Spectacle Media hosted a series of free video archive and participatory filmmaking workshops as part of Unearthed: Collective Histories. The workshops explored the cultural contributions of squatting movements across the borough of Lambeth, specifically focusing on the history of Rectory Gardens – a street of houses in Clapham’s Old Town, a short walk from Studio Voltaire.

Spectacle Media is a Battersea-based community interest company specialising in documentary, community-led investigative journalism and participatory media.

They used their extensive archive of film and audio recordings to examine the broader changes in the Clapham area over the last thirty years, from the history of Rectory Gardens, a squat-turned-housing cooperative in Clapham’s Old Town that began in the 1970s, to campaigns to save local streets and areas from being compulsorily purchased.

These sessions explored archive materials and provided participants with hands-on practical experience recording oral histories. Each session was participant-led and collaborative, with the collective aim of sharing the outcomes at a public screening event at Studio Voltaire in May 2023.