Future Machine & When the Future Comes, Zantogola and the Drumming School have been in residence at the Commons in Finsbury Park since 2023. This residency was originally hosted by Furtherfield to develop art, music, planting, and conservation activities, alongside the annual appearance and celebration of Future Machine & When The Future Comes in the autumn. The residency is a collaboration between artists and musicians – Rachel Jacobs, Alexandre Yemaoua Dayo, Dave Kemp and Esi Eshun.
In 2025 Finsbury Park Drumming School & When The Future Comes was granted permission to remain in residence at The Commons for the foreseeable future.
Coming Up…
Weekly Drumming School sessions
On Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays at the Commons/Jamboree Hut, more information can be found on the Drumming School website.
What Has Already Happened…
When the Autumn Leaves Fall…
Every year in the Autumn, Future Machine appears in Finsbury Park, people meet together to celebrate the autumn and speak to the future. We celebrate with guided walks, music and dance and an annual musical performance of the weather with Future Machine and the Rainmakers. The next Future Machine appearance will be in October 2026, more information to be announced soon.
Creating the Future Workshops 2024/25
A series of workshops combined arts and crafts with science and ecology to help us imagine positive futures. To see what happened visit: https://www.i-am-ai.net/creating-the-future/
Raise the Roof: Building for Change Exhibition at the RIBA’s HQ66 Portland Place, London
27 April to 21 September 2024
Esi Eshun has been collaborating with Alexandre Yemaoua Dayo and Dave Kemp on her high profile commission for the Raise the Roof exhibition. Their multidisciplinary response to the architecture of Portland Place integrates sound and the overlay of archival imagery to tell the narratives behind specific features within the Jarvis Mural. For more information about the exhibition visit:https://www.architecture.com/explore-architecture/exhibitions/Raise-the-Roof
Finding Common Ground: Touring Finsbury Park with the London Festival of Architecture
Sunday 4th June 2023
https://www.londonfestivalofarchitecture.org/event/finding-common-ground-touring-finsbury-park/
A guided walk took place in Finsbury Park, exploring landmark trees, ponds and green spaces to learn about the uniqueness and diversity of this place dubbed “The People’s Park”. While visiting community gardens and park facilities, we experienced how diverse visitor activities coexist, at times uneasily, alongside the natural landscape of this popular park. Stories about the park’s human / nonhuman inhabitation, its distinctions between the cultivated and the “wild” species and the complexity of living together in common were discussed and introduced by the walk’s guides, offering a deep appreciation of the “living history” of Finsbury Park.
On Saturday 1st April 2023 we hosted our first Bell Weather Day at Furtherfield Commons in Finsbury Park
Art, music, ecology, planting, bell ringing and talks, with music from Finsbury Park Drumming School.
The Tree Charter Bell, Tree Planting Ceremony with artist Caroline Locke.
An informal conversation about art, music, ecology and the future.
In the evening we hosted a ‘Future Machine Weather Jam’ led by the Future Machine, The Rainmakers and the When the Future Comes Collective, including special guests.
Weather Jam
Monthly Weather Jams at the Commons (Winter/Spring 2023 and 2024)
The first weather jam started small with just 12 people but had an amazing musical journey with Future Machine and a very cold frosty still night in the park. We played indoors in the warm, whilst Future Machine played the sounds of the weather outside (the weather station was set up outside the back door) and played messages from the past. When we went outside to feel the weather the sky was clear and we could see as many stars as London light pollution let us.
