A weekend-long activation of The Bottle Factory during London Design Festival showcased work from over 100 different local artists and creators, including fine art, furniture, design and photography. Interactive installations, art and sculpture, workshops and craft stalls took over the two-storey warehouse building and ancillary Bottle House, with food trucks, stalls and seating spilling out into the cobbled yard.

 

 

Who is on the project team? 

 

Pempeople x Livesey Exchange (SSDD Co-founder) / SUMweekly, Collective 948 and Mattia Guernia (Curation and Production) / Uncommon Goods (Brand and Digital)

 

Describe the context of this project and its neighbourhood and people?

 

Permanent Temporary at The Bottle Factory is a collaborative initiative between impact-led developer Fabrix, grassroots partner Pempeople x Livesey Exchange and local art collectives SUMweekly and 948, to put the Old Kent Road firmly on the London Design Festival (LDF) map.

 

Now in its second year and the headline event of the LDF’s newest design district Southwark South (SSDD), Permanent Temporary is a grassroots celebration of the rich and resilient design, art, and cultural energy of this special part of south-east London, that took place in September 2022.

 

The event is an annual activation of The Bottle Factory – a 130-year-old, 30,000sqft warehouse bought, saved from demolition and brought back to life as a home for creative industry by Fabrix.

 

Built in 1895, the former John Mills and Sons Mineral Water Factory and Bottling Works is located just south of the Old Kent Road, between the Glengall Road conservation area and a retail park. More recently it had fallen into disrepair as an informal religious building and is now being restored as a great example of Victorian industrial design – the perfect backdrop to celebrate the area’s diverse and ever-evolving creativity, industry and community.

 

This is an area undergoing significant change. The major thoroughfare between London and Kent was made an Opportunity Area in 2016, identifying it as a key location for regeneration, with potential for 20,000 new homes and 10,000 new jobs. And yet, Old Kent Road remains one of the most deprived areas of the capital.

 

How did you enliven the place? 

 

Held in the oft-overlooked Old Kent Road, ’Permanent Temporary’ is a celebration of art, culture and creativity from the local neighbourhood. 

 

A weekend-long activation of The Bottle Factory, the exhibition showcased an incredible mix of work from over 100 different local artists and creators, including fine art, furniture, design and photography. 

 

Interactive installations, art and sculpture, workshops and craft stalls took over every space within the two-storey warehouse building, as well as the single-storey ancillary Bottle House, with food trucks, stalls and seating spilling out into the distinctive cobbled yard.

 

In the evenings the space turned into a multi-sensory, up-cycled fashion show and live-music venue, featuring performances from local artists spanning a range of genres, from grime to grunge, soul and electronic. 

 

The large-scale event required the collaboration of multiple local groups: 

 

- Local collectives SUMweekly and 948 and Mattia Guernia led the production and curation of the event, facilitated by Livesey Exchange x Pempeople, the organisation spearheading the emerging new SSDD

 

- Artist and designer Nicola J Reid led the fashion show, featuring works by eight Southwark designers

 

- Production company Making Numbers provided a dazzling light display and performance space ’the CUBE’.

 

- Minute Shorts provided a curated film screening exploring a variety of different topics 

 

- Publishing house ZONE6 re-created the journey of a photo-book; from conception to print, also curating a mini-exhibition featuring works from a variety of photographers 

 

- University of the Arts London student exhibition, curated by UAL tutors Eddie Niles and Taslim Martin

 

How did you engage the community? 

 

100+ Artists in the main exhibition

 

15+ Vendors selling. a variety of goods and products 

 

10+ Musicians performing across the weekend

 

Film screenings by Minute Shorts 

 

Fashion show with 8 designers showcasing up-cycled clothing 

 

Arts and Crafts workshops 

 

Filmmaking workshop 

 

Poetry and Music Open Mic evening 

 

Meditation session promoting services provided by the Maudsley Psychiatric Hospital

 

1.5k Attendees over 2 days

 

Did the project make a positive social and environmental contribution? 

 

Aimed at promoting the works of creatives from across the local area, Permanent Temporary was created to open up the LDF to people from all walks of life. 

 

Artists benefited from increased exposure, the opportunity to exhibit under the LDF label and meet fellow creatives. Multiple sales of works also took place. The weekend was completely free to attend and ticketless, making it accessible to anyone from the local community and beyond. 

 

Permanent Temporary also brought a variety of social and environmental causes to the forefront: 

 

- Conflict in Ukraine was explored with a VR display by Ukrainian Artists

 

- Works from the Neurodiversity Charity ’The Hart Club’ were displayed alongside a workshop 

 

- Meditation session promoting services provided by the Maudsley Psychiatric Hospital, with multiple sign-ups afterwards

 

- A focus on LGBTQ+ and BIPOC artists, including a photography display of local LGBTQ+ societies by Nessie Appleton Smith

 

- Photojournalism highlighting the Grenfell Tower Community Gardens by SUMweekly

 

-The ’Elements’ Fashion Show showcased the works of eight designers specialising in up-cycled clothing, rejecting the concept of fast fashion and its detrimental effects on the environment

 

The carbon impact of the activation was also fully considered, in line with the re-use ethos of The Bottle Factory itself. Materials for the event were re-used and re-purposed wherever possible; the stage was constructed from discarded pallets from the local area, lighting set-ups were designed to be modular and movable, allowing multiple areas to be lit by the same means at different times.