That's not how I remember it
The Packington Estate, known as the Pack, was a concrete-panel housing estate built in place of brick terraces. The first residents moved in at the beginning of 1970. Its five hundred and forty homes were demolished between 2007 and 2017, the concrete crushed and levelled to make ground for new flats and houses. There is no visible trace of the old estate left.
During 2022, thirty-three oral history interviews were recorded with people who lived and worked on the Pack. Aged between eighteen and eighty-six, the interviewees share personal recollections of the estate spanning almost half a century. The testimonies reveal the richness and complexities of everyday life and community. The voices are often contradictory, at times angry, sad, joyful….
Pack*Art is a cross generational arts programme on the Packington Estate led by a group of six residents and arts organisation AiR. Since 2018 this has included a giant string phone, a mobile print-making trailer, a film of residents waving at each other, a recording studio trolley, a meanwhile gallery in the ex-marketing suite, a cinema for one household at a time in a shipping container, open mic performance nights. A permanent living artwork co-produced with residents, ‘I Can Believe in Things Which are True’ by Dmitri Galitzine was installed in October 2019. That’s not how I remember it is the first Pack*Art book. The programme receives core funding from Hyde Housing and the book is supported with funding from National Heritage Lottery Fund and contractor social value support from City Plumbing.
AiR is a community interest company exploring public practices in local places, whose renowned past projects include Unannounced Acts of Publicness in King’s Cross, A Million Minutes in Archway, Tidal Twirlings in North Woolwich and A real job is to make something in Tottenham. AiR is committed to developing dynamic relational arts practices led by people who know a place from within.
The Packington Estate is a social housing estate in central London rebuilt twice in sixty years. Following consultation and a vote, tenancies were transferred from Islington Council to a housing association, Hyde Housing in 2007. The five hundred and forty homes were pulled down and replaced by seven hundred and ninety-one new dwellings including housing for sale.
Pack*Art, 2023
Softcover
