My experiences of art and culture in Sweden have always been genuinely rich. The Swedish way of life includes culture and heritage everyday. From simple home design, to extraordinary happenings on the streets, to events in diverse areas and international exhibits. Lets take a quick dive into Swedish life with some Street Art, Home Design and Svenska London. In june 2015 I took a day trip to a small town outside of Gothenburg one day with a couple of friends. On the advice that there was some beautiful street art PLUS amazing fika and vintage clothes shops - this place did not disapoint!  At the time i was working on a street art programme in Romford and this city had decided a year prior that they would regenerate their town through art and culture starting with a ‘painted town’ festival called ‘No Limits’ where a couple of new large-scale international artworks would be erected in the town every year until the artworks became a tourist destination themselves. Something, ten years ...

  Given the increase of natural disasters in places such as Australia, Asia and more recently the South of Europe as well as the overall 'weird' weather that the UK has been facing in the past months (i.e, the supposed tornado of London from a few weeks back), now more than ever are people aware of climate change and the need to stop it.  But how can we? That is the average human being. The main perpetrators of excessive emissions of greenhouse gases is not the average person but large corporations. With certain billionaires at the helm of these corporations, who place a thrill ride to space over saving the planet, it seems that our plea to prevent the earth dying is being ignored by those who have the most power to stop climate change.  Whilst things look bleak on this front there is still much that we as individuals can do to prevent even the smallest amount of harm being done to our planet. Importantly if we, the average human beings, all chip in as much as we can, we ...

On June 17th, Natalie, our co-founder and MD was asked to host an international conference on the importance of cultural regeneration and creativity in public spaces. Organised by OCA Magazine and The Eurasian Creative Guild, 11 countries were represented in the call with over 25 participants joining to speak about their work and to gain inspiration for post-COVID-19 projects from each other. The main discussion points meandered around how although artists are innately flexible to their working conditions, our inspiration within public art is the positive change for its audience (the people) and members of the public should be central in reviving a creative presence in towns and cities around the world. Whether this be by online discussions, postal activities or socially distanced gatherings, the people are the beating heart of the city and there is duplicative and catalysing power between residents and artists working together. You can watch the full conversation at ‘ECG TV’ the offic...

Faig Ahmed dismantles and reforms Azerbaijani traditions of carpet making, creating remarkable new works of contemporary art. Through his art practice he reconsiders these ancient crafts and their history by deconstructing both their physical form and their traditions, and questions the conventions associated with their craft by repositioning them in the contemporary art environment. From these ancient objects he creates new visual forms which challenge the role of iconic cultural objects in representing nations, traditions and history. The cultural significance of carpet weaving in Azerbaijan is reaffirmed by Ahmed’s practice who sees cultural history as a monolithic subject by which we establish our perspectives and visual vocabulary today but also something which is important to question and challenge.   Azerbaijani carpets are extraordinary and intricate creations dating back as far back as to the 2nd millennium BC. They are made up of range of schools defined by their geo...

Romford Recorder - Hayley Anderson  The NO Collective based in Romford ventured near Czech Republic’s capital city Prague for a seven day workshop for a funded trip to learn tools and methods to teach young people how to cope in a world of fake news and social media overload. The seminar, funded by the Erasmus+ programme, featured participants from eight different countries, including Denmark, Romania, Poland, Croatia, Czech Republic, Spain and Portugal. During the trip, the three person UK delegation, (represented by the Havering team), were not only taught by industry professionals in critical thinking and signs of fake news, but were also tasked with talking about the country’s social media cultures. Member of The NO Collective Hannah Wilkes said: “Children use the internet and social media from such a young age nowadays, it is important for us to be able to tell them how to know what is true and untrue online. “It was also inspiring to speak to people from different cultures an...

