Organisers: Beyond 2024 / UKRI / AHRC
Venue: The Lowry, Manchester
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Minister of State Chris Bryant announced the Liverpool City Region as a new £6.75 million UKRI Creative Clusters  for the Music sector  in a video address at the BEYOND Conference in Salford.
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Led by the University of Liverpool in partnership with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), MusicFutures will, over the next five years, establish the Liverpool City Region as a music research and development (R&D) powerhouse and ecosystem.

The five-year funded programme, delivered by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) on behalf of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will catalyse growth and innovation in Liverpool City Region’s music sector. By focusing on driving R&D and innovation through emerging technologies as well as talent and business development, MusicFutures will supercharge the Liverpool City Region’s already thriving music sector and future-proof the city’s reputation as a global music city, ensuring its continued cultural and musical relevance on the world stage.

Informed by industry needs and powered by partnerships, MusicFutures brings together over 20 strategic partners from across the Liverpool City Region—including the ACC Liverpool Group, operators of Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena, convention centre and exhibition centre, Adlib, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and Liverpool City Council. Working together, this partnership will leverage collective strengths to drive economic sustainability while addressing key challenges in environmental impact and inclusivity across the entire music industry value chain.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “Liverpool and Merseyside hold a special place in our nation’s music landscape, and this funding will support imagination and experimentation across the city and region, as creators explore how we can make gigs more environmentally friendly.”

Welcoming the announcement, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram said: “The Liverpool City Region has a long and proud history as one of the world’s most iconic places for music. MusicFutures will not only elevate our cultural status on the global stage, it will also unlock new opportunities for local talent, businesses and communities – creating jobs, nurturing creativity and driving economic growth across the region.”

Professor Richard Koeck, Director of CAVA, who is leading MusicFutures said: “This UKRI grant further evidences UoL's and CAVA's leadership in Creative Industry R&D and Innovation. We have a clear goal and that is to transform the Liverpool City Region (LCR) into a global leader in music innovation. By connecting our combined world-leading research capacity with an already thriving sector ecosystem of more than 1400 businesses, we will not only further strengthen Liverpool’s global reputation for music innovation, but also create a boost for other highly successful creative industry sectors in the City Region.”

Professor Rachel McLean, LJMU said: “MusicFutures is a fantastic initiative which will enable us to build on the strengths of the city region’s flourishing music sector and develop new opportunities for creatives and organisations in the industry".

MusicFutures is the largest grant that the Humanities and Social Sciences faculty ever received in the history of the University. The project is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between 4 Schools -- Architecture, Music, Management as well as Law and Social Justice.
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Image Caption:
UoL Team from left to right: Dr Leoona Vaughn, Dr Jennifer Davies, Prof Richard Koeck, Dr Mathew Flynn, Dr Sabine Jacques.

Organisers: Sebastián Aedo Jury + Katerina Antonopoulou
Venue: The Gallery Space, Bristol
Opening Times: Thursday 30 November, 7pm-9pmFriday 1 December, 12pm-7pmSaturday 2 December, 12pm-7pmSunday 3 December, 12pm-3pm
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Our project explores how images and videos of the protesting crowd help to produce new forms of urban representation. Here, we unpack the imagery circulated online during the Kill the Bill movement in Bristol, UK, which took place between March and April 2021. These unconventional cartographies help decode the spatial, social, and cultural complexity of the city and reveal a new form of constructed ‘ground,’ one that emerges through the people’s concerns on their right to protest freely and without restrictions. Moving and still images work together to inform maps, which in turn become architectural objects, organised towards an installation not far away from the place where the events took place.

Credits:
Maria Mitsoula has provided research assistance to this project; Sophia Banou, Gloria Lanci, and Davide Landi have provided help with the exhibition

Funding:
This exhibition was made possible with the generous help of the CAVA | Centre for Architecture and the Visual Arts at the University of Liverpool; the University of Liverpool; and the University of Portsmouth

Event Title: ACADIA 2023: HABITS OF THE ANTHROPOCENE
Date: 26 October 2023
Location: Denver, Collorado, USA
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PhD researcher Wuwu Ran is participating and presenting a research paper at ACADIA 2023 | Machine-Learning-Driven Comparative Study: Morphological Taxonomy in Screen-Based Building Clusters.
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CAVA is congratulating Wuwu Ran for presenting a research paper titled ‘Machine-Learning-Driven Comparative Study: Morphological Taxonomy in Screen-Based Building Clusters‘ at the ACADIA 2023 conference. The paper focuses on the integration of screen technology in urban spaces and proposes a machine-learning framework for analysing screen-based building clusters. Wuwu is a PhD candidate at CAVA, where her research delves into the urban screen and its data visualisation.

Wuwu's presentation at ACADIA introduces innovative research methods that blend machine learning with urban morphology studies. Her work uses machine-learning method to first time study augmented public spaces which is urban environment include digital and physical information demonstrates how denoising autoencoder models (DAE) and clustering algorithms can be utilised to analyse and categorise screen-based buildings in urban settings. This approach aids in understanding the digital-physical relationship within urban environments. The research, which includes a comparative study using data from Chongqing and Shanghai, offers valuable insights for architects and urban designers in developing strategies for the design of screen-based buildings in cities. More information can be found in the links below.

Event Title: China International Fair For Trade In Service (CIFTIS)
Time & date: 02-06 September 2023
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Earlier this September, the work of Aardman and research collaboration with CAVA was exhibited at the UK pavilion at the China International Fair For Trade In Service (CIFTIS), organised by the Ministry of Commerce of The People’s Republic Of China and The People's Government of Beijing Municipality. The high-profile summit was opened by Chinese President Xi Jinping via video. The event was attended by the Foreign Secretary and the Department of Business & Trade Minister Lord Johnson. It provided Aardman and our joint R&D project an outstanding opportunity to spotlight the UK's strengths in research, innovation, and soft power in the creative industries at the highest level in China.

