Who feels like they have a right to belong goes to heart of inequalities around class, disability, race, sexuality and gender - of entitlement and power. There is also, of course, a disparity in who is able to take up space - who can be open, vulnerable and at home in their neighbourhood. To push what is possible to do in the world and through this to transform our experience of it. A joyful protest to look at the architecture of the world as an arena for expression. This was the impetus that caused us to want to make PUBLIC : a piece of movement / dance / circus / parkour as protest. There is less space in the world for relaxation - skating, dancing, hanging out, ball games are seen as inherently antisocial. Security firms set the rules of what is acceptable and in this landscape there is less room for people, especially young people to do anything more than pass through. Our towns and cities have become increasingly colonised by corporations with malls, shopping centres and transport hubs owned, surveilled and policed by private interests. It is ironic that at the same time across the UK public space is being eroded. It was a stark reminder of how essential these pockets of public space are - the places where we can escape, breath and commune. Although we couldn’t mix with our neighbours many of us became more aware of the communities around us - our neighbours also accessing what space there existed between us. Forbidden from travelling people discovered new enclaves around them: communal gardens, parks, squares where they could escape briefly. During the pandemic and lock down all our worlds drastically shrunk - to the four walls of our homes - so that the moment once a day when we could leave and go out for exercise, to move, to take air became vital.

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