Torriano Meeting House

Poetry Art Politics Community 

Torriano Meeting House  is a user-funded grass-roots volunteer-run arts and community organisation in Kentish Town. We are best known for our poetry events but we have many other long running strands including storytelling for adults, writing and storytelling workshops, hosting local political campaigning groups, theatrical events, left wing folk club, and we very much support grass-roots creativity and social change.  

Torriano is a space for you to organise events and projects.

“What is the purpose of resisting corporate globalization if not to protect the obscure, the ineffable, the unmarketable, the unmanageable, the local, the poetic and the eccentric? So they need to be practiced, celebrated and studied too, right now.” – Rebecca Solnit

 

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Voices and textures from the Mountain

26th , 27th and 28th October at 6pm

A collaboration between Alex Brew and Pilar Awa
Sounds and Songs inspired by and written in the Pyrenees mountains surrounded by images of nature paintings and photographs.

Todo canta. Everything sings. It feels like the mountain too and that all beings dwelling on her ground are also singers. The seen and the unseen.
This performance is a set of songs written and performed by Pilar about the land, the folk, the water, the people. Alex brings paintings from the world inside and around her. It’s about what happens to us when we open our eyes, our ears, our inner senses to the beauty around us.

Pilar Awa is a singer and songwriter. She works in community education and regeneration projects. She uses the practices of meditation and Deep listening -inspired by the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh- for her daily life, community work and increasingly for song writing. She is building a home in the Catalan Pyrenees pilarawa.wordpress.com
Alex Brew is a British Focusing Association Focusing Practitioner. She combines Focusing and an active art practice where she develops her appreciation for all aspects of the world including trees , mountains and everything that is felt but not visible. She believes that in a world where powerful governmental and corporate forces are making us manageable and distancing us from life in every way possible, developing resilience in our inner lives, and community lives is vital.

Each day the performance will be a bit different. 
There will be a Focusing & Art workshop taster at 6pm on Friday 26th for one hour before the singing. For info visit about Focusing: https://drawingonfocusing.wordpress.com/
Entrance by donation (suggested minimum £5 but please give generously) 

Torriano Fun Palace

Fun Palace 6th October 11.03am -10.15pm. Joan Littlewood’s vision of arts and sciences for all. Torriano Meeting House is a Fun Palace today (and every day).

At our previous Fun Palaces a time machine was built, poetry was delivered from the top of a ladder, robots roamed the floor, Iraqi love songs were sung, telescopes were constructed, a mobile grew and grew, the beginning of the universe was pondered, the arts and science of the Russian Revolution were celebrated, thoughts were had, conversations were long, brains twitched, the spirit took flight, the soul had pleasure…and this year something of the sort will grow again.

Torriano Poetry season starts this Sunday

 9th September 7.30. £5/£4 according to pocket

Angela France and Josephine Corcoran, introduced by Maggie Butt

Launch of new book: ‘Sovereign Invalid’ by Alan Cunningham

28th September, 7.30pm

Intra-city work commutes, European train rides, the visiting of familiar places and the relocation to new ones, expressions of concern for teeth, old men drinking Capri-Sun, young women drinking beer and wine, the eating of digestive biscuits and honey, the chopping of fresh pears for inclusion within dessert, the following of uncertain impulses and the living of an often online life.

Amongst all this, and much more besides, Alan Cunningham (Count from Zero to One Hundred) has crafted a restless tale about the tenderness and grace that can be found in failing the idea of one’s self. Echoing work by Georges Perec and Clarice Lispector, Sovereign Invalid is an often jarring novella that explores what occurs when we abandon a desire for constant strength and instead embrace, however delicately, the troubling limits of our bodies.

About the author: Alan Cunningham is from the north of Ireland and is the author of Count from Zero to One Hundred (Penned in the Margins, 2013) and Sovereign Invalid (Dostoyevsky Wannabe, 2018). A collection of narrative essays, New Green Fool: Essays after The Green Fool, will be published by Gorse Editions in 2019.

