Peterborough’s shopfronts are becoming public stages.
A/Owning is a new public art commission by José García Oliva, from Metal’s Words in Public Spaces, as part of Peterborough Cultural Alliance’s Place Partnership Programme. The project turns local businesses, run by migrant and second-generation families, into stages for gatherings, performances and happenings.
Taking the familiar awning as its starting point, A/Owning looks at Peterborough’s long history as a market city. Old photographs show shaded streets lined with stalls and covered in fabric. Now, many of these stalls, awning and markets no longer exist in Peterborough. Through A/Owning, José explores the space an awning creates as a threshold between the shop and the street, the private business and the public street, as a place to both gather and shelter.
At a time when shops are closing, markets are shrinking, and cultural organisations often lack permanent spaces, José reimagines and focuses on the awnings belonging to locally owned businesses, working in partnership with the shop owners who already anchor everyday life in Peterborough, and whose awnings exist as cultural centres in the city.
Each awning displays poetry, giving glimpses of the performances, gatherings and events that will happen underneath them over the following two months.
The words on the awnings are from a poem written collectively by people in Peterborough, alongside words gathered from around the city. Together, they explore the contradictions and fragments that make a city.
You can see A/Owning at the following locations in the city:
- Chat and Chill, 29 Bridge St, Peterborough, PE1 1HJ
- International Food Centre, 41 Lincoln Rd, Peterborough, PE1 2RH
- Hook’d, 22 Hereward Cross, Peterborough, PE1 1TB
- World Buffet, 35 New Rd, Peterborough, PE1 1FJ
Image credit: Yasmine Sefraoui
Happenings under the awnings
Thursday 8 October, 5pm – 8.30pm: A/Owning Launch: Book free tickets here.
a man selling a birdcage in the cathedral square
5.30pm at Chat and Chill, 29 Bridge St, Peterborough, PE1 1HJ
Introduction by Metal, followed by a spoken word by artist Zain Haider Awan underneath the awning. Dance artist Kate Marsh will then lead a choreographed journey through Peterborough, guiding the public to the next site.
a couple holding each other’s waists jump together into the garden of a property with a subtitle that says ‘for sale’
6pm at International Food Centre, 41 Lincoln Rd, Peterborough, PE1 2RH
Artist Charley Genever anchors the gathering with a spoken word, followed by a barter taking place on site. Kate Marsh will then guide the public to the next location.
the economy enters through the back door carrying two crates of tomatoes the door held open with a brick
6.30pm at Hook’d, 22 Hereward Cross, Peterborough, PE1 1TB
Poet Kaitlene Koranteng performs spoken word beneath the awning at Hook’d. The event continues with Kate Marsh leading the public towards the final location.
the tea turned into coffee down the road a new building with an old queue
7pm at 2020 World Buffet, 35 New Rd, Peterborough, PE1 1FJ
Closing performance and refreshments. The evening closes with a live performance by a Nepalese band led and performed by the shop owner.
Further happenings will take place on Thursday 22 October, Saturday 7 November and Saturday 21 November. Check back soon for more details and free tickets.
