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SOS_21
SOS Gallery
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The Koppel Project
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The Design Museum
SOS_20 was a free month-long Critical Design residency due to be hosted by some of London's most loved cultural institutions, but host partners were reduced due to COVID-19. Run for 4 weeks in summer (from 27 July 2020 - 21 August 2020), 12 participants developed group and individual projects based on new design methodologies constructed in groups, receiving daily workshops and lectures from practitioners at the cutting edge of design and academia. The participants helped develop the four nascent design methodologies of Protest Architecture, (P)Labour Relations, Speculative Documentary & Performance Therapy.
SOS_20 was hosted by The Design Museum,The Koppel Project & Blackhorse Workshop. Working alongside a public series of events and lectures, SOS_20 participants had a chance to showcase their work and research in a final digital exhibition curated and developed by The Rodina.
Our guest lectures included; Forensic Architecture, GREENPEACE UK, Dr Sophie Lewis and Prof Nick Srnicek discussing their method, practice and recent work. SOS_20 also provided participants with contemporary skills workshops including; Photogrammetry / 3D Scanning, 3D Animation and Creative Coding. Made possible through partnerships with some of London's best loved cultural institutions and Arts Council funding, the school offered places for free. Visited by an internationally recognised collective of academics and practitioners SOS_20 was a uniquely affordable design course.
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SOS_20 Digital Exhibition
Gallery Tetem
In collaboration with Gallery Tetem and The Rodina, SOS_20 participant's work is permanently exhibited in the virtual halls of the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre.
The shopping centre is a message of hope, from its origins in 1965 as one of the UK's first American-style shopping malls turning into the centre-piece of a thriving minority community in central London. It has defied years of commercial pressure to bend to the will of corporate merchandising and lives on here as a statement of how things can be done differently.
South London Gallery (SLG)
SOS_19 was a 2 week long speculative design summer school hosted by the Design Museum, South London Gallery and the Anise Gallery. 22 participants developed group and individual projects based on the speculative design methodology receiving daily workshops and lectures from practitioners at the cutting edge of design and academia.
Working alongside a public series of events and lectures, SOS_19 participants had a chance to showcase their work and research in a final exhibition at the South London Gallery.
SOS_19 Show
The SOS_19 exhibition was the culmination of participants' work from the SOS_19 summer school which saw 22 students, artists and designers present their work for a week at the South London Gallery Firestation over August 2019. Showing work from a wide range of themes and participant backgrounds, each of the works were the final installation of a 2 week programme focused on speculative design scenarios.
SOS_21 Show!
South London Gallery
SOS_21 Film Screening
Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow
SOS_21 Finance Lecture 05
Molly Gerlach (DECRIM NOW)
Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA)
SOS_21 Game Engines 2 of 2
SOS_21 WIP Show
Location TBC
Cooking Sections
The ICA
SOS_21 2D Animation 1 of 1
Forensic Architecture
Keller Easterling
SOS_21 Coding 2 of 2
Bold Tendencies
Art Quest
SOS_21 Photogrammetry 1 of 1
The Highstreet or The Highway
Arts University Bornemouth (AUB)
Climate Crime (?) II
University of Westminster (UOW)
SOS were commissioned by the University of Westminster to create a day-long digital workshop for Undergraduate Architecture students. 20 participants were involved in a live action design roleplay, designed around the controversial recent plans for a new Coal Mine in West Cumbria. The game pitted 5 characters against one another in a present day scenario in which climate activist groups seek to convince the council to overturn their approval of the scheme.
Over the course of the game, students were involved in the political power play between a range of characters, before voting on the fate of the site and its resultant consequences.
Climate Crime (?) I
London College of Communication (LCC / UAL)
SOS So Far ...
Central St. Martins (CSM / UAL)
SOS Readings
Panta Rhei Collaborative
Glasgow School of Art (GSA)
Contemporary Tools for Critical Design
Hosted by the Design Museum the SOS_20 lecture series was joined by Rosie Strickland (GREENPEACE UK), Dr Sophie Lewis and Professor Nick Srnicek. The series focused on each of the practitioners respective research themes of which live recordings can be found on the exhibition website.
