thinking. real rooms1878 - 2049. launch party.
It has been a joy and a pleasure to play a small part in this amazing journey and to be one of the community authors involved in the real rooms project at Museum of home. Below you will find a summary of the launch party.
From Museum of the Home Instagram. Photographer @primrose.films
A personal reflection: It's 2024 and the Museum is full the rafters. Every represented community (and everyone else!) has gathered in the space, interacting, laughing, singing, exploring and playing. The museum is alive, filled with joy, providing the community a 'home', and a space that truly represents them.
It has been a pleasure to play a small part in seeing what this project has given and will continue to give to the community, all thanks to the museum of the home team’s continual engagement and passion and inviting me in. Look out for the winter festival coming soon!
Big up to Louis platman and Aurelien Enjalbert for their exceptional hard work and passion.
Text from the Museum of the Home Website.
Real Rooms Project.Museum of the Home brings to life the Rooms Through Time: 1878-2049, seven new period homes reflecting the stories of our East London community—past, present and future.
As part of Museum of the Home’s commitment to reveal and rethink how we live in order to live better together, the gallery - co-curated with our community partners and centring lived experiences - introduces a more diverse array of narratives to our renowned Rooms Through Time.
Real stories.
In 2021, Museum of the Home reopened as a place to reveal and rethink how we live, in order to live better together. Our public galleries doubled in size, introducing the Home Galleries, co-curated to be more representative of our local communities in Hackney and exploring the innumerable ways in which we make our lives in our homes.
The new gallery has been co-curated, using personal stories to speak to universal themes including home and belonging. These narratives are deeply intertwined with the complex histories of migration and identity that have shaped London for generations, resonating nationally and globally.
Organisations and groups including our local community, The London Irish Centre and Interactive Research Studio have been involved in various stages of the process such as design, analysis and interpretation.
Working with Community Authors
In 2021 we launched the Room to Rethink, a space for visitors to reflect on the Rooms Through Time, and tell us what they would like to see happen to the displays.
As a result, the Community Authors - a group of eight people from a variety of professions and backgrounds - were recruited to play an active role in reshaping the Rooms Through Time.
The Community Authors share ideas, produce and suggest creative programming to challenge the ways we work to ensure that Museum of the Home is representative and inclusive.
The resulting Real Rooms Project comes from extensive work with the Community Authors, as well as continual outreach and engagement with visitors and our local communities. Fellow authors include Julia Thanh, Naima Hassan, Amy Peace Buzzard, Priscilla Tagoe, Lesley Dixon , Joseph Callanan and Afia Khatun
A High Rise Flat In 2005.
Curated with the help of participants from LGBTQI+ communities
Funded through Art Happens, Art Fund’s crowd-funding platform, John Shakeshaft and Andrew Hochhauser KC
Responding to a population boom, local authorities built high-rise blocks like Withy House from the 1950s to early 1970s in an effort to create ‘streets in the sky’. However, they grew a reputation for being undesirable, and after decades of privatisation and a chronic lack of funding, many of these blocks had been demolished by the new millennium
What's happening.
Nadia and Ashley have been looking for another LGBTQI+ flatmate to move into their spare room. They recently met Alex at the The George and Dragon in Hoxton, and later that same night invited her to move in.
Their tenancy agreement forbids any changes to the flat without the landlord’s permission. However, after spending the last few evenings with Alex watching reruns of home makeover shows like Changing Rooms, they have all been inspired to grab a paint brush and go for it. More than just redecorating, they want to be able to personalise their home, and create a safe and serene space.
Things to look out for.
Club memorabilia.
As homes away from home, bars and clubs have always been key places for members of the LGBTQI+ community to meet and socialise in safe environments. Free decoration or mementos of an amazing night, club flyers, listings and ephemera are dotted around the rooms as tokens of east London’s iconic queer nightlife.
Maggie as Disco Diva.
By the 2000s former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had become a much-loathed figure among many communities, with the impact of homophobic laws passed by her government lingering on far past her tenure. This satirical collage from Muzik Magazine uses camp silliness to question and mock her legacy.
Stereo.
"It was quite a big investment at the time and it was good to have a quality system to listen to my records on... It represents the ability to hear black music in our own homes at a time when there wasn’t much played in the mainstream." - Veronica McKenzie
