Social Archive One: An Economic Forecast of Shoreditch at Rivington Place

Exhibition: Social Archive One: An Economic Forecast (Shoreditch), Rivington Place, until July 23 2011

Social Archive One: An Economic Forecast (Shoreditch) is the result of a series of workshops led by artist Shiraz Bayjoo.

Earlier in July 2011, Shiraz enlisted the help of willing participants to document the impact of the recent financial crisis and the knock on effects to local people and businesses.

In Shoreditch the affluent Square Mile and Hackney – one of the UK’s poorest boroughs – converge, bringing together people from vastly different economic standings.

The workshops saw members of the public taking on the role of socio-economic historians, making short documentaries on those working in the area.

Through a series of digital portraits a snapshot of people in the borough was created, capturing their thoughts on the role they feel they may or may not play in the economic future ahead.

The films now make up this show at Rivington Place, which is part of At the Intersection: Art and Economies, a three-year initiative exploring critical and creative approaches to the complex topic of economics.

Focusing on pre-Olympics fervour in 2012, Social Archive Two will revisit some of the sites and individuals from the first project as the Olympics come to London.

The following year, Social Archive Three will return to look at the people and their attitudes in post-games London.

The exhibitions hope to give a clearer understanding on how economics subtly dominates life and how, during times of financial crisis, the unjust effect of this dominance becomes clearer in turn.  

The Social Archive series is part of CREATE, the annual summer festival celebrating Europe’s largest cultural quarter: the Olympic Host Boroughs, where over 12,000 artists live and work.

• Admission free. Open Tue-Wed,Fri 11am-6pm; Thu 11am-9pm; Sat 12pm-6pm 11am-6pm (except Monday, 9pm Thursday, 12pm-6pm Saturday).