An evening of beer, philosophy, discussion, avant garde techno/ambient music – not necessarily in that order…

The first Club Critical Theory: making sense of place: creating a critical space for southend-on-sea

Date: 17th April

Time: 9pm

Venue: Upstairs at the Railway Hotel, Clifftown Road, Southend On Sea (near to Southend Central Rail Station

Free entry

What’s Occurring…

Giles Tofield chairs this CCT discussion including introductions to Bourdieu’s habit (Andrew Branch, UEL) and Deleuze’s assemblages (Tony D Sampson, UEL).

Special Guest DJ: Stuart Bowditch

Stuart is mostly inspired by his love of open air, spaces and places. His interest in sound and the natural rhythms and routines of everyday life have shaped the methodology of his work, which revolves around noises and sounds which he finds, records and processes. He loves to travel, near and far, and the recordings he makes become a document, a sound memory, of his time spent in each place. He often works with individuals or groups to record new sets of sounds and over the years has built up a large archive of recordings which he draws upon to make songs, soundtracks to films and art installations. In this way of working he tries to make sense of the world he lives in and his place within it. Simultaneously, the creations and experiences of others end up intrinsically embedded in his work, creating a rich texture of layers, representing his life and those he as encountered along the way.

9-9.20pm: Sounds by Stuart Bowditch

9.20-9.30pm: Introduction to CCT by Giles Tofield (Chair)

The Talks

9.30pm

Deleuze, Contagion & the New Brighton
Tony D Sampson (UEL)

This talk will engage with the ideas of Gilles Deleuze in order to grasp how urban space, place and time might emerge. Firstly, we need to rethink the idea of Southend as a holistic entity (e.g. Southend as a whole community) and instead encounter the urban space as a multiplicity. The focus therefore needs to shift away from wholes and essential properties to consider local interactions and singularities that have the capacity and tendency to spill over into urban space (for good and bad). The talk will include a collaborative venture with the photographer Iry Hor whose work captures the assemblages of real Southend.

10-10.15pm: short break

10.15pm

Bourdieu, Habit and Social Space
Andrew Branch (UEL)

Morrissey once asked ‘When you want to live, how do you start? Where do you go? Who do you need to know? This talk will answer these political questions by illustrating how Pierre Bourdieu’s work can illuminate our understanding of how habitual behaviour forms, structures our sense of entitlement and frames our occupation of space and place. Using examples familiar to people living in Southend and its adjacent areas, the talk will conclude by exploring how transformation occurs, both at the individual and collective level.

10.45-11.00: short break

11.00-11.30: Discussion We welcome your contributions

11.30-til late: Sounds by Stuart Bowditch
External Links

CCT Banner photograph by Simon Fowler

Social Media: http://clubcriticaltheory.wordpress.com/; Twitter: @CCT_onSea https://twitter.com/CCT_onSea