Event Title: Bridging Creativity
Time & date: 16th March, 2023


On 16 March, UK Research and Innovation China held its first reception after COVID, themed in "Bridging Creativity: Celebrating UK-China Collaboration in Arts & Innovation” at the Hellas House in Shanghai.  

This event brought together key stakeholders including academics, government officials, and business partners in the arts and creative field, aiming to showcase the achievements and impact of UKRI-funded projects in the arts and creative field and explore potential opportunities for further bilateral collaboration in the field. The event was opened by Professor Changing Huang, President of the Shanghai Theatre Academy and partner of CAVA's AHRC project Immersive: Shaun the Sheep with Aardman.

In the past 15 years, UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Innovate UK, and EPSRC have closely worked with Chinese counterparts to bring together researchers and creative businesses in both countries to generate creative products and technologies, discover new markets and advance mutual understanding of UK and Chinese cultural heritage.

From museum exchange and joint cultural performances to gaming and sustainable fashion, UK-China collaboration in creative industries has been underpinned by many broad-ranging and mutually beneficial UKRI funding programmes. CAVA and Aardman worked with UKRI to present their work at this high-profile event that also celebrated the diplomatic relations and creative industry collaborations between the UK and China.

Symposium Title: Crafting Immersive Experiences for Future Global Audiences
Time & date: 13:30 - 18:00, 12th January, 2023
Location: Fora - Spitalfields, 35-41 Folgate St, London E1 6BX

Funded by the AHRC UK/China Partnership, this event will bring together experts in the field of immersive arts and entertainments to discuss the latest developments and trends, with a focus on creating immersive experiences that will appeal to a global audience.
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This symposium is connected to two ongoing AHRC UK/China Partnership projects: Shaun the Sheep: Immersive Experience led by Prof Richard Koeck, University of Liverpool and Immersive, Immersive, Innovative, and Interactive Experience (IIIE) led by Prof Sylvia Pan. Both projects are operating on the forefront of digitally immersive, location-based and remote experience through media such as projections and VR.

The symposium provided a platform to report from our ongoing research and share some of the preliminary results with the wider academic and digital creative community. The symposium gave us the opportunity to also invite a wider community of practitioners to give us their critical views as to how such work is relevant to their current and expected future practices.

A special thanks goes to our  line up of expert presenters and panelists, such as Weijia Ma (Shanghai Theatre Academy), Ngaio Harding-Hill and Gavin Strange (Aardman), Clarice Hilton (University of Liverpool), Alastair Eilback and James Bailey (FeedAR), Dan Tucker (Immersive Assembly), Jonny Freeman (i2Media), Rosaline Coleman, William Latham (Goldsmiths).

AUGMENTED MASONRY DESIGN: A Design Method using Augmented Reality (AR) for Customized Bricklaying Design Algorithms

Congratulations for Song Yang, Asterios Agkathidis and Richard Koeck for winning the "Best Paper"  in the 10th International conference of The Arab Society for Computation in Architecture, Art and Design (ASCAAD 2022), hosted By Beirut Arab University (BAU) on 12-13 October 2022. Their paper entitled 'Augmented Masonry Design' was recognised at the conference which this year had the theme HYBRID SPACES of the METAVERSE.

Here is our abstract:
The Augmented Masonry Design project presents experimental research about developing and applying Augmented Reality (AR) technology for customized design algorithms, exploring a real-time, interactive, and spatial-free design method for the early architectural design stage. We aim to resolve the current 2D-based design limitations and provide architects with a 3D-4D immersive perception in AR for a practical and easy-to-use design method. Furthermore, with reference to the Covid-19 pandemic, we propose that this method could break through site accessibility and constraints by breaking the barriers of physical space. Towards this aim, we apply the Augmented Masonry Design into two prototypes: a) user interface (UI) immersive design, in which interactive inputs will communicate with design algorithms in AR through the inputs from the screen- based UI on mobile devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets); b) intuitive interaction immersive design, in which interactive inputs will be translated to design algorithms directly in AR through hand gestures on head-mounted devices (HMD) (e.g., Microsoft HoloLens). Our Findings highlight the advantages of immersive design in the initial stage of architectural drafts, which gives designers better spatial understanding and design creativity, as well as the challenges arising from the limitations of current AR devices and the lack of real physical simulation in the design system.

The full paper can be downloaded from the link below.

Dr Zhuozhang Li, CAVA co-curate  exhibition in Beijing/China

Date: 16.12.2022 - 17.03.2023
Location: Red-River Culture Art Museum in Beijing
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Traces under the Surface' is an exhibition curated by Zhuozhang Li (Canterbury School of Architecture & CAVA) and Ziwen Sun (Beijing Institute of Technology). It explores how urban visual media can serve as an alternative observation tool for critically understanding everyday space during the pandemic via the lens of students in Beijing. Seeing their domestic space as a starting point, this exhibition empowers the students to be the protagonist in the city and explore their personal social, spatial, and psychological connections with other people, objects, and spaces in the city. The exhibition examines the idea of a ‘virtual field-trip’ to investigate everyday lived space during the campus lockdown period. It resonates with the philosopher Judith Butler’s writings on pandemic, to highlight how the pandemic illuminated the everyday object as a ‘social form’ that bears invisible traces. This exhibition marks the opening of the Red-River Culture Art Museum in Beijing.

The Colin Rowe Lectures is collaboration between the Centre for Architecture and Visual Arts at the University of Liverpool and the Robert Elwall Photographs Collection at RIBA.

Time: 10 November 2022, 6:30pm to 8pm
Place: RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London, W1B 1AD
Contact: photo@riba.org
Admission: RIBA Members/Students: £2.50, General: £5
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‍In an informal setting and in dialogue with experienced and imaginative guests, The Colin Rowe Lectures aim to discuss the role of the image in architecture, particularly the crucial role of architectural photography. The lectures are considered an open forum of discussion for architects, photographers, students, and the simply curious. All are welcome.

