In May/June 2010, 14 young people from the North Kensington area in London participated in a pilot initiative focusing on heritage, curating and creative video making – ‘breaking into’ the Museum of London.
Working with the newly launched Galleries of Modern London, and assisted by museum personnel and creative film-makers, in a five day workshop, each young participant produced a film of 1 to 3 minutes, inspired by a particular object in the collection.
Encouraging youth participation, the project, devised and led by Manifesta, with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, promotes innovative intervention in heritage curating as an exciting form of 21st century cultural activism and engagement – here using the medium of film/video, grounded in an intensive learning and production workshop experience (handling camera and sound; developing narrative ideas; story-boarding; directing; editing).
The 14 films produced provide a slate of challenging statements from young people aged 16 to 19 and from a diversity of cultural backgrounds – reflecting how they connect with ‘official’ history and heritage, as well as how they experience museum collections.