Event overview
Culture & Finance Capital - Visual Cultures Public Programme Autumn 2016
London’s Housing Crisis: its political activisms and visual cultures.
Anna Minton, (University of East London) & Paul Watt, (Birkbeck, University of London)
London’s landscape has always been the nexus of cultural and financial power. But over the last 40 years the crystallization of neoliberalism had led to something new, a deliberate squeezing of housing supply to make ‘city-living’ a highly desirable financial commodity. Activists and experts point out this process is behind the rise of homelessness, the growth of evictions, a widespread feeling of resentment, producing an urban culture shaped by the isolating logic of financial capital.
Anna Minton and Paul Watt will explore the cultural and political dimensions of London’s ‘Housing Question’: examining who this crisis is precisely a crisis for, the aesthetics and culture of property development, and how social movements have emerged to challenge the incorporating force of contemporary real estate.
Chair: Louis Moreno
Anna Minton is a journalist and academic, and co-directs the 'Reading the Neoliberal City' course at UEL and is the author of Ground Control published by Penguin.
Paul Watt is Reader in Urban Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. He has published many books and articles on urban inequality and is an expert on the sociology and politics of social housing and homelessness. Forthcoming edited books include: ‘Social Housing and Urban Renewal: A Cross-National Perspective’ (Emerald), and ‘London 2012 and the Post- Olympics City: A Hollow Legacy?’ (Palgrave Macmillan).
Culture & Finance Capital
The nature of contemporary capitalism has radically altered in the last forty years: financial activity dominates over production, speculative investment is commonplace, indebtedness is a globalising condition, austerity targets the most vulnerable. These developments have not only changed the economic system, they have produced a new culture with widening inequality reshaping the social landscape of education, housing and public space. In this programme we shall explore the intricacies of the phenomenon called 'financialisation': surveying the way the credit system relates to everyday life, and hearing how artists, curators and activists are confronting finance from within the site of culture.
Series organisers: Louis Moreno & Tom Trevatt
The event is free. No booking is required. All are welcome!
Dates & times
Date | Time | Add to calendar |
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24 Nov 2016 | 5:00pm - 7:00pm |
Accessibility
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