We are delighted to announce as our next speaker David Grandorge, who has pursued the photography of buildings, cities, and landscapes since 1996. He has been privileged to document the work of architects such as Sergison Bates, Caruso St John, 6a, Witherford Watson Mann, Maccreanor Lavington, Stephen Taylor, Feilden Fowles, Marie-Jose Van Hee, Brendeland & Kristoffersen, and many others. His photographs, generally characterised by visual austerity and laconic expression, express an ongoing concern with pictorial and compositional precision.

Grandoge’s work has been published in books and exhibited internationally, including the Prague Biennale of 2005, the Venice Architecture Biennales of 2008, 2012 & 2016, the Vilnius Art Biennale of 2015 and in solo exhibitions at Rake Visningrom, Trondheim (The World is Still Beautiful), Peter von Kant, London (Without Sun), The AA and RIBA Future Practice Galleries, (Ground with Jonathan Lovekin) and Six Second Gallery (Landscapes of Variable Temperature). A book of his work Still Beautiful was published in 2018.

Places are limited so booking in advance is essential. Forum convened by Marco Iuliano (University of Liverpool) and Valeria Carullo (RIBA).

Cooperation project between dMA and CAVA in relation to Robotic Fabrication Experiment
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CAVA researcher Yang Song was invited by Prof. Mirco Becker, Victor Sardenberg and Andrea Kondziela from dMA (Digital Methods in Architecture) in the faculty of Architecture and Landscape Sciences, Leibniz University Hannover, to attend the Robots in Architecture seminar and join the entire process of the robotic assembly timber prototype construction in Germany.

DMA wants to explore the benefits of integrating collaborative robotic manipulators with an autonomous mobile robotic platform with their new robotic infrastructure. This collaborative seminar aims to investigate potential applications and navigation methods for the platform in an architectural context.

During the seminar, Yang and the participants from dMA worked with and controlled both the mobile platform (MiR-100) and an attached mobile robotic arm (UR5e) to it. Participants gained an experience in robotic fabrication. They used their design knowledge for a creative engagement with robotics in order to develop methods that would harness production or live adaption as a creative opportunity. The debugging of robotic arm operation trajectory and MiR platform navigation was done by Victor, Andrea and Yang. A robotically manufactured architectural prototype, the timber wall, was developed by the students and presented at the end of the course in dMA.

The architectural prototype was finished by the collaboration between seminar tutor and participants from design to construction. Furthermore, the seminar successfully addressed the possibility of collaborating robotic manipulators with the mobile robotic platform, two robots system, to achieve architectural scale prototype on-site construction and got very impressive outcomes. It is hoped that this roaming robotic fabrication experiment is the beginning of further collaborations between dMA and CAVA.

CAVA is congratulating Zhuozhang Li for receiving the formal recommendation to be awarded the academic title of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).
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We would like to thank Prof François Penz (Cambridge), Dr Francesca Piazzoni and Prof Charles Forsdick for examining one of CAVA's most prolific PhD students. They examined a highly interdisciplinary and indeed groundbreaking PhD thesis, which will form the basis for his future academic career.

‍Zhuozhang’s PhD thesis explores the cinematic representation of socio-spatial practices by ordinary people in contemporary Hong Kong, to investigate the (re)production of publicness in everyday urban space and the historical changes of the appropriation. By highlighting Hong Kong urban cinema as a remarkable archive of descriptions of how the city is being lived and practiced, a cinematic urban tectonic study is developed in this thesis to discover a hidden thread fabricated by multiple pieces that all relate to the production of everyday urban space. The study includes an investigation of the historical development of urban environment and a series of detailed analysis of the informal everyday practices depicted in 28 local films at multiple levels (namely rooftops, elevated passages and ground-level urban space) and in different periods of time (from 1979 to 2018). Drawing from traditional Chinese literary and philosophical ideal, this study exposes a fluid, alternative social structure (and its spatialisation) as the space of jianghu that defy, appropriate, coexist with or are diminished by the hegemonic order of the city. At the same time, the study demonstrates the capacity of cinema as an analytic and complement tool to expand our understanding of the everyday urban space within specific social, geographical and cultural context, thus overcoming the taken-for-granted and reductive discussions in urban studies.

Many Congratulasions again! More information can be found in the link below.
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Doodles: Stirling Wilford and Associates, 1984-2000

‍Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool
16 October 2021 - 29 January 2022
Tuesday to Saturday, 10am - 5pm
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The son of a ship’s engineer, James Stirling (1924 − 1992) moved with his family to Merseyside as an infant in 1927. Attending Quarry Bank High School, which also counts John Lennon amongst its alumni, he proceeded to study architecture at the University of Liverpool, graduating in 1950. In 1956 he set up his practice with James Gowan, dissolved in 1963; since 1971 he partnered with Michael Wilford, currently a visiting professor at the Liverpool School of Architecture.

The exhibition, curated by Marco Iuliano, provides an opportunity to understand the unexpected everyday life in one of the most inspiring architectural offices of the twentieth century through unpublished documentation held in the archive of the Associates, Laurence Bain and Russell Bevington. After the commissions for the red trilogy - Leicester, Cambridge and Oxford - the German museums, the high-tech experiments and the American universities, the projects featured on this occasion are a clear expression of a ‘monumentally informal’ production – to use Stirling’s own words. All of this happened between the advent of the computer and the digital world, which significantly changed a fascinating way of producing architecture.

Exhibition Design: James Jones, assembled by LSA Creative workshop - Steve Bretland, Matt Howarth and Chris McVerry. Assistants to the exhibition: Davide Landi, Alicja Tymon-McEwan, Yu Zhan and Zhaoxi Tian. In collaboration with Drawing Matter, 20th Century Society and the British School at Rome, Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool

More info, please see link below "Drawing Matter".

Yang Song is leading international workshop at SIGraDi 2021  | Robotic Assembly in Architecture and Construction
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CAVA is congratulating Song Yang for leading an international workshop at the SIGraDi 2021 conference, which explores the design and assembly of walls or pillars made of bricks assemblies with industrial robots.  Yang is a PhD candidate at CAVA working on the forefront of AR and robotic technologies.

