The View From My Window Tells Me I'm Home
Research Centre
Art and Design Research Centre
Date
2010 - 12
The View From My Window Tells Me I'm Home is an observation, investigation and social record of the lives and thoughts of ten current residents of the Golden Lane Estate, London
The View From My Window Tells Me I'm Home is a documentary portrait by Esther Johnson, commissioned by EXHIBIT and the Super Estate Foundation.
The work is an observation, investigation and social record of the lives and thoughts of ten current residents of the Golden Lane Estate, London, including an architect, a filmmaker/writer, a photographer, a retired homemaker, a butler/chauffeur, a medical student and a nurse. The project documents the life of the complex over half a century since its construction and asks questions about domestic and private space and of making a home in such an iconic and distinctive architectural environment.
Built in the late 1950s by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, the Golden Lane estate exemplifies an utopian ideal of social housing. A symbol of postwar recovery, the original idea for the complex was to build council housing for the residents who serviced and worked in the blitzed City of London. From the outset, the complex was considered to be a model of social cohesion with tenants including doctors, office cleaners, secretaries, caretakers and clergymen. A microcosm of urban amenities on the estate initially included a public swimming pool, bowling green (now tennis courts), nursery, pub, shops, police office and estate office – several of these remain. Today the estate is Grade II listed and has approximately 1,500 residents, with a split of council tenants and leaseholders.
The project is accompanied by a series of maps and audio works created by Golden Lane residents that document their favourite walks through the estate.
Listing
Made by Esther Johnson whilst artist-in-residence on the Golden Lane Estate for the Super Estates Foundation
The work premiered at EXHIBIT Gallery, 20 Goswell Road, London, in collaboration with Open House London from 21–28 September 2013. SHU
Interviews
Feature about Esther's work by Frances Morgan for Sound and Music
Researchers involved
Esther Johnson - Reader in Media Arts · Principal Lecturer, Film and Media Production
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