Futurama visions for Peckham

MEDIA RELEASE COURTESY OF: Peckham Space

Futurama brings the spirit of the Worlds Fair to SE15’s newest arts venue Peckham Space. This exhibition charts the journey of lead artist Harold Offeh, design team Glass Hill and local young people from Leaders of Tomorrow to imagine a better future for Peckham.

Harold Offeh will create a showroom of designed objects, video and images dedicated to this dynamic future vision. Inspired by how design can change the immediate surroundings, Offeh has invited Leaders of Tomorrow to re-imagine and improve their environment. Through site visits, tours and discussions, the young people have identified design solutions to improve the area. These solutions include innovative seating, signage and lighting which will be realised by design team Glass Hill. Futurama will bring to life this futuristic vision for an experience that draws on the rich history and legacy of international Worlds fairs and Expos.

Harold Offeh’s work addresses ideas of collaboration, co-operation and participation. He said: “I took the idea of Worlds Fairs as a starting point for this exhibition as I felt the ethos of presenting advances in science, technology and culture in one place would offer the young people that live in Peckham the opportunity to present their vision for the future in a way that establishes a dialogue between individuals and communities about possible directions that our society might take.”

Royal College graduates Glass Hill joined the project as commissioned designers, helping Leaders of Tomorrow formulate their designs and then producing them in the appropriate materials. Their past projects have seem them create furniture, interiors, crockery and even boats which examine the limitations and possibilities offered by different designs, production methods and materials.

Leaders of Tomorrow are a youth inclusion project, which is part of Southwark Council’s Youth Services. The programme actively encourages young people from Southwark to reach their full potential by learning leadership skills and about the importance of education. One young person has been given life long membership to Design Museum after they wrote a positive review of their Peckham Space visit there in local press. Zainab said: “Working with Harold made me think that design actually surrounds us in our daily lives all the time, but it’s usually ignored until an improvement in the design of an everyday object draws it to our attention. Design provides a way to understand the modern world and, potentially, to make it a better place”

Futurama at Peckham Space heralds the second exhibition in this new arts venue for London which opened in June this year with a whole new approach to commissioning, making and exhibiting art. Peckham Space is an arts organisation that is part of Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London in partnership with Southwark Council. Through the artistic programme we commission artists to create new work in response to working with residents and young people from Peckham, to encourage progression routes for young people into creative higher education as well as increase access to cultural and educational activity in Peckham, London SE15.

Harold Offeh, Glass Hill and Leaders of Tomorrow
Peckham Space, University of the Arts London, Peckham Square SE15 5RS
17 September – 27 November 2010, preview 16 September 2010