As part of Ben Judd’s Stanley Picker Fellowship project The Origin, a series of workshops, performances, talks and tours took place at Stanley Picker Gallery, a boat moored in Kingston Upon Thames and online throughout June and July 2021.

On 18 June, Salah Krichen from 121 Collective gave a talk at Stanley Picker Gallery about their participation in The Origin. 121 Collective are a young and innovational Design & Build collective based in South West London that practise in a range of scales and projects. The core of the collective includes Kingston University Master of Architecture graduates Pablo Feito Boirac, Salah Krichen & Madoka Ellis. Their ethos of a hands-on and collaborative approach to design has been established through a range of 1:1 architectural building experiences that include small-scale residential design & builds, installations, and community-led projects that aim to support eco-friendly awareness and a strong community spirit.

The talk took place within the large free-standing timber structure that occupies the Gallery space that 121 Collective designed and built in collaboration with Ben Judd, architecture students at KSA and a wider team of volunteers and collaborators.

The talk was streamed live via Youtube Live.

Ben Judd’s Stanley Picker Fellowship project The Origin reflects on Britain’s island status, both literal and metaphorical, and how islands shape the communities that live there. The Origin brings together the communities surrounding the Stanley Picker Gallery – from Kingston University students and academics to local networks, charities and residents – and asks them to imagine a classless, stateless, humane society based on common ownership. A temporary community, an experiment in living, a fictional island group. This collaborative project culminates this summer with an installation at the Gallery, a boat on the River Thames and a series of performances, workshops and events – a rehearsal for an alternative future.