Yang's workshop at SIGraDI introduces robotic concepts and demonstrates these can help to  develop an automated robotic assembly process that can be applied in architecture, construction or any creative field using a 6-axis industrial robot. This helps participants to rethink the design and fabrication methods in the digital mind by finishing the process from parametric design to robotic fabrication. The participants demonstrates how to interact with the industrial robot online in real-time and assemble the parametric brick-based structures that they designed.

Yang uses his research expertise to teach how to design structures parametrically and shows how to transfer commands to an industrial robot (Universal Robots UR10). He  explains the design to the fabrication process, which can bridge the gap between parametric design and robotic production. The participants gain the skill of working collaborative, filtering of selective data and manipulation of data. Furthermore, they learn the simulation-based feedback design and fabrication method, which is seen as one of the foundation pillars for researchers who want to learn  about robotic production and digital fabrication in the future.

More information can be found in the links below.

THE ST GEORGE’S HALL EXPERIENCE: THE HISTORY WHISPERER™

CAVA congratulates St George's Hall, Gazooky Studios, Immersive Interactive and Music in Mind for their fantastic new visitor attraction, The History Whisperer™, funded by the Department of Culture, Media & Sport. The project is based on and contains content from CAVA's 2019/20 St George's Hall mixed reality prototype experience (see link below). Prof Richard Koeck, Jemma Street and Monika Koeck were fortunate enough to be asked to be involved in the conception, research and implementation of this exciting new attraction for the city of Liverpool.

‍The St George’s Hall Experience: The History Whisperer™ transports visitors to a time when this extraordinary building served as the meeting point for opposite extremes of mid 19th century society, with opulence and destitution existing in startlingly close proximity. Full of the heart, humour, emotion and dreams that epitomize this unique city, our young ‘history whisperer’ – embodied in the character of a young girl named ‘Livie’ – leads visitors on an immersive journey through the sights and sounds of 1850s prison life, exploring Liverpool’s fascinating social history and the harsh realities of the Victorian justice system.

Nearly 2000 tickets were sold in the first 24 hours of the attraction’s launch. We invite you all to secure a ticket and to see the show for yourself. Image Credits: Staged Kaos and Ant Clausen

More information can be found in the links below.

Team of VR/Machine Learning Experts from Goldsmiths (University of London) visit CAVA and DIF

As part of our ongoing AHRC collaboration that we lead with Goldsmiths, University of London as important partner, CAVA hosted a 2-day workshop on the integration of machine learning into VR and location-based immersive experiences.

After a long period in which meeting were only possible virtually, the team from Goldsmiths Computer Science department, comprising of Dr Sylvia Pan, Dr Marco Gillies, Dr Fang Ma and Ju Zhang, were finally able to work with our CAVA immersive team in person. Dr Pan and Dr  Gillies lead the See VR Research Lab located at Goldsmiths, which has partnered up with CAVA from the University of Liverpool.

Prof Richard Koeck, Dr Chris Baker, Dr Hamid Khalili, Iain Cant and Alistair Eilbeck welcomed the visit from our guests to the School of Architecture and the School of the Arts. Both research groups enjoyed two days of intense presentations and research discussions that are feeding into 2 of our AHRC research projects with Aardman and the Shanghai Theatre Academy as partners.

We are particularly thankful to Andy Levers and Iain Cant from the Virtual Engieering Centre (VEC), who gave us a tour through  the Digital Innovation Facility (DIF) and their impressive Mixed Reality Lab that allowed us to play with haptic gloves, multi-user immersive screens, VR headsets and a purpose-built spatial sound stage. The team was able to test and evaluate elements from our immersive prototypes, which will inform the next stages and workpackages of our joint project.

"Capoeira for All" presents breathtaking live performance and public engagement event

Capoeira for All is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company established to explore and develop how the arts, in particular Capoeira, can significantly enrich people’s lives. This weekend, as part of the Sankofa Docks installation for the Canning Dock Competition (see below), Capoeira for All presented a breathtaking and highly emotional performance that was specially presented as a site-specific art intervention.

The performance, entitled "A Tale of Remembrance", was presented by highly accomplished dancers Akil Morgan and Michael Horsley. They described the performance  as and uncompromising and challenging portrayal of the so-called Slave Trade (European colonial genoicide of African and indigenous peoples and cultures). What made the performance so outstanding was that the site-specific context created a special atmosphere in which Akil and Michael were reflecting during the performance on their own role in the legacy of this tragedy.

Akil and Michael led through the 20min performance, delivered through Afro-Brazilian music, dance and dramatic performance, followed by a highly engaging public discusssion. The event will be well-remembered by everyone who was present. Our thanks goes out to Akil Morgan and Michael Horsley and everyone else from Capoeira for All. See also the link below.
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Competition Context
CAVA is partner is part of one of the six shortlisted teams led by BIG and JA Projects, along with FutureCity; Peter Adjaye; Beyond the Box; Gardiner & Theobald; Hilson Moran; LDA Design and Poor Collective. The other shortlisted teams through to Stage 2 are Arup, Asif Khan Architects, DSDHA, OMMX and Shedkm.

Join the conversation on social media with #NMLWaterfront.
Credit: Richard Koeck/ @RKoeck
Image of young Capoeira dancer Phoebe with Courtesy of Jemma Street

CAVA is partner in shortlisted team of BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group

Come along to visit Sankofa Docks - our waterfront installation as part of Stage 2 of the Canning Dock Competition – outside of the Museum of Liverpool this weekend.

CAVA is partner is part of one of the six shortlisted teams led by BIG and JA Projects, along with FutureCity; Peter Adjaye; Beyond the Box; Gardiner & Theobald; Hilson Moran; LDA Design and Poor Collective. The other shortlisted teams through to Stage 2 are Arup, Asif Khan Architects, DSDHA, OMMX and Shedkm.

