atlantic Railton is a dedication to people and places that are no longer with us, tenderly evidencing the experiences of belonging and connection held in these spaces, which communities continue to feel the effects of today.
Ain Bailey
Ain Bailey is a sound artist and DJ. She facilitates workshops considering the role of sound in the formation of identity. Exhibitions include: ‘The Range’ at Eastside Projects, Birmingham; ‘RE:Respite’ at Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland, and ‘And We’ll Always Be A Disco In The Glow Of Love’, a solo show at Cubitt Gallery, London. Bailey was also commissioned by Supernormal/Jupiter festivals to create and perform a new composition, ‘Super JR’. In 2020, Bailey was commissioned by Radiophrenia Glasgow, a temporary art radio station, to create a new composition entitled ‘Ode To The N.H.S.’. Ongoing is a commission by Serpentine Projects, in which Bailey conducts sound workshops with LGBTI+ refugees and asylum seekers. In 2021, Bailey has her second solo show ‘Version’ at Wysing Arts Centre and has also been commissioned to create a sound work/performance for the 2021 Serpentine Pavilion.
Imani Mason Jordan
Imani Mason Jordan (fka Robinson) is an interdisciplinary writer, artist, editor and independent curator. They are one half of Languid Hands, who are Curatorial Fellows at Cubitt, London until Spring 2022. Imani completed their MA in Forensic Architecture at the Centre for Research Architecture in 2019. As a writer, Imani has been published widely across various magazines and art publications. They are also editor of Talking Drugs — an online platform dedicated to providing critical information on drug policy and harm reduction. Imani has facilitated political education, reading and discussion groups with Abolitionist Futures and Black Abolitionist. Their research-led practice combines performance, oration, collaboration, poetry and critical theory, exploring themes of black geographies, the afterlives of transatlantic slavery, abolition, radical resistance and the politics of safety.
Rabz Lansiquot
Rabz Lansiquot is a filmmaker, programmer, curator, and DJ. They were a leading member of sorryyoufeeluncomfortable collective from its inception in 2014, and now work alongside Imani Mason Jordan as Languid Hands, who are the Cubitt Curatorial Fellows for 2020-22. Rabz was Curator-In-Residence at LUX Moving Image in 2019, developing a public and educational programme around Black liberatory cinema. Their first solo exhibition where did we land, an experimental visual essay exploring the use of images of anti-black violence in film and media, was on view at LUX in Summer 2019. They have curated film programmes at the ICA, SQIFF and Berwick Film & Media Festival, were a programme advisor for London Film Festival’s Experimenta strand in 2019, and currently programme for Sheffield Doc Fest. Rabz is also training to deliver workshops in Super 8 and eco-processing at not.nowhere and hosts a monthly show on Peckham’s Balamii Radio.
Credits
Ain Bailey and Imani Mason Jordan, Atlantic Railton: LIVE, 2021, was commissioned by Serpentine Civic Projects for Listening to the City and was curated by Amal Khalaf, Elizabeth Graham, Layla Gatens and produced by Holly Shuttleworth.
Sound commissions supported by L-Acoustics Creations, presented in L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound.
Listening to the City
Listening to the City engages with a set of sonic landscapes from selected London neighbourhoods, paying attention to existing and lost spaces of gathering and belonging across the city. The programme was conceived and developed by Serpentine Education and Civic Projects for the Serpentine Pavilion 2021 designed by Counterspace.
