Lolita Pearl Gendler

In the meantime…is an accumulation of exchanges, anecdotes and personal resonances. It speaks to moments missed and moments that have remained, sustained between Somers Town and Camden Art Centre. We invite you to engage with each contribution as a companion while you walk, wander and wonder.

The uncertainty of the pandemic has become an everyday state of being. Seeking comfort has taken many forms – we may turn to the solace of a book, listen to music, or a podcast. As we journey through these unprecedented times, we have looked to the potential of companionship, envisaged as standing side by side. In the meantime… acts not as a guide or map, but instead runs parallel to the public.

Without predetermining the narrative that the programme will explore, we wish to leave space for the fluidity of storytelling, rather than appropriating this knowledge or experience as our own. We have invited contributors to contemplate small moments of exchange that speak to moments missed and moments that have remained in the area between Somers Town in North West London and neighbouring Camden Art Centre.

In the meantime… is a directory, an interactive PDF and a collection of sound recordings.

Lolita Pearl Gendler is an independent curator, writer and producer who above all considers herself a custodian of the creative. Her curatorial methodology is informed by notions of gathering, assembly and the Agora - in its most diasporic sense. Lolita believes in creating curatorial constellations of activity that do not dictate ideologies or representations but present satellites of propositions and perspectives. Coming from a philosophy undergraduate at Durham University, Lolita has an insatiable curiosity for notions of development and the mechanics of collaboration. As a curator fascinated by underpinning processes, Lolita focuses on the way in which Public Programmes come into being.

In Lolita’s thesis, ‘Everything Could always be Otherwise’, she explored how programming Agonistic struggle - understood as a creation of space for the expression and embrace of inescapable tensions in the gathering of publics - could remove the shackles of social stifling and foster genuinely inclusive spaces. Lolita explored this people-led and emotively driven approach further through the expansive narratives of ‘In the meantime…’ a 2021 graduate project comprising of an interactive PDF and Somerstown Directory co-curated in partnership with Camden Art Centre.

Before undertaking her Masters, Lolita worked across a variety of international institutions such as the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, the 57th Venice Biennale, and the Eagle Gallery. She has also written for Aesthetica magazine and curated independently across London including men's fashion designer Jake Treddenick’s, I don?t no the answer and group show, State your Case, both of which gave a platform to upcoming creatives.

Lolita sees the curatorial as a process of pollination and is not confined by traditional mediums, outcomes, or organisations. With an interdisciplinary-minded curatorial approach, Lolita undertook a development producer role for DYSPLA producing the stories of Neurodivergent filmmakers. Currently, she is working in the Film & TV industry looking at script development and book adaptation, both of which she sees as essential curatorial practices.

linkedin.com/in/lolitapearlgendler

In the Meantime...