A Midsummer Night's Folly

Dear Londoners, pay attention! There’s a collective of young artists, designers and architects that is working for you: they are named Assemble and their aim is to find a new life for neglected urban public spaces by turning these into some unexpected, creative happenings. In one of their projects of last year, they turned an old petrol station into an extravagant cinema, the Cineroleum. The operation has already been showcased here on Pop-Up City.

This Summer the collective is working on another temporary stage named ‘Folly for a Flyover’, which involves a building that popped up the 24th of the current month between (and right under) the east and westbound traffic of the highway A12. It may be difficult to imagine anything more indie than this strange artifact, an odd and charming world of classic movies, performances and plays (not to mention boat tours, screenings and drop-in workshops) in front of the Lea Navigation Canal, created under a fast river of unaware cars that speed upon its head. Maybe this is why the project won the 2011 Bank of America Merrill Lynch CREATE Art Award.

‘Folly for a Flyover’ is hand-built with local, reclaimed and donated materials, and it is inspired by the surrounding red-brick building of Hackney Wick. The Folly will be disassembled at the end of the Summer, so don’t waste more time and check out the calendar. It’s time to explore some forgotten and unfamiliar public space! More pictures here.