Theatrum Mundi Presents: The Urban Backstage

Join us for an evening of film and discussion, celebrating the launch of Theatrum Mundi’s new book ‘Urban Backstages’. If we think of the public facing cultural sites, largely aimed at national and international tourists and visitors, such as monuments, museums, galleries and theatres, where culture is consumed and displayed as the ‘urban stage’, then its behind-the-scenes counterpart is the ‘urban backstage’, which includes both the hidden spaces where cultural production takes place. The urban backstage is made up of invisible networks, relationships and labour that exist out of public view in our cities and are vital in fostering and cultivating a shared cultural identity and sense of belonging in our urban spaces.

The films curated here move beyond the intellectual discourse surrounding cultural infrastructure to offer different perspectives on the ‘urban backstage’ in London.

Making Cultural Infrastructure: Can we Design the Conditions for Culture? (LSE Cities, 2017, 11 mins)

Theatrum Mundi has been concerned with the spaces of artistic production and display in the city. This short film gathers a few cultural producers within London to address the following question: What are the infrastructural conditions for culture, and can they be designed into the city?  

London Made (Alice Masters, 2017, 18 mins)

Curated by We Made That, this film celebrates the people, processes and places that make London a productive city. Looking behind the stage, this exhibition explores the ‘back of house’ supply threads of one of London’s most distinctive cultural venues: the Barbican. Set makers, food and drink manufacturers, lighting specialists and logistics companies are just a sample of the activity that makes London thrive.

The Palace (Jo Prichard, 2021, 29 mins)

A loud, emotional portrait of a reluctant goodbye to The London Palace Bingo Club – told through the stories of the regulars that loved and depended on it, and the owner who couldn't save it.

To finish the evening there will be a conversation chaired by Hani Salih between filmmaker Jo Prichard and Oliver Goodhall, Co-Founder of We Made That and architect and urbanist Cecily Chua from Theatrum Mundi.