A taste of September

Torriano Poetry tonight

Sunday 15th July, 7.30pm – Elizabeth Parker and Jill Abram introduced by Pauline Sewards. £5/£4 according to pocket.

Elizabeth Parker‘s new collection, In Her Shambles is published by Seren books. Elizabeth was brought up in the Forest of Dean where her parents run a garden centre. She now lives on the Harbourside in Bristol.
‘In Her Shambles is a book of acute observation, intelligence and feeling. This is a radiantly-written and vigorous collection by a rising star of British poetry.’ David Morley, winner of The Ted Hughes Award
‘Hers is a dexterous poetry of confidently conjured atmospheres and moods, at once elusive and heady with lyric invention. She has a canny way with the repeated phrase and a technical control that’s impressive yet lightly worn. Parker’s debut is, without doubt, a fine thing to be both celebrated and admired.’ Martin Malone, poet and editor of poetry journal: The Interpreter’s House.

Jill Abram is Director of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen, a collective which encourages craft, community and development. She is a prize-winning poet who writes as well for the page and mind as she does for the ear and audience. She has been described as poignant and funny and having mischief and poise; her poems have been described as satirical and quirky and she has great appeal to those who think they don’t like poetry, as well as those who know they do. Publications include Magma, The Rialto, Under The Radar, Tears in the Fence and And Other Poems. She grew up in Manchester,
travelled the world and now lives in London where she performs regularly, as well as occasionally beyond, including Ledbury Poetry Festival, Paris and USA.

Resistance

A  9-day residency by The Resistance Crew at Torriano. We’ll be showing our latest selection of artefacts from the last 30 years of UK protest.

Join us at the EXHIBITION PREVIEW at 7.30pm on Friday 8 June for music, drink and a chat about future plans.

If you’ve got any archive material from past campaigns, come to the HOW TO ARCHIVE session on Sunday 10 June 2-6 to learn how to put your precious stuff online in a permanent and accessible way (bring a laptop if possible, though this is not necessary).

Or simply bring in some archive photos, documents, or video at any of the following times:
Tues 12 June 2 – 5.30
Weds 13 June 2 – 5.30
Thurs 14 June 2 – 5.30
Fri 15 June 2 – 5.30
Sun 16 June 2 – 5.00

For further archiving details: historyofresistance@gmail.com

OPENING TIMES for the exhibit and FULL PROGRAMME are here:

FRI 8 June 2-10,
SAT 9 June 12-6,
SUN 10 June 12-6,
MON 11 June 2-10 (7.30 RiseUp Workshop),
TUES 12 June (6.30 Occupy films and chat),
WEDS 13 June 2-5.30,
THURS 14 June 2-10 (7.30 Resistance Stories),
FRI 15 June 2-10 (7.30 Music and social),
SAT 16 June 6-10 Film Night,
SUN 17 June 2-5.

This month’s happenings

Hungarian Film society

Saturday 12 May 3pm

Time Stands Still, dir. Péter Gothár
with English subtitles

Hungarian film classic made in 1982 about post 1956 youth in the 60s

Presented by Agnes Hay, free all welcome

Torriano workshops

Poetry workshops

Led by regular Torriano host and Hearing Eye poet Lisa Kelly. Saturdays 1-5pm. Poetry workshops led by regular Torriano host and Hearing Eye poet Lisa Kelly. Saturdays 1-5pm. £19 /£15 per day. Book with Lisa by email: lisakellyuk[at]yahoo[dot]com

Wood engraving

Saturday 9th June, 11am – 5pm.
A one day introduction to wood engraving,
a delicate and powerful printmaking technique.

We will be covering history, tools, image making and printing.

A practice block of wood, ink and paper will be supplied. Use class tools or bring your own. Extra wood blocks and cutting surfaces can be purchased during the session.
Tutor: Emily Johns. 10 places. £50/£30/£20 according to pocket.

To book please phone Emily on 01424 719 570 or email emilyjohns[replace with an @ sign]btinternet.com

Film and poetry

Poets interested in putting moving images with their poems contact film maker Agnes Hay hayagi[replace with an at sign]hotmail.com for one to one sessions.