final report by Ronnie Chou, MA Narrative Environments, CSM
Funded by the Post-Grad Community Project Fund
Café ODYSSEY was a creative intervention utilising coffee, storytelling and wayfinding to encourage
social cohesion by highlighting existing cultural narratives within the context of urban
regeneration. Influenced by the argument that the coffee shop has become a barometer of degree
of gentrification, Café ODYSSEY took the form of a pop-up café highlighting localness and
celebrating diversity in south London, during its current period of transition. The intervention took
place in Peckham, south-east London on 29 June 2018 and an exhibition about the project was
hosted at Tate Exchange, Tate Modern on 30 June 2018. Café ODYSSEY was selected to be a part
of the London Festival of Architecture 2018.
The project involved collaboration between four postgraduate students from three different disciplines in CSM and LCC, and local initiatives in south London, such as Pempeople, Peckham Vision and The Peckham Society, which leaves a legacy for them to continue building connections and sharing learning outcomes between higher education institutions and local communities. Such a grassroots experience is invaluable in terms of a learning curve about the complex process of gentrification and hoping to aid in resisting the more pernicious aspects of the phenomenon.
With our strong belief that sociocultural diversity is one of the great amenities of modern city living; gentrification is seen to be a possible way to create opportunities for social interaction and cultural diversity. Café ODYSSEY, thus, marks its importance on providing platforms to both new and settled populations in south London during periods of gentrification, to encounter and integrate; also, is an attempt to ease tensions between both groups.
Based in Peckham, Café ODYSSEY offered the new and settled populations free coffee and special-designed receipts, which led them to different trails exploring existing cultural narratives in places and shops affected by gentrification. To promote shared understandings, different junctions are created to encourage targeted groups to encounter and communicate. These cultural tours offered by the intervention act as shared experiences among participants to
highlight the localness and place attachment during periods of regeneration. Followed by a special event (Brain)Storm in A Coffee Cup, an open discussion and art exhibition, it brings together local communities, galleries and artists and more to enrich the diversity in south London.
The design direction of Café ODYSSEY was mainly driven by research insights, which are then visually interpreted as different metaphors of elements in the cafés. For instance, the coffee cart set up at Rye Lane is a metaphor of the threshold, which performs a boundary zone between the created experience and the daily experience in Peckham. At the coffee cart, passers-by could get a free coffee which acts as an invitation for them to start the experience; it is also the tool which makes people think of every day’s object to create mental inclusion during the experience. Instead of showing items and prices, the specially-designed receipts show a map, which indicates different trails, shops and organisations that all, in one way or another, contribute to the contested narrative of gentrification in the area.
Thanks to all collaborators and facilitators, the intervention and exhibition were successfully held on 29-30 June 2018 in Peckham and Tate Exchange at Tate Modern. Café ODYSSEY reached more than 80 people on Friday, 29 June from 12 – 3 pm. Participants were very generous to share their opinions about gentrification in the local area and provides lots of inspiring comments for the legacy of the project. The special event (Brain)Storm in a Coffee Cup at TenPoint5ive Gallery at Peckham Levels featured the artworks of four local artists also attracted lots of art lovers and local residents in Peckham.
Creative Founder of SL Creatives Project, Charmaine Taylor and Director of Intoart, Ella Ritchie were invited at the open discussion, to share their creative works in collaboration with the local communities to highlight diversity during urban regeneration. Some inspiring conversations have also taken place among participants during the discussion, which is about “How can we better ensure the relationships that students find and build and the learning from these socially engaged design projects is connected, valued and shared within and by higher education institutions?”.
As a multi-disciplinary team, we appreciate that UAL has given us such an international network that people like us sharing similar interests and ambitions can work together, and by this opportunity, highlighting the importance of art and design for society. We also gain support from multiple local initiatives in south London. This collaboration among students from higher education institutes and local grassroots communities has been proved successfully opened up dialogues and explored more collaboration opportunities in socially engaged projects by bringing together local communities, galleries and artists and more.
Participation – PG Community and others:
With my background in Events Management, I took the role in the creative direction and project management, which included event planning, marketing, finance, public relations and risk management. Realising diversity and collaboration are critical to this project’s success, collaborators from different backgrounds are invited during the design and development process. The project involved both internal and external collaboration. The internal collaboration is formed by a core team who contributes in the design process; while the production team is responsible for the operation during the experience. Students who take part in these teams are Mei-Feng Lin
and Mandy Kershaw, MA Narrative Environments postgraduates at Central Saint Martins, Hyunjoo Kim, MA Graphic Branding and Identity postgraduate and Chi Wei Li, MA Graphic Media Design
postgraduate at London College of Communication. They joined the teams at different phases while most of them knew about the project since it was published at the WIP Show in January 2018.
The external collaboration consisted of initiatives who had profound knowledge and understanding of Peckham’s local context. In terms of practical context, the project also strongly relied on its sponsor, venue provider and local workshop. Each member in external collaboration
was based in Peckham, who contributed a lot of inspiring comments in the situational context.
Project Links:
Website: https://cafeodyssey.wixsite.com/odyssey
• Project’s legacy – https://cafeodyssey.wixsite.com/odyssey/photo-albums
• Event at Peckham on 29 June –https://cafeodyssey.wixsite.com/lfa-popup-june18
• Exhibition at Tate Modern on 30 June – https://cafeodyssey.wixsite.com/lfa-tate-june2018
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cafe.odyssey/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CafeOdyssey2018?lang=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cafeodyssey.art/
Coverage in London Festival of Architecture:
• https://www.londonfestivalofarchitecture.org/event/cafe-odyssey/
• https://www.londonfestivalofarchitecture.org/event/cafe-odyssey-presents-brainstorm-ina-
coffee-cup-2/