A temporary pavilion will occupy The Spit — a small public green between a new housing development and a council waste disposal centre on the south bank of the Thames. Responding to this year’s theme Belonging, the pavilion approaches belonging not only as a social condition but also as a material practice. Conceived as a processing station, it holds discarded objects in a moment of suspension: between attachment and release, prompting reflection on how meanings, materials and urban life become entangled, and how the things we keep, use, and discard shape our experiences of place and community.

A weeklong programme of processions, talks, workshops, performances, screenings and participatory activities transform the pavilion into a temporary site for unexpected encounters and collective exploration of belonging/s as something constantly in motion and negotiated through material practices and flows.

---
A Pavilion in Process: Field research, assemblies, activations
Between June 8 and 11, the pavilion operates as a loosely enacted space for field research, collaborative knowledge production and site-specific experimentation. Contributions by Royal College of Art researchers, invited guests and doctoral students unfold through informal assemblies, observations and performative interventions responding to the spatial and material conditions of the site. Spontaneous drop-ins into this evolving temporary research environment are welcome. Come by, stay for a while, and take part in the process as it unfolds.

Day 3-6: Meanderings and Flotsam
Drawing-writing toolkit by Sally O’Reilly & Jesse Ash, RCA Green Futures Group
The Green Futures Group’s poster Meanderings and Flotsam will be displayed at the Pavilion throughout the week, offering visitors visual and textual prompts for thinking and writing. Through a simple set of provocations it asks such questions as: What does the shape of a story look like? How can you plot the course of a river? Who is the author? A visual mapping of a river’s meandering over time suggests narratives that move as much sideways as forwards. The washing up of the unexpected (or completely banal) provides metaphors the mind might not otherwise reach for. Use the poster in situ to come up with a new beginning, or carry it back to something already underway elsewhere.