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Pop-ups are papering over our crumbling social structures Pop-ups are papering over our crumbling social structures
(3 months later)
Recessions don't usually create distinctive new spaces. The "new" capital skyline now under construction is mostly made up of buildings shelved during the first phase of the Great Recession, and at this rate London as it "should" have been in 2010 won't be finished for some years yet – something even more true of the cancelled skyscrapers of Leeds or Manchester.Recessions don't usually create distinctive new spaces. The "new" capital skyline now under construction is mostly made up of buildings shelved during the first phase of the Great Recession, and at this rate London as it "should" have been in 2010 won't be finished for some years yet – something even more true of the cancelled skyscrapers of Leeds or Manchester.
Yet there is one obvious offspring of the collapse of the old model: the pop-up. The japery of the term – oh, look, what used to be a wasteland has now got an organic hot dog company on it! – makes clear the sort of thing we're dealing with, part of the mental regression of a generation elsewhere bent on reviving cupcakes. Pop-ups are fun! A railway yard with boutique shops! A "shopping village" on a council estate! An arthouse cinema in an abandoned petrol station! A burger bar in an Asian women's advice centre! (The last of these, recently opened in Hackney as "The Advisory", is surely one of the most offensive: the decay of social provision given a fun, ironic spin.)Yet there is one obvious offspring of the collapse of the old model: the pop-up. The japery of the term – oh, look, what used to be a wasteland has now got an organic hot dog company on it! – makes clear the sort of thing we're dealing with, part of the mental regression of a generation elsewhere bent on reviving cupcakes. Pop-ups are fun! A railway yard with boutique shops! A "shopping village" on a council estate! An arthouse cinema in an abandoned petrol station! A burger bar in an Asian women's advice centre! (The last of these, recently opened in Hackney as "The Advisory", is surely one of the most offensive: the decay of social provision given a fun, ironic spin.)
Pop-ups, which in the UK are tellingly mostly London-based, purport to be an example of doing things differently. Rather than another chain store, luxury apartment block or more trading floors, a pop-up scheme will, in theory, produce some kind of a social space – a cinema or a gallery, usually more esoteric than the average restaurant or bar.Pop-ups, which in the UK are tellingly mostly London-based, purport to be an example of doing things differently. Rather than another chain store, luxury apartment block or more trading floors, a pop-up scheme will, in theory, produce some kind of a social space – a cinema or a gallery, usually more esoteric than the average restaurant or bar.
Some of these are functions that would once have been taken on through squatting – and sometimes still are, as at Open House, a social centre recently and precariously opened in London's Elephant & Castle, an area torn apart by rampant gentrification, where estates are flogged off to developers with zero commitment to public housing and the aforementioned "shopping village" is located in a derelict estate. In this bitterly contested environment, Open House has been genuinely trying to resist this process and think of non-temporary alternatives to the current malaise – but unlike a pop-up vintage clothes shop, it's unlikely it would have received planning permission.Some of these are functions that would once have been taken on through squatting – and sometimes still are, as at Open House, a social centre recently and precariously opened in London's Elephant & Castle, an area torn apart by rampant gentrification, where estates are flogged off to developers with zero commitment to public housing and the aforementioned "shopping village" is located in a derelict estate. In this bitterly contested environment, Open House has been genuinely trying to resist this process and think of non-temporary alternatives to the current malaise – but unlike a pop-up vintage clothes shop, it's unlikely it would have received planning permission.
Unlike squats, which aim to hold on to spaces for as long as possible, pop-ups are, by their very definition, temporary. They're urban placeholders, there to fill the space until the market picks up – which in London is starting to occur in the most terrifying, nothing-has-been-learned way, discounting the idea that pop-ups have a tangible, permanent effect.Unlike squats, which aim to hold on to spaces for as long as possible, pop-ups are, by their very definition, temporary. They're urban placeholders, there to fill the space until the market picks up – which in London is starting to occur in the most terrifying, nothing-has-been-learned way, discounting the idea that pop-ups have a tangible, permanent effect.
Rather than the Great Recession appearing as a series of gaping, rotting scars in the urban fabric, which would at least have the virtue of honesty, it is creating a series of spatial gap years, where people have a bit of fun and learn a few skills which they can eventually put to more usual profit-making service.Rather than the Great Recession appearing as a series of gaping, rotting scars in the urban fabric, which would at least have the virtue of honesty, it is creating a series of spatial gap years, where people have a bit of fun and learn a few skills which they can eventually put to more usual profit-making service.
The ancestry of the pop-up may not be too far from something like Open House, however. The pop-up owes a little to the idea, very big in leftwing circles in the 90s, of the "temporary autonomous zone", where for a moment or a week or a month, space would be transfigured and people would live different lives to the usual run of work-leisure-work. A rave or an occupation both counted as a "TAZ", for instance. At best, this was a recognition of the fact that the state and business no longer allowed the more permanent nonprofit-generating spaces that once existed – public housing, public space. The response was to keep moving.The ancestry of the pop-up may not be too far from something like Open House, however. The pop-up owes a little to the idea, very big in leftwing circles in the 90s, of the "temporary autonomous zone", where for a moment or a week or a month, space would be transfigured and people would live different lives to the usual run of work-leisure-work. A rave or an occupation both counted as a "TAZ", for instance. At best, this was a recognition of the fact that the state and business no longer allowed the more permanent nonprofit-generating spaces that once existed – public housing, public space. The response was to keep moving.
This has something in common with the relational aesthetics that were fashionable in the art world in the 2000s, where art was redefined as a matter of brief social spaces. Sometimes these were spectacularly cliquey, as at the various "curated" parties or meals held by artists and then recorded forever on video for art gallery display; elsewhere they were more serious, as with Joanna Rajkowska's project of building a pond in the middle of a tense, uneasy part of Warsaw. What they all had in common was that they were deliberately ephemeral.This has something in common with the relational aesthetics that were fashionable in the art world in the 2000s, where art was redefined as a matter of brief social spaces. Sometimes these were spectacularly cliquey, as at the various "curated" parties or meals held by artists and then recorded forever on video for art gallery display; elsewhere they were more serious, as with Joanna Rajkowska's project of building a pond in the middle of a tense, uneasy part of Warsaw. What they all had in common was that they were deliberately ephemeral.
The pop-up as currently conceived is the commodification of the first and the dumbing-down of the latter. Its nadir was reached a couple of years ago at Bishopsgate Goods Yard in London, where a pop-up mall of shipping containers acted as a paperweight for an eventual gargantuan office development.The pop-up as currently conceived is the commodification of the first and the dumbing-down of the latter. Its nadir was reached a couple of years ago at Bishopsgate Goods Yard in London, where a pop-up mall of shipping containers acted as a paperweight for an eventual gargantuan office development.
But the truth of the pop-up is maybe better seen in the fake facades disguising empty shops that are their northern equivalent, where there are less "creatives" itching to dabble in development. That is, the "virtual record shop" or "virtual restaurant" sitting next to charity shops and bookies in towns such as Redcar. There, the true viciousness of the present era is far more ineptly covered, and there isn't a facade of activity draped over what is, in reality, a structure on the verge of collapse.But the truth of the pop-up is maybe better seen in the fake facades disguising empty shops that are their northern equivalent, where there are less "creatives" itching to dabble in development. That is, the "virtual record shop" or "virtual restaurant" sitting next to charity shops and bookies in towns such as Redcar. There, the true viciousness of the present era is far more ineptly covered, and there isn't a facade of activity draped over what is, in reality, a structure on the verge of collapse.
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