In association with the Skills Exchange
Working with residents of the Woodberry Down Estate in east London, artist Tom Hunter has created a film - A Palace For Us - that includes interviews and scenes re-creating life on the Estate throughout its entire history. The film is screened daily in the Gallery’s Sackler Centre of Arts Education (see below map).
Completed in 1962, the Woodberry Down Estate was built in the aftermath of World War II and herladed as an 'estate of the future', providing 2,500 homes for people living in impoverished accommodation in the area. Today it is the site of a major regeneration project.
The film is one of five commissions that have taken place as part of the Serpentine Gallery’s Skills Exchange Project in which artists, designers and architects work in collaboration with older people, care workers, young people and activists to develop ideas for social and architectural change. Age Concern Hackney co-commissioned the film with the Serpentine Gallery.
The project has been developed in partnership with Age Concern, Westminster Housing and Care Services and Goldsmiths’ Centre for Urban and Community Research.
Press coverage
Tom Hunter: a journey through a Hackney landscape, BBC News, 25 November 2010
Tom Hunter: A Palace for Us – review, The Guardian, Thursday 9 December 2010 (with exclusive video extract)
Tom Hunter’s memory lane, Amelia's Magazine, Monday 10 January 2010
Saturday Talks
Tom Hunter in Conversation with Robert Elms, 8 January
Limited Edition
![567[1].jpg](http://www.serpentinegallery.org/567%5B1%5D.jpg)
Woodberry 2010
Premier C Type Print
45cm x 35cm
On the occasion of the first screening of A Palace for Us by Tom Hunter, the Serpentine Gallery is delighted to present a limited edition print by the artist.
This edition exclusively made for the Serpentine is entitled Woodberry, after the Woodberry Down Estate that, constructed in the aftermath of World War II, and the central subject of his latest film, A Palace For Us.
Hunter's works reflect his intimate knowledge of east London while simultaneously making direct references to specific compositions within art history. Often influenced by headlines of local newspapers, Hunter's work explores histories of the area and the relationships he has with the people who live there.
Purchase your limited edition Tom Hunter print
The Skills Exchange
Skills Exchange: Urban Transformation and the Politics of Care project involves artists working in collaboration with elderly people, market traders, care workers and young people to swap skills and develop ideas for social and architectural change.
Work will be presented at the Sackler Centre for Arts Education at the Serpentine Gallery in summer and autumn, 2010.
Åbäke & Markus Miessen (Westmead Care Home), Barby Asante (Inspire, Southwark), Marcus Coates (St John's Hospice,Westminster), Beatrice Gibson (Camden Homes Eranda Foundation for Older People), Tom Hunter (Age Concern, Hackney)
The project has been developed in partnership with Age Concern, Westminster Housing and Care Services and Goldsmiths’ Centre for Urban and Community Research.
Supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England
Funded by the National Lottery through Big Lottery Fund
Further information
Janna Graham, Projects Curator
+44 (0)20 7298 1535
jannag@serpentinegallery.org
Jackie 1981 by Erica Dobbs
Archival image used by Tom Hunter in the making of A Palace for Us 2010
Jackie 1973 by Erica Dobbs
Archival image used by Tom Hunter in the making of A Palace for Us 2010
