Why I am and why I am not

Part 1: The Balcony Part 2: The Rooms Why I am and why I am not is a weekend-long intervention starting with speeches from the balcony of our building – formerly Battersea Town Hall. Inspired by Bertrand Russell’s famously controversial speech ‘Why I Am Not A Christian’ given in the Town Hall in 1927, 12 people from all walks of life: a child, a professional speechmaker, a new arrival to the area and, perhaps, somebody famous, will make an address to the public, beginning with either the phrase ‘Why I Am’ or ‘Why I Am Not’. Tackling subjects from the personal to the universal, from the seemingly flippant to the certainly urgent, The Balcony presents a diverse set of voices and personalities, brought together in a celebrated proclamation of people and place. From the grandeur of the balcony, to the intimacy of BAC’s hidden spaces, The Rooms invites you in to talk to, listen to, and possibly even question these individuals away from their imposing platform. Responding with the counter to why they are / why they are not, The Rooms draws on the internal, away from the public eye, to present a delicate portrait of each person. Combined as a whole across one weekend, Why I am and why I am not is a meditation on our outer and inner lives, who we are behind closed doors and the version of ourselves we present to the wider world.