Over the past 10 days, our team for the Canning Dock Competition has been hard at work crafting the installation and building it on site on the Liverpool waterfront. From repurposing material, to crafting symbolic artwork and gathering local wildflowers – the making of the installation has been a sensitive, hands-on and collaborative effort. Dr Hamid Khalili, Jemma Street and Richard Koeck from CAVA are currently producing a submission film shot with local members of the African Caribbean Community in Liverpool.

The Canning Dock Competition was launched by National Museums Liverpool (NML) in April this year to find a multi-disciplinary team to deliver the Waterfront Transformation Project to redesign the museum’s historic waterfront in Liverpool. For Stage 2 of the competition, the shortlisted teams were asked to explore how they will link storytelling, heritage, community, connectivity, and commercial income to create a cohesive visitor experience and catalyst for social and environmental improvements in the area. One of these teams will be appointed to take forward the design of the Canning Dock in September 2021.

The installation was launched yesterday at 4pm and was visited by, amongst others, the competition jury, NML staff, Phil Redmond and Metro Mayor Steve Rotherman. The installations will be open on Friday 16th - Sunday 18th July from 10:00am - 7:00pm on Canning Dock, outside the Museum of Liverpool on the Waterfront. A special performance by Capoeira for All will take place on Sunday 18th July from 12:00pm - 1:30pm.

Join the conversation on social media with #NMLWaterfront.
Credit: Gary W Smith / @PhotoGWSmith
Courtesy of NML

Further information: Prof Richard Koeck, r.koeck@liverpool.ac.uk

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About Sankofa Docks – our waterfront installation
Sankofa Docks provides a backdrop to everyday life that  recognises  both the trauma and truth of Liverpool’s role in the transatlantic slave trade. It is a place where narratives of horror and hope are conveyed through the things  we make and the stories we tell. It is a space formed through meaningful co-creation and new modes of community wealth building, a landscape of re-use and resilience, and a new form of dockside infrastructure that looks to the past in order to re-imagine a future built on the raw material of culture, commerce, craft and care. 

Liverpool’s Liver Birds tell a story of the city’s maritime past and its resulting fortune, but we rift on the West African symbol of the Sankofa Bird – with its head looking backwards and feet pointing forwards – to honestly tell the story of Liverpool’s origins. By naming our installation Sankofa Docks, we, in response, propose the renaming of the adjacent dry docks to celebrate the culture of a collective people written out of history. The renaming represents a contemporary memorial that replaces the current tribute to an individual who, in 1824, urged parliament to refrain from freeing colonial slaves by comparing ‘The African’ to Frankenstein's monster.

CAVA is partner in shortlisted team of BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group

The National Museums Liverpool have launched an international  competition, managed by Colander Associates, which is supported by £120,000 of funding from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRA), as part of their Race Equality Programme. The competition addresses four aspects of the Canning Dock waterfront which include: the public realm, (including a public art strategy), pedestrian bridges between Mann Island and Hartley quay, the Graving docks and North shed; threading history, placemaking and commercial activity throughout.

We are pleased to announce that CAVA is partner in one of the shortlisted teams, led by BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group in collaboration JA Projects; Peter Adjaye; Beyond the Box; Poor Collective; Futurecity; LDA Design; AKT II; Hilson Moran; and Gardiner & Theobald. Each finalist team will receive a £10,000 honorarium and £5,000 for an interactive installation on the Canning Dock waterfront.

A Community Panel will review the Stage 2 submissions through a facilitated workshop and feed its thoughts through to the Jury Panel for consideration in its final deliberations. An appointment is expected to be made in late September 2021.

Further information: Prof Richard Koeck, r.koeck@liverpool.ac.uk

Prof Richard Koeck presents ground-breaking innovations and spectacular failures in the history of immersive experiences and a peep into the future.
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Date And Time: Wed, 10 March 2021; 17:30 – 19:00 GMT
Location: Online - Sign up below

ABOUT THE LECTURE
We often think of immersive or location-based experiences as relatively new forms of public entertainment driven by technological innovation such as Augmented (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR). In fact, there is a rich history of purpose-designed, audio-visually immersive architectural settings, such as the Panorama, Mareorama and Cineorama, that were concurrently developed alongside the cinema and which were shown to the public in London and Paris in the 18th and 19th centuries. These entertainment venues tell us an extraordinary yet little-explored story about risk, failure and reward that comes with such ground-breaking innovation. Coming to this topic from a practice-based, architectural as well as media archaeological angle, Professor Richard Koeck, Full Professor and Chair in Architecture and the Visual Arts, will also provide a glimpse into what kind of ground-breaking location-based experiences we might expect to see in the near future.

SIGN-UP on EVENTBRITE
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/public-lecture-history-and-future-of-immersive-experiences-tickets-138590962299

PANALISTS
The lecture will be followed by a live Q&A session with three fantastic panalists from world-leading creative practices: Ngaio Harding-Hill (Head of Attractions & Live Experiences, Aardman); Gavin Strange (Director & Designer, Aardman Animations);  and Rosalind Coleman, Producer (Punchdrunk).

IMAGE: Title: Salle des fêtes of the 1900 Paris World Fair.
SOURCE: Public Domain. Published in Neurdein frères and Maurice Baschet. Le panorama, Exposition universelle. Paris: Librairie d'Art Ludovic Baschet, 1900.

Winner of 2020 TVE Global Sustainability Film Awards
We are pleased to announce that the CAVA team Monika Koeck (Producer/Director, CineTecture) and Richard Koeck (Executive Producer, Director of CAVA) have won the tve 2020 Global Sustainability Film Award in the digital innovation category "Artificial Intelligence (AI)". Their documentary film Coronavirus Pandemic: Making Safer Emergency Hospitals received several accolades this year, and also won the 2020 The Impact DOCS Awards Competition (see below).

