Night Scenes took place online between 30 April and 15 May 2020 and examined how night spaces have been imagined, produced, experienced and narrated in European cities by communities who have mobilized around particular migrant identities or histories. These events are linked to a three-year transdisciplinary European research project – NITE – exploring nocturnal public spaces in eight European cities (Aarhus, Amsterdam, Berlin, Cork, Galway, Lisbon, London, Rotterdam). The project, and events, set out to explore night-time urban settings in their complexity as sites of crisis and regeneration, memory and heritage, visibility and invisibility, community solidarity and growth, and to contribute evidence from the arts and humanities to policy and wider debates on cities at night.
On 15 May 2020, the NIGHT MODES panel included three talks from Rob Shaw, DJ Ritu and JC MacQuarie. At a moment when many night-time activities were interrupted by lockdown due to Covid-19, these considered different modes of being in and traversing cities at night, with a particular focus on issues of labour, logistics and social mobility.
Dr Rob Shaw is a lecturer in geography at Newcastle University, having worked at Newcastle since 2015 and having received his PhD from Durham University in 2012. His 2018 book The Nocturnal City, draws together his research on the night-time alcohol and leisure industries, public lighting, darkness, nocturnal protest and nocturnal mobilities to argue for an interdisciplinary programme of research into the urban night. As well as his book, Dr Shaw has published his research in journals such as Theory, Culture and Society, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, and Geoforum. His work has appeared on BBC Radio 4, The Independent and The Conversation.
DJ Ritu is a pioneering international turntablist & BBC Radio presenter, who hosts/produces A World in London at SOAS Radio (University of London), and Resonance 104.4FM. In the ‘90s she co-founded Outcaste Records, signing Nitin Sawhney and Badmarsh & Shri. She has toured extensively in over 30 countries with her bands Sister India and the Asian Equation, performing at major venues and festivals including The Big Chill, WOMAD, The Royal Festival Hall and Trafalgar Square. Joining BBC London in 2006, she inherited Charlie Gillett’s slot, and then expanded it into ‘A World In London’. The show is recognised as an essential meeting point for world music fans and a hub for the industry. It has an unrivalled reputation for presenting a rich cultural mix that truly reflects the diverse musical tastes of London and its people. Her other weekly show for BBC Three Counties Radio ran for over 20 years and was syndicated in Germany, Turkey & Sweden. Ritu has also broadcast for BBC World Service, Kiss 100, and other stations. Ritu manages two London club nights: Kuch Kuch and Club Kali which are the longest running Bollywood events in the UK. A musical chameleon, her repertoire includes Soul, Disco, Motown, Pop, Drum n’ Bass, as well as Turkish, Greek, African, Latin, and Middle-Eastern sounds. She regularly comperes at various festivals and appears often at The Southbank Centre, Rich Mix, and various nightspots.
Julius-Cezar Macquarie is a nocturnal anthropologist researching the invisible lives of migrant night workers in global cities. He PhD received his PhD in Sociology and Social Anthropology from Central European University (CEU) where he currently a Global Teaching fellow, as well as being an Associate Lecturer in the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, UBB (Babeș-Bolyai University) As an engaged anthropologist, JC reaches out to the wider, critical audience through short documentaries, including Invisible Lives: Romanian Night Shift Workers in London’, UK, 2013 and ‘Nocturnal Lives: Day Sleepers’, UK, 2015, and the Night Work, documentary podcast.
Recordings from Night Modes are shared according to an attribution, non-commercial and no-derivatives Creative Commons license.
