On the 11 October Peckham Space hosted the artist talk for the current show ‘Network’. The event was a special ‘in conversation’ with artist Sonia Boyce and cultural critic Bonnie Greer.
Taking as its starting point the specially commissioned film work by Sonia Boyce, the talk explored the theme of migration in Boyce’s work to date, and how her investigation of social networking connects with changing concepts of community.
Greer also investigated the development of Boyce’s socially engaged practice and Peckham Space’s unique commissioning process which invited project partners Southwark Council’s Visual And Performing Arts (VAPA) Young Women’s Group to draft the project brief and join the selection panel to directly commission Boyce for the work.
‘Network’ looks at how forms of communication such as mobile phones and social networking sites like Facebook have become the most popular ways for young people to maintain their relationships with friends and family.
The exhibition is comprised of four screens, each showing a different element of the film and choreographed in the gallery space as an installation: a set of dialogues featuring the young people in front of as well as behind the camera. Shot in cinematic high definition, the ‘Network’ film charts the nature of the relationships between four young women from Peckham, south London and the languages that have formed around the technologies they use to stay in touch.
Sonia Boyce said: “I was particularly interested in the type of conversations that are generated and amongst groups of young people. I wanted to explore their inter-connected micro-communities, and that boundary between the public and the private that is bridged online and through personal mobile phones. It’s fascinating to me that young people’s communities can reach geographically and culturally distant areas through the use of new technology, and how this can challenge traditional notions of the concept of “community.”
The discussion will be available as a podcast via the Peckham Space website very soon. ‘Network’ continues until 19 November.
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