Nicholas Joubinaux and Tim Ridley have been chosen to travel to Azerbaijan from the UK in April 2019 to create new art works in reaction to links between the two countries. A live crescendo of the three year long ‘InAzerbaijan’ project, audiences in both countries will celebrate these artist’s photographs, drawing and paintings in exhibitions in both capitals.  Joubinaux will display artworks from London and Baku in both digital and hand printed format, showcasing culture and architecture in both cities. Ridley will be presenting miniatures created in oil and with similarity in style to Azerbaijani and Persian miniatures.  The first exhibition will be held on Thursday 11th April at ‘Floors, the living space’ in Baku. The archive of works will also be preserved on the ‘InAzerbaijan’ educational website for years to come for young audiences to see.  “Im excited to capture the capital, Baku, which I hear has delightful spectacle and scenery”   Nick Joubinaux The In...

The NO Collective based in Romford ventured near Czech Republic’s capital city Prague for a seven day workshop for a funded trip to learn tools and methods to teach young people how to cope in a world of fake news and social media overload. The seminar, funded by the Erasmus+ programme, featured participants from eight different countries, including Denmark, Romania, Poland, Croatia, Czech Republic, Spain and Portugal. During the trip, the three person UK delegation, (represented by the Havering team), were not only taught by industry professionals in critical thinking and signs of fake news, but were also tasked with talking about the country’s social media cultures. Member of The NO Collective Hannah Wilkes said: “Children use the internet and social media from such a young age nowadays, it is important for us to be able to tell them how to know what is true and untrue online. “It was also inspiring to speak to people from different cultures and backgrounds about their exp...

A collaboration between The NO Collective and CSSN Azerbaijan (Council on State Support to NGOs under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan), this website will be the first of its kind in the UK, aiming to raise awareness about Azerbaijan, and educate young people in an open conversation across the two diverse countries. The ‘In Azerbaijan’ Website launches at The Embassy of Azerbaijan in Kensington next month to a plethora of educators and community representatives. The website aims to pave the way to a better communication between Azerbaijan and the UK in the future; to make this process sustainable, young minds from both countries have been at the forefront of the creation. The website will offer a portal of information spanning from ancient history in the Caucasus to contemporary architecture of the modern day Baku, covering key areas of economics, politics, history, art & culture, society, environment, and how to visit Azerbaijan; complementarily, the ‘In...

NO are to appear in a film placed on the front page of the Brick Community website.   After participating in 3 seminars with BRICK, a european funded project to highlight issues within building communities in Europe. NO participated in a final workshop creating information and resources for the dedicated project website. The film on the website will feature testimonials from both Natalie and Joe about thier experience of the seminars.   Filmed beutifully in scenic Finland, the piece will hopefully give those who visit the website an insight into what all of us have been doing over the past year.   Please also check out the website for photo's, articles and free downloadable resources to share with your own home communities.   www.brickeurope.org

The Brooklyn International Performance Art Festival Is the Best Thing To Do This Month!   Performing as part of the wider NO Collective - we will be performing 'BIPAF' as part of the festival, hosted in Brooklyn New York.   Hyperallergenic.com  says:   "While most Americans celebrate Independence Day with backyard barbecues and booze, in Brooklyn we’ll be celebrating with the launch of the Brooklyn International Performance Art Festival (BIPAF), which, as you may expect, isn’t your typical art festival.   With 12 spaces, 24 days, and some 200 participants, BIPAF is more of a mass performance, where everyone from performance artists and curators to critics and gallery directors is working together to perform a festival. It’s an event comprised of hundreds of events; it’s grassroots and communal;  it’s an informal institution offering institutional critique"

Nei Vei (literally meaning no (Nei) and way (Vei), but not meaning anything in Norwegian; where 'no way' hasn't been so fondly adopted from America as a common phrase), became a five day performance in Trondheim, Norway,  after being given the opportunity to have residency in the City for 10 days . Within this experimental performance, the founding collaborators of the UK NO Collective took the roles of different English stereotypes in order to question, expose and explore assumption on 'Englishness' and tourist.     The days where split up as follows:   Day 1: Edwardian   Day 2: Farmer   Day 3: Chav   Day 4: Upper-Class   Day 5: Cricketer     Chosen for their immediate thought connecting resemblance to England - this longitudinal characterization playfully created an umbrella performance for a variation of micro-performances, participatory discussions and 'time-travelling vs new culture' questioned artworks.   The time to reflect o...