Over 500 people including students, staff, local community groups and many other members of our local community visited BLOC for its opening exhibition on Friday 19 January.
During the launch, visitors were able to view a rolling showreel across the cinema, gallery and studio spaces. The work included video installation, live art, documentary, artists’ film, participatory / community arts practices, motion capture research, sound art, immersive theatre, and much more.
The launch panel discussion event, hosted by dyspraxic artist Daniel Oliver and featuring theatre director Maria Oshodi, theatre artist Vijay Patel and BAFTA 2024 nominated filmmaker Ella Glendining (Is there anybody out there? Conic Films) was sold out. The panel discussed barriers to education, arts and inclusion and how we can make a more open and inclusive future.
BLOC has been designed to facilitate new and innovative research investigating the cinema, gallery and studio as experimental laboratory environments. It includes a 60-seater 4K Dolby ATMOS cinema, a black box performance and film lab, a white box gallery and production suite.
Underpinning the facility are core principles of civic engagement, access to the arts for all, visibility and inclusion, and the recognition of divergent perceptions and perspectives.
It is a community arts hub working to provide community screenings, projects with local people and a creative industries hub for Mile End. BLOC has a partnership with Mile End Community Project, a film project with Rinkoff Bakery and have school visits from our local primary and secondary schools. Partnerships with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets include A Season of Bangla Drama and a new South-Asian focused film festival.
Find out more about BLOC
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