More events, including a street art project, discussions about regenerative culture and about AI, a tiny protest, morris dancers, and a talk by the author of a number of popular books about architecture have been added to the line up of Margate’s Words Change Things festival this weekend.
LOST / WANTED / FOUND is a reprise of a street art poster project by Delicate Doom. After seeing the original version in Margate in 2014, artist Dan Thompson commissioned a version to tour to the Troublemaker’s Festival in Swansea in 2017, and nearly ten years on he has asked the artist to create a new version for Words Change Things.
‘Delicate Doom is still looking, still wanting, still finding – over a decade later,’ he says. The work will be found around Margate’s Old Town and seafront. A selection of notices from this project will be curated by Cups On String and displayed on their Pink Board Gallery that will be temporarily situated at Marine Studios.
On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, a shared lunch at Marine Studios brings together artists, writers, activists and the festival’s audience. During Friday’s lunch, Keith Harrison, Chief Executive of environmental education charity The Bay Trust, will join a discussion about the idea of a ‘regenerative practice’.
And on Sunday, multidisciplinary designer Gina Taylor will lead a discussion about how AI is impacting creative practice. The lunch events are open to all, and take place at Marine Studios from 1pm-2pm each day. People are invited to bring food to share.
On Friday, Marine Studios hold their regular First Friday event, which features Craftivist Sarah P Corbett, the Pink Board Gallery, Dave Barnard (former Head of Community Services at London’s Toynbee Hall), and Vanishing Point’s Arlington House project. In an addition to the line up, artist Dan Thompson (pictured above) has made 30 tiny pastel-coloured protest placards, and is inviting people to add their own slogans and create a protest about the small things that need changing. It’s from 6pm-8.30pm at Marine Studios.
On Saturday, Bower Street Morris will appear at the festival’s second venue Union Church. The former Sunday School on Union Crescent is hosting a meditative labyrinth and a series of talks for Words Change Things, and at 1.30pm Bower Street Morris will dance alongside the labyrinth. It’s traditional for Morris teams to welcome the spring with dances at the start of May, so expect to see the dancers elsewhere, too.
And on Saturday, author Christopher Beanland presents highlights from his books including Architecture For Cars, Unbuilt & Lido. He’ll be looking at car-age modern architecture like Arlington House, forgotten remains like Ramsgate’s Lido, and unbuilt plans in Kent and across the world. Beanland is a journalist, comedy writer and author who specialises in architecture and travel writing, and regularly writes for the Guardian, Independent and The Telegraph. He’ll be at Marine Studios from 4.30pm-5.30pm.
Others contributing to Words Change Things include Robin Ince, Sarah P Corbett, Travis Elborough, John Grindrod, Ellen Jones, Connor Sansby, and Fr Leigh Daynes, the Priest-in-Charge of St.John the Baptist.
There’s also a Secret Postcard Auction raising funds for marine Studios, with work by more than forty international artists, with three ‘special’ contributions received this week.
Words Change Things events happen from Thursday 30th April-Sunday 3rd May, at Marine Studios on Albert Terrace, Union Church, and Fort Road Bar. The event is supported by The Margate Bookshop, who will stock the books of the authors involved and sell them at events. For more information visit www.danthompson.co.uk