‍THE FILM
The film was produced in collaboration with Prof Andrew Woods (Cambridge University, BPI) and Prof Alan Short (Cambridge University, Architecture), whose research aims to intervene in the current Covid-19 pandemic with the development of a series of practical architectural design solutions. Monika and Richard have produced a creative research output – using sophisticated digital film and animation techniques – that show how the concentration of airborne virus, experienced by patients and healthcare workers in buildings and makeshift hospitals in the wake of the Corona Virus crisis all over the world, can be significantly reduced.

The film was jointly funded by the University of Liverpool (Covid19 ODA Response Grant/GCRF) and BP Institute, Cambridge University and forms part of a major initiative to Impact architectural design and public policy in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic.

‍THE tve AWARD
The tve awards recognise films that are  sitting at the forefront of environmental and social change and which inspire audiences with real world solutions for a more sustainable future. Launched nine years ago, recipients of this prestigious award have included major international film/TV/broadcast companies, such as the BBC with David Attenborough's documentary "Blue Planet" in 2018. Monika Koeck’s work and CineTecture have an unprecedented record with tve. After 2013 and 2019, this is the third time  that Monika Koeck and CineTecture have been recognised with a first prize of the tve film awards. The award ceremony typically takes place at the BAFTA (home of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts); the 2020 ceremonies took place as on online event.

CAVA & CineTecture
CAVA and CineTecture has a long track record of successful co-productions at the intersection of research and creative filmmaking. Founded in 2007 by Monika and Richard Koeck, CineTecture specialises in film and media productions focusing on research, impact, and public engagement in relation to art, architecture and cities. Previous broadcasts, films and installations produced by CineTecture have featured in festivals, galleries and national museums worldwide.

New Media Performance Innovation: International Expert Workshop, Shanghai Theatre Academy

Prof Liu Zhizin, Chair of Creative Technology (Shanghai Theatre Academy) kindly invited Nagaio-Harding Hill (Aardman), Marina Guo (CAVA) and Richard Koeck to give a presentation at the Shanghai Theatre Academy to talk about their collaboration on the AHRC-funded project, Shaun the Sheep: Immersive Experience.

The "New Media Performance Innovation International Expert Workshop" is an annual academic workshop and exchange organized by the Shanghai Theatre Academy, the National Digital Performing Arts Lab (DPA), the Shanghai Virtual Performing Arts Lab (VPA), and the College of Creative Studies (affiliated with the Shanghai Theatre Academy). It has been running since 2012 and is now in its ninth year. In previous years, there have been seminars on: "The Protection and Inheritance of Cultural Heritage (Media Preservation and Cultural Heritage)", "The Turning Point of Theatre", "Technology and the Transformation of Performance", "360VR Panoramic Sound Art and Technology" and "Interactive Performances and Motion Pictures".

There have also been other activities, events and academic discussions on creative practices from leading academics, and all of these international activities are a frontier for the digital media arts.  This year's "New Media Performance Innovation International Expert Workshop" will be held on 28 November, 2020 at the Shanghai Theatre Academy’s School of Creativity (on the Changlin Road Campus). The workshop/seminar's theme is "Drama and Extended Reality"; it will focus on discussions over how to use XR technology to innovate content on the dramatic narrative.

"A new generation of artists breathe new (digital) life into lost and at-risk heritage sites"

‍CAVA congratulates Nemeh Alrihani to feature in the New Arab News. The London-based journalist reached out to Nemeh and asked him to talk about his research and work on the crowd-sourced photogrammetric reconstructions for Al-Kazneh in Petra, Jordon in particular. The story in the New Arab highlights an upward trend of artists and architects from different design backgrounds, such as Nemeh, who are using digital virtual technologies to document and preserve architectural and archaeological at-risk heritage sites in Jordan and Syria. Nemeh speaks about the of capturing raw data of historical buildings through advanced technologies, but also to perseveres their cultural context that can be communicated by audio-visual storytelling. The article highlights Nemeh's groundbreaking approach:

"Rihani's method relies solely on crowd-sourced images, that he joked allows artists to create 3D digital replicas of archaeological environments from the comfort of your own home. The methodology is particularly advantageous in times of Covid-19 and complies with the world's new social distancing etiquette."

The full article can be read in the link below.

CAVA commissioned to produce "RIBA  Architectural Tour of Liverpool" as part of ROCK Heritage project

‍"Annie’s brother was one of the lucky ones. When the new Bluecoat School opened in 1718, they took in just 50 poor children to be given an education, board and lodging, and he was one of them. He looked so smart in his blue uniform."

This is just one example of over 150 stories, based on real events, that a team of researchers have created for a new and bespoke Liverpool City Heritage experience, that aims to highlight  not only Liverpool's rich architectural heritage, but also the story of many events and people that shaped the city over time. The Liverpool City Council, has commissioned CAVA is to work on the EU-funded ROCK Cultural Heritage Leading Urban Futures project. CAVA is leading a collaboration with RIBA and RIBA North, FeedAR and Constructive Thinking to produce a groundbreaking new heritage tool and user experience. The "RIBA Liverpool Architecture Tour" combines a progressive web app walking tour and augmented reality exhibition of Liverpool  that invites users and visitors to "walk my city". The project led by Prof Richard Koeck and Alastair Eilbeck and will be presented as a beta version on 28 October at the ROCK Open Knowledge Week 27-30 October 2020.

Monika Koeck and Richard Koeck Win the 2020 Impact DOCS Award
‍Monika Koeck (Producer and Director, CineTecture) and Richard Koeck (Executive Producer, Director, CAVA) have won with their latest documentary film the prestigious Award of Merit from 2020 The Impact DOCS Awards Competition. The film was jointly funded by the University of Liverpool (Covid19 ODA Response Grant/GCRF) and BP Institute, Cambridge University and forms part of a major initiative to Impact architectural design and public policy in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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‍THE FILM
The award was given to the documentary film Coronavirus Pandemic: Making Safer Emergency Hospitals that was produced in collaboration with Prof Andrew Woods (Cambridge University, BPI) and Prof Alan Short (Cambridge University, Architecture), whose research aims to intervene in the current Covid-19 pandemic with the development of a series of practical architectural design solutions. Monika and Richard have produced a creative research output – using sophisticated digital film and animation techniques – that show how the concentration of airborne virus, experienced by patients and healthcare workers in buildings and makeshift hospitals in the wake of the Corona Virus crisis all over the world, can be significantly reduced.Watch the film here‍THE AWARD
‍Impact DOCS recognises film, television, videography and new media professionals who demonstrate exceptional achievement in craft and creativity, and those who produce standout entertainment or contribute to profound social change. Documentaries were received from 30 countries, including veteran award-winning filmmakers and fresh new talent.  Entries were judged by highly qualified and award-winning professionals in the film and television industry.

