Action Space

To watch this film is to be transported into another world. A world before risk-assessments, where questioning authority is the norm and kids throw themselves down hills at speed.

To watch this film is to be transported into another world. A world before risk-assessments, where questioning authority is the norm and kids throw themselves down hills at speed.

Action Space had a similar ethos and life-span to many other groups spawned in 1968 (including the Birmingham Arts Lab), with the advantage that they seem to have documented pretty much everything. Drawing from a mountain of wonderful archive footage as well as testimonies from those involved, Huw Wahl has crafted a thought-provoking story about art, family and time. Resisting the pitfalls of nostalgia, the film also follows the construction of a present-day inflatable, and teases out questions that are just as relevant half a century on. How do children learn to manage risk? What do we mean by community arts? How public is our public space?