One of those collaborations was with the Open Eye Gallery – a platform to create, share and champion photography as a way to communicate, collaborate and learn. Taking the lead on socially engaged photography, Open Eye Gallery bring together different voices, photographers and communities.
SEVENSTORE have generously supported the Open Eye Gallery with their launch of a new season of 12 weekly live-streams around The Time We Call Our Own – an upcoming exhibition that brings together photographic projects from across the world that document a collective sense of time, place and identity. The events will be streamed on their Twitch channel every Thursday evening at 6PM. There is also an accompanying public Discord community of chat rooms for discussion, sharing memories, and broadcasting playlists put together by participating artists.
The eight instalment of The Time We Call Our Own is Sonidero City w/ Mirjam Wirz on 08 OCT 20, 6PM-7PM.
Across Latin America, people gather around DIY sound systems, called sonidos. Each weekend, people congregate to dance to Cumbia music, and broadcast greetings (via the MC) to friends far and wide.
In her book Sonidero City, Mirjam Wirz follows the sound systems around the streets, courtyards and living rooms of Mexico and Colombia. Sonido refers to both the loudspeaker system and the communities that grow around them — the DJ, MC, technicians, family members and wider neighbourhood. For this event, Mirjam will give a walk through the project, in conversation with Jacob Bolton.
All events are streamed to twitch.tv/openeyegallery, followed by a public chat on Open Eye Gallery’s Discord chat room community. To join the Discord, follow this link and download Discord on desktop or mobile: https://discord.gg/CqqC55h
The seventh instalment of The Time We Call Our Own is Harold Offeh: When Was The Time I Could Call My Own? on 01 OCT 20, 6PM-7PM.
Responding to the themes of the exhibition The Time We Call Our Own, Harold Offeh delves into his own back catalogue of photographs. The images, mostly shot on disposable party cameras in the early 2000s, explore his emergence through the space of the queer night time.
The sixth instalment of The Time We Call Our Own is Stephanie Francis-Shanahan’s ‘if we can't all dance, I don't wanna be a part of ur world :))))’ on 03 SEPT 20, 6-7PM. OPEN EYE GALLERY EVENT 6 STEPHANIE FRANCES-SHANAHAN from SEVENSTORE on Vimeo.
Blurry selfies, street parties in San Francisco’s Castro district, going to drag bars and dressing up for student house parties. Performing to camera with actions and gestures, Offeh will present an animated slideshow of images accompanied by a soundtrack and audio commentary.
Offeh’s first live online performance reflectively examines the relationship between photography and self-actualisation.
All events are streamed to twitch.tv/openeyegallery, followed by a public chat on Open Eye Gallery’s Discord chat room community. To join the Discord, follow this link and download Discord on desktop or mobile: https://discord.gg/CqqC55h
London-based artist Stephanie Francis-Shanahan is interested in joy, and how we can use it as a form of resistance to keep ourselves well. Before lockdown, she had started a series inviting people to come to her room, dress up in her wardrobe and dance to their favourite song whilst she documented it. Now, she’s inviting people to submit a 30-second video of them in their own home, which she’ll mix into a new work, ‘if we can't all dance, I don't wanna be a part of ur world :))))’.
The fifth instalment of The Time We Call Our Own is Tobias Zeilony presents: Maskirovka on 20 AUG, 6-7PM.
After the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, Tobias Zielony spent two years photographing the underground queer and techno scene in Kiev. The title of the project, Maskirovka, refers to the ‘green men’ in the Crimea, disguised Russian soldiers. It also points towards the masks used by protesters to protect themselves from tear gas, and cover their identities. In this event, Tobias will guide people through the project, accompanied by music.
All events are streamed to twitch.tv/openeyegallery, followed by a public chat on Open Eye Gallery’s Discord chat room community. To join the Discord, follow this link and download Discord on desktop or mobile: https://discord.gg/CqqC55h
Across the country, many music venues are involved in embittered struggles between property developers and planning departments on one hand, and partygoers and DJs on the other. These spaces form a vital part of the civic fabric, offering time and space for often marginalised communities, yet they continue to be closed down in redevelopment initiatives that favour the short-term profits of unsustainable luxury housing.
Liverpool’s 24 Kitchen Street is one such space, a multi-arts venue and club surrounded by encroaching developments: on 13 AUG 20, co-owner Saad Shaffi will go in conversation with Chris Torpey (Bido Lito) and Emma Warren (author of Make Some Space and Total Refreshment Centre family member) to talk about nighttime economies, nocturnal cultures and the civic fabric.
The third instalment of The Time We Call Our Own is Andrew Miksys: Disko (Watch Party) on 06 AUG 20, 6-7PM.
Many parties in Lithuania take place in former soviet offices, prisons and municipal facilities. Andrew Miksys’ Disko chronicles clubbing in the ruins of the USSR. He toured the country throughout the 2000s, finding parties and getting to know the people who ran them. On 6th August, he’ll host a guided tour through his book and the landscape of post-soviet Lithuania, charting the people and places that make up the scene.
To join the Discord, follow this link and download Discord on desktop or mobile: https://discord.gg/CqqC55h
The second instalment of The Time We Call Our Own is Oliver Sieber: Imaginary Club (Watch Party) on 30 JUL 20, 6-7PM.
Oliver Sieber’s Imaginary Club networks people from across the world of various styles and subcultures. Despite the diverse range of looks, affinities and locations, all the people and places share a common marginality.
Shot across Japan, Europe and the US, the series shows the global propagation of styles — across borders, scenes and subcultures. On 30 JUL, Open Eye Gallery will host a watch party, streaming a video made from the series on their Twitch channel and inviting everyone to share memories and impressions on their public Discord community.
To join the Discord, follow this link and download Discord on desktop or mobile: https://discord.gg/CqqC55h
The first instalment of The Time We Call Our Own is Amelia Lonsdale & Her Mum: Getting Ready (Watch Party) on 23 JUL 20, 6-7PM.
Amelia Lonsdale met curator Open Eye Gallery Adam Murray through University. One day, she brought in a series of photographs taken in the 1980s by her mother and boyfriend at the time. Dedicated New Romantics, they would make most of their clothes themselves and then photograph each other before they went out. ?In her project 'Miles and Other?'s Smiles', Amelia Lonsdale presents a selection from the archive, charting a chapter of UK DIY fashion.
In this conversation, Amelia and her mother Yvonne will talk through generational approaches to fashion, identity and getting ready. Yvonne and her partner's archive of DIY fashion was a private undertaking, produced with each other, for each other. In contrast, many of the photos we make of ourselves and our friends today are made public, posted on Instagram or other platforms, for an audience. How does this audience change the way we construct our identities through fashion?
After the conversation, everyone is invited to a public chat on Open Eye Gallery’s Discord community, where we’ll be streaming a playlist from the New Romantic era, picked out by Yvonne Taylor.
To join the Discord, follow this link and download Discord on desktop or mobile: https://discord.gg/CqqC55h
This event is part of The Time We Call Our Own, led by Open Eye Gallery and supported by SEVENSTORE.