In winning an Impact DOCS award, Monika Koeck joins the ranks of other high-profile winners of this internationally respected award including the Oscar winning director Louie Psihoyos for his 2016 Best of Show – Racing Extinction, Oscar winner Yael Melamede for (Dis)Honesty – The Truth About Lies, and Emmy Award winner Gerald Rafshoon for Endless Corridors narrated by Oscar winner Jeremy Irons, and many more.

Rick Prickett, who chairs Impact DOCS, had this to say about the latest winners, “The judges and I were simply blown away by the variety and immensely important documentaries we screened. Impact DOCS is not an easy award to win. Entries are received from around the world from powerhouse companies to remarkable new talent. Impact DOCS helps set the standard for craft and creativity as well as power catalysts for global change. The goal of Impact DOCS is to help winners achieve the recognition they deserve for their dedication and work.”

Impact DOCS Awards is in its second year and is the newest member of the Global Film Awards (GFA) family of competitions who have been hosting competitions for 14 years. Often the first stop on the festival circuit, GFA award winners have gone on to win Oscars like the short doc “The Lady in Number Six” and “Mr Hublot” as well as countless Emmys, Tellys and more.

‍THE IMPACT
The documentary is used to inform health authorities and governments world-wide. This film was presented to The World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva with whom the Cambridge and CAVA & CineTecture team were in direct conversation. After the release of the film and an open letter, signed by 239 scientists in 32 countries that outlined evidence that reinforced the findings in the film, the WHO recognised the danger from airborne virus particles.

As reported by the BBC the WHO has acknowledged on 9 July there is emerging evidence that the coronavirus can be spread by tiny particles suspended in the air. The WHO provided  on that date an update to the scientific brief published on 29 March 2020 that focussed on the “Modes of transmission of virus causing COVID-19: implications for infection prevention and control (IPC) precaution recommendations”, which now includes new scientific evidence available on the airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2; the virus that causes COVID-19.

Prof Richard Koeck (Executive Producer and Director, CAVA) says: “We are pleased that the WHO has changed its position with regard to the airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and thereby recognise the finding of Cambridge University’s research team we have been collaborating with.”

Monika Koeck (Producer and Director, CineTecture) says: "I am pleased that CAVA’s and CineTecture’s expertise in moving image production, digital visualisations and immersive technologies meant that we were quickly ready to translate fluid mechanics and design research into creative digital research outputs that have helped policymakers to make informed decisions.”

Monika Koeck wins first prize at Vegas Movie Awards: AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
Many congratulations for another first prize at an international film festival. We are pleased to announce that Monika Koeck (CineTecture), director and producer of the film "A Low Carbon Future for China's Furnace Cities", has won first prize at the Vegas Movie Awards. Her prize, the so-called AWARD OF EXCELLENCE, was awarded in one of the main categories "BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT", entitling her to take part at the annual award ceremony in June 2021.

The film received the award for offering unprecedented insight into this world-leading (UK/China funded) research, exploring ways to develop a low-carbon retrofit adaptation scheme for an enormous existing building stock (>9 billion m²), without the need for new buildings (>CO2 emissions). The research sought to address the issue of occupants’ changing thermal comfort expectations (problem/self-installed air-conditions) in some of the most extreme climate regions of China.
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Monika Koeck wrote the script and subsequently shot the film with two Chinese crews on location in the cities of Chongqing and Hangzhou, before using CGI 3D (Piotr Olszewski) and 2D animations to translate and interpret complex research data into an accessible format. In doing so, her work not only created a creative practice research output, but also a pathway for worldwide distribution of the research and its impact.

Translating Cities: urban spaces in contemporary art mapping practices
‍Congratulations to Gloria Lanci on being awarded her PhD in June 2020 with the thesis Translating Cities: urban spaces in contemporary art mapping practices, supervised by Dr Marco Iuliano (Architecture) and Dr Les Roberts (Communication and Media) at the Centre of Architecture and the Visual Arts.

Gloria focuses on the works of contemporary artists to investigate how urban spaces are perceived, represented and enacted in practices that incorporate cartographic methods. The bulk of her research is centred on two sets of semi-structured interviews: four British artists based in Britain and the US, and a small group of artists who produced three maps for Liverpool between 2005 and 2011.

Image credit: The Liverpool Map, by Inge Panneels and Jeffrey Sarmiento, 2011, Museum of Liverpool; photo Gloria Lanci
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More information: Please see RED links below.

Digital COVID-19 Visualisations and Impact: Design Implications and Applications that Reduce the Concentration of Airborne Droplets and Aerosols
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‍The School of the Architecture and School of the Arts are pleased to announce that the CAVA team Monika Koeck (Director/Editor) and Richard Koeck (Executive Producer) have been selected to provide an urgent response to intervene in the current COVID-19 pandemic. Funding has been provided by University of Liverpool’s Global Challenges Strategy Group and is part of the University’s Research England QR GCRF allocation.

