It comes to an end

So we finished up early. Sorry for not being able to make it run for longer. The arts grant didn't come in (imagine a lot of people are finding that...). In the end we self-funded and couldn't afford to keep it going a day longer than we actually did.

We are looking to take the exhibition into the community proper and exhibit in and around Dalston so more of the real community can see our work and get to know each other a little bit better.

THIS ISN'T OVER!

We've said that before....but this time we mean it! We're going to take this forward if it kills us. The response from the community and those that came to see it was overwhelmingly positive, more so than even we expected! (see the Slow London review here: http://www.slowguides.com/london/)

It seems that the positives in exploring the real community in an area are inherent to all; finding the people who actually make an area tick, matters.

Give us some guidance on where you think we should take the Project. We'll keep you updated and hopefully see you at our next event,

Cheers
The DP team

Movement!

Having had, what we precieve to be quite a decent run in the bunker, we want the project to be a little bit more integrated into the community it is profiling. Back to our original aim, we wanted the Project to facilitate increased interaction in the community.

So to bring this to the fore, we want to take the Project to the audience, showcasing the profiles randomly amongst in the bakers, butchers, bars, churches and so forth. We want them to be everywhere.

We have a few placements but if you have an idea of where we can bring them, or would like one you yourself, then just let us know and we'll ponder your musings.

Contact us here

Cheers
The Dalston Project

Really intelligent review of the project in Slow Guides

So we have been reviewed. Which means we are doing something right, hopefully and touching a nerve with the right community and people who think about things in the same light.

The article captures the ideals of the Project; that we want people to see the personalities in the community that give society a real buzz. Hayley from Slow Guides really hits the nail on the head by saying that we want people to leave and go explore the area.

Read the review here

Thanks
Dalston Project

Brilliant attendance and wet feet

Thanks to all those that came to see the exhibition last night. We were quite overwhemled by the number of people who came to a dark and hidden bunker on a Thursday night.

We had much fun taking people around and even got to show some of the subjects their pictures in situ. We're going to be running for a while so tell people if you enjoyed what you saw, or if you didn't make it down last night, feel free to drop by.

The torches worked a treat and the music was performed to perfection by Phil Horton - to hear more of him see : here

Photos will be uploaded here over the next few days. If you came down and took some pics, then email them to us: here

Thanks so much for all your support

The Dalston Project

Hackney Citizen are talking about the Project

So the Hackney Citizen are talking us up, which is really nice and hopefully shows that we have something to say worth hearing about!

We're going to be there from 6pm on the Launch night (this Thursday) so come on down, grab a drink, listen to some of the live music we have on offer and then grab a torch and go explore the rich community of Dalston.

There should hopefully be an opportunity to meet the people you are looking at in the pictures. See you there.

Get in touch if you have any questions: here

Thanks,
The Dalston Project

Noise!!

We want to make as much as this as possible. This exhibit is for the real people of Dalston and we feel their story is one that should be told. Not through an avenue of sympathy but righteousness, simply because they are what a community makes. Stories, empathy, commitment, cohesive interaction.

Any transient parties that filter through the area don't really leave a legacy, they have little bearing on their conduct towards their environment, but the subjects included in the Dalston Project ARE the environment, they are the foundations amongst the recesses and businesses.

For this reason, we need your help. If you'll have a poster, simply to keep and tell but a few people about the Project, then that would be a massive boost to us. We're working to create a wider understand for the local people, so to do this you involve the local community, surely. So that's what we're doing.

If you want to help us out, get in touch here

Thanks!
the Dalston Project

Premise

The premise for the exhibit is for you to come along and explore the Dalston community. With this in mind the exhibit will be held in near total darkness. We'll ask you to go explore by handing you a torch and sending you off into the bunker.

Worry not, each room will have candles and other people will have torches too so it will be plenty light enough for you to find your way.

Come and join us from next Thursday for the Launch. Below are a few examples of the kind of locals and their trades you can expect to uncover:

2 weeks and counting

The Exhibiton is almost ready. The subjects have had all their pictures taken (mostly) and we are pulling out the key parts of the interviews to hopefully show what the real Dalston has to offer. The ambition is to show those attending that Dalston not just a conduit from the City to Stoke Newington, that it's not just for creatives, but that there is a prevalent and continuous strong community in Dalston and that those that live and work in the area have a rich story to tell.

Those taking part are all connected to each other and we hope that you may know some of them too.


To give a fresh approach, as we are asking for you to explore a new side to Dalston, we're simply going to give you a torch and go and find it for yourself.

The good, the bad and the ugly

One of the main areas that the exhibition will look at will be the impact of the new station and what the local community think it will mean for the area. Impressions so far are quite mixed; people are unsure that the rise in house prices that a fresh group of commuter will bring, will also mean an increase in custom.

The station has the ability to make a profound impact on the social make up. It has a diverse set of backgrounds along it's route south, and once the connection with Canonbury is open, even more people will be reached from increasingly eclectic backgrounds. From speaking with the market holders it is clear that people already come from far and wide to gain fresh, cheap produce from Ridley Road but when people move to the area and don't appreciate the personal approach that the market provides; will this be its downfall?

