1. It’s free
You’ve read that right, every single event at POP! Festival is free to attend, whether indoors or outdoors.
2. Discover work in progress before anyone else
It’s all in the name: Portobello Open Process Festival. Audiences get a special preview of new work created by exciting artists. Just to give you a taster of the calibre, these include internationally renowned West-Londoner Tim Head, and Instagram sensation Bambookidd.
3. Love after 50?
For something completely different, enter Marie Klimis’ vintage caravan for her installation piece A Love Letter. Inside you will find a series of miniature diorama boxes and sound installations to explore, built out of the love stories of the over 50’s in the Portobello area.
4. Moving creative tributes to Grenfell
Grenfell is at the heart of two of the works shared. Choreographer Corrie King pays homage to the ‘high-rise community’ in a new piece, XXIV (24), whose name comes from the number of floors in Grenfell Tower.
After tragically losing her sister and niece in the Grenfell tragedy, Feruza Abraha-Afewerki launched Gold & Ashes, a photo-series highlighting the humanity and courage of the community. She is running a series of workshops for 13-18 year olds during January and February and hosting a day of wellbeing and storytelling activity on 7 March.
5. Music-lovers, rejoice!
Don’t miss Nick Field’s Songs that Nobody Taught Me in which he draws on the musical legacy of Portobello Road to make some surprising discoveries.
6. You can take part
Interactive theatre company Produced Moon is planning a large scale drag king flashmob that will be powerful, playful and provocative. There’s a call for participants here if you want to get involved.
7. Art by and for the neighbourhood
From emotional journeys to social commentary, reimagining the familiar spaces in Portobello is at the heart of several commissions. Don’t miss Aleksandra Zareba Zeltsch & Brian Okello’s joint exhibition Re-Seen & Unseen for an exploration of the Ladbroke Grove area. Meanwhile, Tim Head is creating a series of arresting murals to inspire people to “look down alleyways in different ways“.
Un-Seen by Bambookidd