BACKGROUND

WHY IS THE ORGANISATION CALLED 'THIS IS NOT A GATEWAY'? 

The current fascination with ‘cities’ is entwined with the current strain of capitalist logic, which was made possible through the bleak failures of communism, the encouragement of capitalist ‘think-tanks’, and legitimated by ‘pragmatic’ politicians. It is a logic that requires collective ‘leaps of faith’ and denial of the injustices and inequalities that are needed and created for it to persist. One of our goals in forming this organisation was to draw attention to and attempt to rectify the injustices and inequalities resulting from much recent urban development and consequently we looked for a name that would reflect this. By calling the organisation ‘This Is Not A Gateway’ we are endeavouring to address our concerns in a serious and but also humorous way. We wanted to place a ‘figurative flag of protest’ in, for example, the mudflats of projects like the Thames Gateway,[19] a central government project supported almost universally by The Urban Industry to build tens of thousands of very low quality suburban homes across a floodplain to the east of London. We also wanted to raise   a protest flag against attempts by businesspeople and bureaucrats to homogenise and create gateways in education.[20] 

With the Bologna Accord getting ready to roll out, our aim was to extend the potential spaces of ‘education’, increase opportunities of ‘getting educated’ and encourage critical pedagogies outside of ‘the institution’. The name is also a self-reflexive critique. We don’t wish to establish a canon or be seen as a ‘gateway’ to certain knowledges or approaches. The name is a challenge to the knowing or unknowing attempts to enclose and de-politicise the processes of conceiving, making and managing cities. While obvious in the formal education system, attempts at establishing these enclosures are sharply illuminated when studying the ‘public’ events of The Urban Industry: the conferences, lectures, festivals. The name stands in opposition to a concept embedded in the ideas and lexicons that are the foundations of The Urban Industry. It is an attempt to highlight the politics of cities and the politics of making cities, and a lampoon of Thatcher’s slogan: There Is No Alternative[21].

There is no beginning or end of a city, there is no place of entry and exit, there is no entrance that can be opened, there are no gateway texts, no gateway knowledges. In choosing to recognise ‘gateways’ we give others the ability to create boundaries, borders and limitations to our lives. In more cases than not, the barrier is first erected as a speculative and opportunistic manoeuvre. By accepting that a gateway exists we are in effect handing over our agency. Acknowledging the right for a gate, for enclosures to exist, either in the physical or metaphorical sense, is resigning oneself, submitting to the person or ideas that erected the barriers. These fences, these gates, must of course be challenged.

Not unlike Rene Magritte’s 1928 series of paintings The Treachery of Images and in particular Ceci n'est pas une pipe (This Is Not A Pipe), along with the arguments in Foucault’s book of the same title,[22] we wanted to problematise agreed meanings and realities along with addressing Magritte’s and others’ call for a critical pedagogy. The need to do so was urgent as our experiences within cultural institutions, academia and urban regeneration revealed that many people were, unwittingly but in significant ways, legitimising aspects of the new strains of neo-liberalism across cities and thus themselves ushering into the fields a state of de-politicisation or post-criticality. It is the refusal to accept that space, place and cities could be depoliticised that inspired the name of the organisation.

Text taken from the Introduction to Critical Cities Vol 2 (October 2010) 

 

THIS IS NOT A GATEWAY WAS FOUNDED TO ADDRESS FOUR URGENT CONCERNS:

  • The need for accessible arenas for emerging practioners across Europe, who work in and on cities AND for those outside of established circuits. There is complete inaccessibility to existing conferences and regeneration events. At the same time, there is an increasing amount of interesting and critical work being produced by people who do not have the platforms in which to share them. TINAG was established to address this gap.
  • The need for the development of new forms of urban citizenship. Cities are going to be home for the majority of us, right across the globe (it is estimated that 60% of the global population will live in urban areas by 2030). A great deal more agency is needed for people who will inherit these future metropolises. TINAG is dedicated to fostering active participation in cities.
  • The desire for interdisciplinary and cross-cultural exchange. In a climate of increasing professionalism and specialisation, there is limited opportunity to learn and collaborate across fields and cultures. TINAG rigorously advances the possibility for mutually beneficial outcomes and learning.
  • The need to gather, to eat, to drink together, in a self-organised, informal and fruitful context. The most productive aspect of conferences and symposiums are often the informal and secondary elements. TINAG puts this at the forefront of all its activities, advancing innovative and enjoyable forms of engagement.


ACTION TAKEN: TINAG is a not-for-profit company registered in England and Wales (company number 6415761). TINAG was established formally in July 2007 by Deepa Naik and Trenton Oldfield. A cross-disciplinary and inter-European Steering Committee was formed shortly after and currently has a team of 8 members. In July 2007 TINAG partnered with the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) through the Cultural Leadership Programme. In June 2008 TINAG won the Academy For Sustainable Communities' Creating The Future Award. TINAG's four main areas of production are:

  • SALONS

A unique series of salons where speakers, from a range of fields and backgrounds, are invited to investigate a focused urban question in an informal workshop. Presentations are limited to 10 minutes each, with greater concentration on audience participation and discussion. The distilling of the cross-disciplinary outcomes is achieved through the production and circulation of a post-salon essay.

  • FESTIVAL (28-30 OCT 2011, LONDON)

Over the course of four days in October TINAG brings together, people living and working in Europe to collaborate across fields. TINAG provides platforms for emerging academics, activists, human rights canvassers, regeneration professionals, bankers, artists, politicians and more, to share their compelling ideas about cities. The annual festival also provides comprehensive skills development seminars including: A to Z Of Getting Your Book Published; Going Freelance – Taxes & Other Complexities; Organising & New Political Frameworks. Past Festivals have kindly being supported by the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust, Grassroots Grants, Openvizor and Arts Council England.

  • PUBLICATION | Critical Cities: Ideas, Knowledge & Agitation from Emerging Urbanists

A comprehensive series of books that document TINAG activities. It includes a collection of interdisciplinary texts from salon speakers and commissioned post-salon essays, contributions from festival participants, commissioned essays, and images. The aim of the publication is to evidence the outcomes and benefit of cross-disciplinary exchange and learning. The book is distributed widely, including libraries, government departments, community centres, in bookshops and online. The books are edited by Deepa Naik and Trenton Oldfield, copy-edited by Barbara Murray and designed by Karolin Schnoor and published by Myrdle Court Press. Volume 01 and Volume 02 are currently in circulation, Volume 03 will launch in October 2011.

 

  • ARCHIVE AND LIBRARY

TINAG is collecting and archiving work from across disciplines by emerging practioners and those outside of traditional civic society, related to all aspects of cities. The material will be available online through a comprehensive search engine, programmed to provide cross-disciplinary outcomes. The aims are:
1. To address the need for a cross-disciplinary and innovative approach to research.
2. To advance and disseminate the work of emerging practioners and previously unheard voices.

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TINAG's role is that of coordinators (and not 'gatekeepers'). We are responsible for facilitating activities on organisational and infrastructural levels - providing the required support to enable participants to hold their own workshops, film screenings, seminars, parties and more.


TINAG believes key questions, themes and strands will surface through a participant-led directive, becoming clearer post-event rather then being projected beforehand. The resulting urgent questions will then inform our forthcoming activities.

Unconcerned with gloss, kudos nor high visibility...TINAG is importantly not in a rush. As our festival and salons are participant developed it is expected that it will be a few years before they reach a critical mass of awareness, participants and programming. Rigor, fun, integrity and cross – European development are fundamental rather than early and bright stage lights.

 

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Photograph by Rehan Jamil
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