The project is a practice-based research and impact partnership between CAVA, Prof Andrew Woods (FRS and Director, BP Institute, University of Cambridge), Prof Alan Short (Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge), and Prof L.S. Shashidhara (Dean of Research, Ashoka University, India). Using funding from the recently announced COVID-19 ODA Rapid Response Fund, CAVA is producing in collaboration with CineTecture a 12-minute documentary and a series of imbedded animations, explaining Prof Woods’ and Prof Short’s research findings. The Cambridge University researcher have developed a series of practical solutions to reduce the concentration of airborne virus experienced by patients and healthcare workers in buildings converted into makeshift hospitals.
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The Cambridge University’s research is relevant for ODA countries such as India, Africa and South America, but also could find application more globally. The CAVA team will translate the Cambridge team’s fluid mechanics and design research into digital research outputs (film, animations and potentially VR) and, as such, focus on the design implications and applications. The documentary research film will be released in several languages; including Hindu, Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish, Polish, German and French (African countries).
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The CAVA team is now intensely working on the production of the animations and films, since time is of great essence. Early versions of the research outputs are expected to be released in the very near future – via social media as well as through direct communication with governments, policymakers, and health organisations around the world.

More information: Please see RED links below

Shaun the Sheep: Developing a Responsive, Spatial, Immersive Experience for Aardman
‍We are pleased to announce that CAVA is leading an important AHRC UK-China Research-Industry Creative Partnerships grant, which is the second stage of a new international programme seeking to develop research-industry partnerships between the UK and China in the creative industries. The project is funded through the UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) Fund for International Collaboration (FIC).

The programme intends to enable a rapid scaling-up of engagements between the UK and China, with a specific focus on Shanghai as China’s cultural and creative industries powerhouse, in order to facilitate new collaborations that deliver sustained economic, cultural and intellectual benefits in both countries. It will receive £500K FEC from the UKRI/AHRC as well is seeking a cash and in-kind contribution of circa £580K from partners in the UK and China, making it a combined total project value £1.08 million.

‍The winning project, entitled "Shaun the Sheep: Immersive Experience" is led by Prof Richard Koeck (PI, University of Liverpool) alongside Dr. Shan Luo (CI, University of Liverpool) and Stephanie Owen (Senior Producer, Aardman).

The aim of the project is to deliver a world-first in research innovation (i.e. technical, methodological, creative application) that will enable the development of a prototype Shaun the Sheep visitor experience as a non-linear, real-time, responsive, spatially immersive family visitor experience in Shanghai.   This experience will be unique in that it will be able to be enjoyed by families of all ages, who will be able to interact directly with a Shaun the Sheep story in real time without the need for headsets, gloves or personal devices.  The story will be a true Shaun the Sheep adventure whilst recognising China's cultural context and values.
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Prof Koeck says: "We are pleased to be working with Aardman - the UK's leading, BAFTA® and Oscar®-winning animation studio - and the prestigious Shanghai Theatre Academy to develop a genuinely new way of cinematic, AI-driven, spatially immersive storytelling that will have the potential to transform family entertainment experiences in China and globally".  

Stephanie Owen comments: “At Aardman, finding new and innovative ways to tell stories is at the forefront, so we’re delighted to enable family audiences in Shanghai to experience Shaun the Sheep through AI. We’re keen to see how these developments might lead to new opportunities in family entertainment centres, theme parks and visitor attractions throughout China.”
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In addition to the research outputs, the project will enable a new collaboration between three academic partners; the University of Liverpool (UoL), Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) and the Industry partners (Aardman, Media Industry Association and Digital Fun). It is generously supported by the Virtual Engineering Centre (VEC, University of Liverpool); in doing so, the project will link up six research centres/institutes, utilising their complementary expertise for an applied research project with high level industry partners.

About Aardman
‍Aardman, based in Bristol (UK) and co-founded in 1976 by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, is an independent and multi-award-winning studio. It produces feature films, series, advertising, games and interactive entertainment - such as the ‘visually astonishing’ (The Guardian), BAFTA® nominated console game, 11-11: Memories Retold, and the four-times Gold Cannes Lions-winning StorySign app - and innovative attractions for both the domestic and international market, including a new 4D theatre attraction at Efteling in the Netherlands. Its productions are global in appeal, novel, entertaining, brilliantly characterised and full of charm reflecting the unique talent, energy and personal commitment of the Aardman team. The studio’s work – which includes the creation of much-loved characters including Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Morph – is often imitated, and yet the company continues to lead the field producing a rare brand of visually stunning content for cinema, broadcasters, digital platforms and live experiences around the world. In November 2018 it became an Employee Owned Organisation, to ensure Aardman remains independent and to secure the creative legacy and culture of the company for many decades to come. www.aardman.com  

Knowledge is Power: The Production of the City
‍Zhuouzhang Li, CAVA PhD candidate, is leading one of this year's TATE EXCHANGE programmes entitled "Knowledge is Power: The Production of the City".

His one-week long residency aims at communicating with the public about the production of the city, sharing knowledge of city/place making and discussing the relation between individuals and the city. Visitors are welcomed to join this conversation of what makes a lively city and participate in the making of the collective installation ‘An Everyday Life Guide to Liverpool’.

From self-built settlements on the rooftop in Hong Kong to the feminist graffiti, flags under bridges, individuals negotiate with the city and produce a safe, small territory that belongs to a specific group. It is this process of negotiation between the mainstream power and everyday individuals that shapes the real everyday urban space, and it is this reaction/resistance of ordinary people that gives power to individuals and communities. In this way, power is shifted from the ‘ruler’ to the people. To echo Theaster Gates’ exhibition Amalgam, this programme emphasise the identities of individuals, the practice of empowerment and erosion of the grassroots’ power. It will focus on a few areas in a global scope, including Liverpool and Hong Kong. The programme also includes:

ARTWORK -- A recurring collage and mapping workshop running by Zhuozhang, exploring different layers of Liverpool.

Public Talk -- The reclaiming space, reclaiming gaze’ by activist and PhD researcher Athanasia Francis, along with a performance by artist Mili Carnevale.

Exhibition -- Thematising the transformations the happened (happening) in Hong Kong: the making and vanishing of Hong Kong Kowloon Walled City and the everyday street activities in contemporary Hong Kong.

Public Discussion -- Involving theLiverpool community culture space, joined by local cinema and gallery curators. ‍