The urban night laboratory and the 24-hour museum - Jordan Rowe
Jordan Rowe ( United Kingdom )
In 2015, the Museum of London announced plans to move to a new, expanded site within the city’s existing Smithfield Market buildings that would aspire to become a ‘world-class, 24-hour cultural destination’. The plan builds on an increasing practice by museums and galleries in London and elsewhere, which have increasingly opened their doors to the public after dark through extended opening hours or specially curated ‘Late’ programmes.
Jordan’s research critically assesses this trend, particularly in the context of a lack of existing civic infrastructures during the increasingly ‘colonised’ night-time hours. How can museum’s utilise their power within creative city and placemaking discourse to address the manifold social, political, and historical injustices that the night entails? And how can the complexities of the urban night be encompassed in these developments and offer the laboratory conditions for testing out a new set of relations with the city? At ZK/U, Jordan is building on this work by pursuing comparative field work in Berlin.
