Clouded Title continues its problematizing of the notion of ownership through interviews with people across disciplinary fields, as well as through an ongoing discussion and reading group which is open to anyone to join.
This research aims to tease out how different notions of ‘ownership’ are conceptualised and narrated, including how storied histories of ownership are performed within current understandings of who belongs to a community and how this bears on who is visible within the construction of public and political spaces. The aim is to scope out various discussions of the spatial/material 'ownerships' (land/air/water/people/non-human beings etc.) and (il)legal frameworks that instantiate such ownerships (appropriation of land, use of human and animal bodies) as 'property.' Clouded Title Conversations
In recognition of our community’s deep input to Street Road over our nearly 10 years of practice, we are pleased to announce, and to invite you to take part in, Clouded Title Conversations, an online discussion and reading group that draws on our past projects as well as on our community's perspectives to continue our ongoing investigations of ownership. We will foreground the aesthetics and metaphoric qualities of land ownership, taking in things like the real estate industry, mapmaking, and local histories, following Street Road's focus on visual culture and practice-led art, and the ways those intersect with our social and political landscapes. DETAILS We will meet 6 times this year over Zoom, the third Saturday every other month. Participants will have access to an ongoing Slack site for discussion and sharing readings, resources, etc. Four of the session themes draw on ongoing or current projects and themes at Street Road - we will choose later themes together as they emerge from our discussions. The first meeting will be an open discussion of the project. Note there will be a short suggested reading for each meeting - this is not obligatory. It’s envisaged that the Slack meeting place will include many resources and will be a place for you to share others. You are welcome to join the Slack channel without participating in the Zoom sessions, and vice versa. Email us, with a short description of your interest, to participate and/or simply join us on Zoom (link below). ZOOM SESSIONS February 20, 2021, 2-3:30pm Eastern Session 1 - Ownership and aesthetics – including an open discussion of participants' interests. Suggested reading: ‘Our violent commons’, Ariella Aïsha Azoulay in Potential History: Unlearning Imperialism Verso 2019 [download 'Our violent commons' chapter here] Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83829934121 April 17, 2021, 2-3:30pm Eastern Session 2 - Land, ecologies, and climate change In connection with the exhibition, Castor, by Matthew Shackelford Suggested reading/viewing: the reading list for Castor, compiled by M. Shackelford, focused on environmental urgencies in our area, Chester County, Pennsylvania. June 19, 2021, 2-3:30pm Eastern Session 3 - Mappings and borders In connection with the ongoing project at Street Road, Homma Meridian, and our forthcoming publication ‘Homma Meridian’. Suggested reading/viewing to be announced. August 21, 2021, 2-3:30pm Eastern Session 4 - The Christiana Resistance In connection with Walking Forward, Looking Back by artist Carol Maurer, Street Road 2018. Suggested reading to be announced. October 16, 2021, 2-3:30pm Eastern Session 5 - focus to be decided by the group Reading(s) to be decided. December 18, 2021, 2-3.30pm Eastern Session 6 - focus to be decided by the group Reading(s) to be decided. |