The Gift of Points
The Design Museum IGTV
SOS was commissioned by the Design Museum to join their 2020 Lunchtime Learning session over the museum's forced closure due to COVID-19. We created a short tutorial on 3D Photogrammetry software, teaching viewers how to scan everyday objects to send as digital gifts to their loved ones in times of seperation.
High Speed Uber
Assembled for a new programme for MA Design for Social Innovation and Sustainable Futures, the High Speed Uber workshop proposed a near future for London in which Uber propose to transform the road networks for their customers benefit. Participants were asked to take on the role of a character in this live action design gameplay, chaired by SOS.
During the gameplay, characters were able to understand the complex politics and economic decision making of a wide scale of important players in the narrative.
Sewage Works!
SOS were commissioned by the University of Westminster to create a day-long workshop for Undergraduate Architecture students. 20 participants were involved in a live action design roleplay, designed to the unit's brief and site in the Walthamstow Wetlands, London. The game pitted 5 characters against one another in a future scenario in which Thames Water proposes converting heritage and protected landscape into much needed sewage treatment works.
Over the course of the game, students were involved in the political power play between a range of characters, before voting on the fate of the marshes and their natural inhabitants.
Apple City II
The V&A
Selected by the V&A to hold a day-long rolling workshop for public audiences, SOS constructed a short-form drop-in workshop around decision making in the planning department and major developments in London. Fictionalising a future Apple residential development in the heart of the east end, audiences were asked to take on the role of either the Mayor or Apple CEO over a series of rounds, chaired by SOS.
Given only a select number of plays and a limited time, players entered into the political decision making of these large institutions and gave insight into the power we have as citizens to shape the environment we live in.
Anise Gallery
Joined by a stellar group of practitioners, academics and artists the SOS_19 lecture series aimed to widen the pool of speakers attending traditional design short courses. Focused on presenting their latest research, speakers were asked to contribute to the series in their own respective fields. Among the line-up were The Rodina, Jack Self, Ed Fornieles, Forensic Architecture, Daisy Ginsberg, Jane Hall and John Walter.
Apple City I
London Festival of Architecture (LFA)
Held as part of the London Festival of Architecture, SOS was commissioned by the Anise Gallery to host a workshop on the importance of planning in our cities. Fictionalising a future Apple residential development in the heart of the east end, audiences were asked to take on the role of either the Mayor or Apple CEO over a series of rounds, chaired by SOS.
Platform Wars II
The New School, Parsons, USA
Selected to run a workshop at The New School as part of the PRIMER19 conference, SOS constructed a live action design roleplay based on a fictionalised future New York City, one in battle between digital platforms and the Mayor. Decided over 6 rounds of play, with groups enacting both roles of CEO and Mayor, participants were asked to consecutively swap roles between state and private business to play out the fortunes of the city.
The School as a Network
Kingston School of Art (KSA)
Fields of Admissibility
Accademia Di Architecttura Mendrisio, CH
The student body of the Accademia Di Architecttura Mendrisio invited SOS to curate and host a series of events. The resultant events saw Forensic Architecture in conversation with Professor David Vine and a standalone lecture from Professor Ines Weizman to discuss their work and the themes of agency in design and politics in architecture.
Platform Wars I
The participants undertook a short series of research and design exercises, aimed at unpicking the workings of digital platforms and their resultant effects on the workings of the city. Participants mapped out future worlds and future uses of digital platforms before illustrating their ideas as speculative design proposals.
Other Past SOS Events
SOS x Near Futurist Alliance
Guest Critic
SOS x Intermediate 1 (Space Popular)
Architectural Association, London
SOS x Unit C (The Bakerloos)
Working it Out / Alternative Arts Programmes
Educational Fair
SOS x AA Climate Summit
SOS x Diploma 2 (Space Popular)
The Future of Trend Forecasting
Live Online Event
SOS Press Log
Digital Feature
KooZA/rch
E-Flux Architecture
Citizen Mag
Blackhorse Workshop Blog