London Renters Union Fundraiser Screening:
The Dilapidated Dwelling

15 May, 2019
– 15 May, 2019
7-10pm
DIY Space For London
96-108 Ormside St, London SE15 1TF

A screening of Patrick Keiller’s film, The Dilapidated Dwelling followed by an LRU social.
The London Renters Union is a member-led campaigning union taking grassroots action to transform the housing system and win homes for people, not profit. Londoners face the highest rents in Europe. Many of us live with the threat of eviction or in unsafe housing. The unfair housing system that favour landlords and investors, is making our city more unequal. When we organise together, we are powerful. We support each other, stand up to landlords and win lower rents, longer tenancies and better housing for everyone.
The Dilapidated Dwelling, Patrick Keiller. 2002.
UK, 78 mins, SD video, colour, sound.
This is an examination of the predicament of the house in advanced economies, the UK in particular. A fictional researcher (with the voice of Tilda Swinton) returns from a 20-year absence in the Arctic to find that, though the UK is one of the most electronic of the advanced economies, its houses are the most dilapidated in western Europe. The film includes archive footage of Buckminster Fuller, Constant Nieuwenhuys, Archigram and Walter Segal, and interviews with Martin Pawley, Saskia Sassen, Doreen Massey, Cedric Price and others.
“A few years ago it occurred to me to explore the predicament of the house in advanced economies. At the time, this seemed an unfashionable subject. The definitive experiences of modernity, or postmodernity, seemed to involve movement. To stay at home (as, for various reasons, I was increasingly inclined to do) seemed to marginalise oneself, despite the homes being increasingly a place of work, and increasingly open to electronic communication. The physical fabric of the house was even more problematic. In the UK most consumer items; food domestic appliances, cars and so on, had become cheaper, either as a result of new technology, or of shifting production to lower wage economies, or both, but the cost of housing went on increasing. The housing stock was ageing and not generally in very good condition. New houses were comparatively few, and were mostly reduced versions of the houses of fifty or a hundred years ago. Was some consumerist innovation about to challenge this, or is there a kind of opposition between the house and present-day developed economies?”
The event is free for members, with .the option to sign up at the door or admission for a small donation (£3 min), which goes towards London Renters Union and DIY space.

DIY Space for London is a totally independent volunteer-run social centre and event venue run as a members’ club. But don’t worry! If you are not currently a member you can be signed in as a guest of the promoter. Membership is open to all and only costs £2 per year. You can join quickly online at: ​http://diyspaceforlondon.org/join​
email: ​[email protected]​ if you have any questions.

Related

Skip to content