AA Social

Students from the Architectural Association will introduce a purpose-built horizontal screen to make the audience lie and look up from
within the Scoop, as if floating in an imaginary river.

On this horizontal screen they will draw on new technologies to project a selection of short films from commercial films, Architecture Association archives and new filmic material in order to represent the changing face of London
followed by a screening of the 1951 Ealing Studios' Pool of London.

Audiences are invited to go beyond their traditional passive state of watching to continue their journey along the riverbank, themselves becoming part of the cinema as they move.

The Thames has an iconic presence within the city of London, to many it is a focal point and acts as a draw for the transient tourist population, but of what significance is it to Londoners? Often cast in a supporting role within the cinema, and occasionally as the main subject, the river's picturesque image appears repeatedly in films, from Waterloo Bridge in the 40s through Hitchcock's Frenzy in the 70s to the more recent manifestations.

We are familiar with images of that massive body of tidal water with its statuesque bridges, such as Tower Bridge, but what exists beneath the celluloid surface? What does the film director's camera miss? Students are engaging in conversation with current users of the river and surrounding sites, the transient and the more permanent, in order to build a speculation about how the site might continue to evolve.