The comparisons with Columbia Road market are obvious; the differences lie in the investment in the street. The market is also settled in a confined space that could little expand or diversify, this is what makes it unique. The capacity for Ridley Road to develop through investment is low, especially in current climes. Street vendors have to source power from the fixed store fronts at present which is cumbersome and a little hazardous. Will the new visitors from the other parts of leafy, affluent greater London tolerate this?

The exhibtion hopes to pull together all these thoughts to give further scope to the body of thought on the topic.

Progress

The Project is bringing some brilliant people out into the public domain. We meet Baba last week. A 20 year veteran of the market. He came over from Turkey with his brother and picked Dalston because it was where he saw people mixing and being given a chance. A complete character who started modelling with his produce when we asked for a photo.

Baba runs a fish bar and has seen troubled times of late. He is going to one of the main features in the Installation.

The installation is now secured and will be taking place in the fantastic setting of the World War II bunker behind the Print House, just off Ashwin Street.

If you've met Baba or have an interesting story about anyone you now on Ridley Road or E8 generally, get in touch.

The Project is coming along. We have a venue, (pretty crucial that) we are looking for more people to take part in the exhibition so get in touch if you feel you have a story.

People and places we are talking with at the moment:

The gents at Sound and Music on Dalston Lane

Their story encapsulates exactly what we are working towards, people with a history and a strong link to the community; people know and depend on them. Their business is threatened with closure. Hackney Council has helped them so little its untrue. Wait for the exhibition to see more.

If you know them or want to tell us about Sound and Music,
get in touch

Market stall fruit sellers in Ridley Road

They have been there for ages, decades even, flogging to a changing collection of consumers, always ready to give an anecdote or observation. Their story is colourful and touches many.

>> If you know Mark and Peter from the very first fruit stall on Ridley Road Market, get in touch

What is and was


E8, Dalston, mainly...and other areas...but mainly Dalston. The place is unique in East London right now, and probably comparable with only a handfull of other areas in the country: its in mass transit, from infrastructure through demographic to fiscal. A 'visual slum' being transformed. But it was once a fine area. An area of wealth and community. Neighbours knowing neighbours and living together. Does this not happen any more...?

What we now have is a fractured affair with alienation and disenfranchisement from society. The community feel has supposedly gone; its dried up along with the cement for the new apartments.

However, with all this being said, there are pockets of Dalston that remain warm, inviting and community driven. The ethnic diversity has factored in this; it's made it seem fragmented but for this negative perception there is one parallel that pulls all these strands together - all these people live next door to each other. They breath each other's air.

The Dalston Project aims to get in amongst this complex concrete district and run all the threads of existence, no matter how disparate and begotten they appear, through one door for all and each to come see.

The Project has a task to unite the people by showing them the humanity of all their neighbours. Not in some grand way, not in a patronising way, but by video and audio, by heart and touch. Unbiased and unreproachable, the Dalston Project will be a living showcase for all that is fine and good with the 'community', when most people think one doesn't even exist.

Interesting Article on Dalston's slide towards social Gentrification

Gentrification no thanks

Dave Hill guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 20 May 2008

The scheme centres on the redevelopment of the old Dalston Junction railway station (closed in 1986) as part of the northern extension of the East London Line, but also includes the construction of new shops and homes, a library and a public square. Its backers - Hackney council's Labour leadership, former Labour mayor Ken Livingstone, Transport for London and the London Development Agency - say it will regenerate the centre of Dalston. So do the house builders Barratt, whose east London MD claims that the scheme "will finally lift Hackney into another league".

For Michael Rosen, though, "regeneration" is a fig-leaf word to cover something else. "What's happened," he writes, "is that the Labour party has lubricated the wheels of big property developers and retail magnates in order to 'regenerate' an area. But it hasn't been 'regenerated' for the people living and working there. They've been shoved out."

I can't speak for readers of Socialist Worker, but three of the most thoughtful and informed visitors to my little blog - fellow Hackney residents all - responded strongly to Michael's argument, each in a different way.

The first to comment was Felix, whose local knowledge puts mine to shame. Citing Charles Booth's famous map of late 19th century London poverty, he noted the affluence of the Dalston of that time and rather tartly, he made the point that if house prices in the street where Michael lives are anything to go by, it's been "coming up" again for quite some time. Michael responded: Felix was missing his point, which was that public assets are financing a process whose "net effect ... is to remove the poorest families."

Next came Mark, who objected to Michael's "purely negative" characterisation of bankers and developers, adding that the far left came nowhere in the London elections and observing that the demographics of inner cities have always been in a state of change. Then Glyn popped by. Though a Liberal Democrat, he expressed similar concerns to Michael's about "long-established Dalston residents being pushed out".

The exchanges continued, with Michael inviting Felix to imagine a walk through a future "regenerated" Dalston in November, "past the half-empty Starbucks, and boarded up "retail opportunities" and the empty flats because the yo-pros (young professionals) have gone home to mum and dad for the long weekend, because Dalston is so 'awful'", Glyn insisted that he wasn't opposed to "regeneration" as such, but wished it could be done with more consideration for people like him. He wrote that the rent he pays to a private landlord in Clapton has "risen by 12% this year," and that with the Olympics on the way, "Soon, I will not be able to afford to live here any longer". He won't be able to afford a new Barratt apartment in the future Dalston Square either: most of those cost over £300,000.