Granby: Collecting, Working and Making in a Post-Democratic Society

Over the past two decades, groups of residents in Liverpool banded together to bring Granby Street, a once thriving high street in one of the city's most ethnically diverse neighbourhoods, back to life. In 2011, they formed the Granby Four Streets Community Land Trust, and later enlisted ASSEMBLE and Steinbeck Studios to help them regenerate the area, with a vision for sustainable and affordable community-led homes. It was a unique form of community-led engagement that allowed for multiple viewpoints to be incorporated into the urban planning and housing.

In this Dialogue, Fran Edgerley from ASSEMBLE, Annie Fletcher (Van Abbemuseum) and Alistair Hudson (mima) discussed the values of work as a communal activity, when 'work' can transcend the financial capital so often associated with the word. They addressed the need to reconsider the different roles of people within the museum in order to give agency to the communities with whom the museum interacts and to rethink the use of time in institutional settings in order to build more sustained relationships with the community. While communal thinking may not be efficient when regarded in old economic contexts, it is vital for understanding how communities can live together in these fractured times.

Recorded at The Uses of Art Lab, Liverpool School of Art and Design, Liverpool John Moores University, 21 October 2017.

Camera: Milos Simpraga (LJMU)

Video editing: Record produccions

Thanks to ASSEMBLE