Join Open City Documentary Festival for a live screening of 2020: State of Exception by Merijn Royaards and Henrietta Williams, followed by a panel discussion about the film, the surveillant gaze and sonic warfare.

2020: State of Exception charts a hyper-real visual and sonic journey through the heavily controlled landscape of lockdown London during the Covid-19 crisis of 2020. The project sets out to connect viewers across digital space into an experiential understanding of our own bodies and our place within the surveilled city.

Following the live screening (15') there will be a discussion featuring Merijn Royaards, Dr John Bingham-Hall, and Professor Gascia Ouzounian.

An accompanying essay will be available online ahead of the live event.

Artists and speakers:

Artists/researchers Merijn Royaards and Henrietta Williams have a collaborative sonic/visual practice with a focus on themes of borders, surveillance and security systems in urban space. Their research practice is based at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, where they also teach filmmaking as part of the MA Situated Practice. [www.merijnroyaards.com & www.henriettawilliams.com]

Dr. John Bingham-Hall is Director of Theatrum Mundi, and a researcher interested in the technologies, performances and infrastructures of public life. He has a multidisciplinary background spanning studies in music and urban theory (BMus, Goldsmiths & PhD, UCL) and work in cultural programming.

Professor Gascia Ouzounian is Associate Professor of Music at the University of Oxford, and co-director of the sound art/architecture group Recomposing the City.

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PLEASE NOTE: this event will be live streamed. Ticket holders will be sent a link to access the event 1 hour before the event start time.

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Alternative screening times of this film are scheduled for: Friday 11th September at 6pm BST (screening + discussion) and Saturday 12th September at 3pm BST (screening only).