Grounding Practice: Canal Studies with Harun Morrison

02 Mar - 02 Apr 2023

Tickets from £8 - £30 (entire series ticket)

Offsite / Onsite

Artist and writer Harun Morrison convenes a series of discussions, walks and screenings to consider the London canal system.

Thinking of the canals as a material network, or mesh, canal studies offers ways of thinking about contemporary London housing politics, the current energy crisis and histories of industrial labour through the waterways.

Across intersecting angles, the sessions will explore the politics of boat-living, canal and river administration, energy politics, maintenance, the contradictions of being off-grid, the canal-as-ecosystem and its post-industrial legacy.

Ahead of each offsite session, information on meeting location, walking route and any relevant resources will be shared directly with participants. This series is envisioned to be best experienced by returning audiences - a discounted full series ticket for all four events is encouraged, with individual session tickets also available. All towpaths and walking routes will be wheelchair and pushchair accessible.

About Harun Morrison

Harun Morrison is an artist and writer based on the inland waterways. He is currently Designer and Researcher in Residence at V&A Dundee. His forthcoming novel, The Escape Artist will be published by Book Works in 2023/24. Since 2006, Harun has collaborated with Helen Walker as part of the collective practice They Are Here. Harun has recently had solo exhibitions at Nieuwe Vide project space in Haarlem, Netherlands (2022) and Eastside Projects, Birmingham, (2021). He is currently exhibiting Dolphin Head Mountain at the Horniman Museum. This spring Harun will develop new work for the group exhibition Chronic Hunger, Chronic Desire in Timișoara, Romania, as part of the European Capital of Culture 2023 programme. Harun continues to develop and repair a garden for Mind Sheffield, a mental health support service, as part of the Arts Catalyst research project, Emergent Ecologies, and is producing a card game, Environmental Justice Questions commissioned by Mossutställningar, which will be circulated next year. Harun is an associate artist with Greenpeace UK.
@harunishere | harunmorrison.net

Programme

Thu 02 Mar 2023 | 18.45 - 20.30 | G16, Somerset House | £8

Canal Studies: Canal-as-site-of Production / Historical Legacies

An introduction onsite at Somerset House to the development of the British canal system in the context of the industrial revolution and colonial networks, the post-industrial legacy of the canal system and canals and boats as sites of art production.

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Sun 12 Mar 2023 | 13.00 - 16.00 | London Canal Museum & Regent's Park Canal (King's Cross) | £10

Canal Studies: Boat Living Today, Canal Administration

An offsite meetup exploring origins and politics of boat-living in relation to the current housing crisis, management and administration of the waterways, an exploration of maintenance, waste and energy management and maintenance. This session will include a visit to London Canal Museum and walk along Regent's Canal (King's Cross).

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Sun 26 Mar 2023 | 13.00 - 16.00 | Grand Union Canal | £10

Canal Studies: Intersecting Ecologies

In this session, the group will meet at and walk along the Grand Union Canal to observe marine, plant and bird life, accompanied by a guest ecologist.

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Sun 2 Apr 2023 | 13.00 - 16.00 | Limehouse Cut | £10

Canal Studies: Canal Futures

For the final event in the Canal Studies series, the group will meet in Stratford at Navigating the System: A Boater Healthcare Exhibition, part of the UCL Urban Room, to collectively speculate on how housing dynamics will affect living on the water, alternative and expanded uses of canals and a look at boats-as-site for experimental technologies. The group will then follow the Limehouse Cut towpath to Limehouse Basin.

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A photo of audience members at an event at Somerset House. The audience looks thoughtful and engaged.

Part of Grounding Practice

A rolling programme shaped by and for creative practitioners and critical thinkers.