Past Event
Access requirements
The Whitechapel Gallery is committed to making all of our events as accessible as possible for every audience member. Please contact access@whitechapelgallery.org if you would like to discuss a particular request and we will gladly discuss with you the best way to accommodate it.
Information about access on site at the gallery is available here https://www.whitechapelgallery.org/visit/access/
This includes information about Lift access; Borrowing wheelchairs & seating; Assistance Animals; Parking; Toilets and baby care facilities; Blind & Partially Sighted Visitors; Subtitles and transcripts; British Sign Language (BSL) and hearing induction loops; Deaf Messaging Service (DMS).
About This Event
This event takes place in Gallery 2 at Whitechapel Gallery, located on the ground floor.
This event lasts approximately 1.5 hours. There are no rest breaks currently scheduled during this event.
You must book a ticket to attend the event.
If the ticket price affects your attendance, please email tickets@whitechapelgallery.org to be added to the guest list (no questions asked, but dependent on availability).
We are unable to provide British Sign Language interpretation for this event
We are unable to provide live closed captioning or CART for this event.
An audio recording of the event can be obtained by emailing publicprogrammes@whitechapelgallery.org following the event.
Transport
To the best of our knowledge, there are no planned disruptions to local transport on the date of the event.
Our nearest train station – Aldgate East Underground (1 min) is not wheelchair accessible. The closest wheelchair accessible stations are Whitechapel (15 min), Shoreditch High Street (15 min) or Liverpool Street (15 min).
Free parking for Blue Badge holders is available at the top of Osborn Street in the pay and display booths for an unlimited period. Spaces are available on a first come, first served basis.
You are invited to join us for an event that returns the symposium to its origins: a convivial party or social gathering for the free interchange of ideas.
Convened by Jenny Pengilly and Annie Davey, with speakers Jack Bicker and Richard Phoenix, this event brings together perspectives across art, philosophy, music and education to expand upon the ideas, practices and politics underpinning Popcorn!
Popcorn! is informed by artist Jenny Pengilly’s ongoing research into experimental music and children’s learning, experiences and subculture. The exhibition celebrates the inclusivity of DIY and lo-tech production, promotes respect for children’s idiosyncratic interests and advocates for the vital place of experimental learning and creative education practices.
Embodying the eclecticism of the exhibition, the event will move between short talks and presentations, collective listening, structured activities and conversation, crossing disciplines to probe at some of the pertinent questions raised by Popcorn!
Some questions we hope to address
What role can joy and idiosyncrasy play in both formal and informal educational settings?
What can be learned from Special Educational Needs pedagogies?
How could more experimental and improvisational approaches be fostered in mainstream education?
How can we raise the profile of the wider cultural politics pertinent to these questions?
Annie Davey is Programme Leader of the MA in Art Education, Culture and Practice at UCL Institute of Education. With a background in art practice and education across colleges, schools and galleries, her research explores representations and historiographies of art education and the ways in which historical models haunt, are mobilised and persist through pedagogy, marketing and curatorial practice. Recent work has used fiction and scriptwriting workshops to materialise scenes and scenarios produced through fine art education as it sits within the financialised university.
Jack Bicker is a lecturer in philosophy and education studies at the UCL Institute of Education. Prior to this, he lectured in Philosophy and Creativity at the University of Cambridge, where he brought together his prior training as a musician, theatre practitioner and teacher. Other work has included editorial, community and participatory arts projects and – latterly – education and development consultancy. At UCL, Jack works across philosophy, psychoanalysis and cultural studies, and his teaching and research span creative methods in philosophy, critical social science, and questions of identity and recognition and justice.
Jenny Pengilly is a multidisciplinary artist working in learning and social engagement based in London. Her work predominantly focuses on the medium of the ‘art workshop’ and the use of affective materials and making to facilitate play, experimentation, collaboration and mutual growth and exchange with children, families and adults.
Jenny hosts the monthly radio show ‘Experimental Tunes and Children’ on RTM.fm exploring experimental music in relation to children’s learning, culture and experience and is co-director of Joy For Stuff, a social art project and sound art duo, and is a co-founder of Electronic Audio Club, a peer-led community group exploring DIY electronic audio projects based at TACO! Gallery.
Richard Phoenix is an artist integrating painting, writing, music and facilitation. Making work that explores the rhythm, harmony and dissonance to be found in co-operation, support and art-making and the resulting balance between care and domination to be navigated.
Arriving at painting not through formal education but through many years playing in D.I.Y. bands and working within learning disability arts as creative support, these experiences profoundly influenced the way Richard approaches making and thinking about art.
Richard is an associate artist with Heart and Soul, a creative community and arts charity who believe in the power and talents of people with learning disabilities and autism.
