henri@henriettawilliams.com
Henrietta Williams (b. 1982) is an artist/researcher exploring urbanist theories. Her work takes the form of moving image and photographic installations, writing, walking and performance. These methods are often used as ways to ask questions about how our cities are formed through conflict and how the security and surveillance of the built environment change our lived experience.
Henri is a Lecturer (teaching) at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. She is a core tutor on the MA Situated Practice and tutors across a number of programs with a particular focus on critical film making methodologies. She is currently completing an LAHP funded PhD by Design, also at the Bartlett, making short films and moving image installations alongside a written thesis.
Henri has exhibited work internationally including at the Het Nieuwe Instituut, the Golden Thread Gallery Belfast, the Mies van der Rohe Institute, the V&A, and the Architectural Association. She has presented her research through Open City Documentary Festival, Modern Art Oxford, the Royal College of Art, and the Bauhaus. Her project ‘The Secret Security Guard’ was featured on the front page of the Guardian newspaper and she has presented the ‘Ring of Steel’ project on a number of international television programs and the BBC Culture Show.
She lives in South London with her partner and 3 young children.
Exhibitions and screenings
Forthcoming – November 2023
‘Walking the Ring of Steel’, on site as part of ‘Traces and trajectories of surveillance’, London School of Economics, London.
June 2023
‘Testing Ground’ exhibition in collaboration with Merijn Royaards at the Urban Room Gallery, UCL East, London.
May 2023
Installation of ‘Notes on Aerial Photography’ as part of ‘Weaving Worlds’ exhibition, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
May 2021
Screening of ‘Walking the Elephant’, in collaboration with Anna Minton for the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast.
February 2021
Screening of ‘2020: State of Exception’, Royal College of Art, London.
November 2020
Screening of ‘2020: State of Exception’, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford.
September 2020
Screening of ‘2020: State of Exception’, Open City Documentary Festival, London.
February 2020
Screening of ‘Aeronautica’, Bartlett School of Architecture, London.
October 2017
Part of Logbook with Common Ground and Assemble, Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln.
June 2017
Screening of ‘Aeronautica’, The Architectural Film Festival London, Bargehouse, Oxo Tower, London
May 2017
Screening of ‘The Model School’, European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award 2017, The Palau Victòria Eugènia, Barcelona
March 2017
Screening of ‘Austerlitz, London’, The Essay Film Festival, Birkbeck, London
February 2017
Screening of ‘The Mac’, Film Making Space, Royal Academy, London
May 2016
Screening of ‘As Above, So Below’, Clerkenwell Design Week, London
September 2015
Screening of ‘As Above, So Below’, Publica, Savoy Steps, London
April – July 2015
Exhibition of ‘Ring of Steel’, All of This Belongs to You, V&A Museum, London
October – November 2014
Exhibition of ‘Interface’, Describing Architecture, Powerscourt Centre, Dublin, Ireland.
September 2014
Screening at ‘Still Moving Festival’, Brixton, London.
June – July 2014
Screening of ‘Big Shed’, Architectural Association, London
May – June 2014
Screening of ‘The Mac’ at Irish Architectural Archives, Dublin.
June 2013
Exhibition of ‘Safwat+ Williams’, Architectural Association, London.
April 2013
Exhibition of ‘The Secret Security Guard’, Cities Methodologies, Slade Research Centre, UCL, London.
January 2013
Exhibition of ‘The Secret Security Guard’, This is Not a Gateway, Bishopsgate Institute, London.
Feburary 2011
Exhibition of ‘Ring of Steel’, Architecture of War, Open Democracy at the Drawers Gallery, Kingsland Road, London
October 2010
Exhibition of ‘Ring of Steel’, This is Not a Gateway festival, Hanbury St, London
July 2010
Exhibition of ‘Holding the Line’, Whistable Biennale, Whitstable.
October 2009
Exhibition of ‘Interface’, New Documentaries, Christ Church Spitalfields, London.
September 2009
Exhibition of ‘Interface’, Territories, The Otter Gallery, Chichester.
Published work – academic context – articles & chapters
Forthcoming
December 2023
Inscriptions – edition of Non-Fiction Journal
September 2023
‘Disrupting the Archive’, essay in Open City Documentary texts
July 2023
‘On Meta Incognita: Missive II’, essay in ‘Alia Syed: Imprints, Documents, Fictions’. Courtisane Notes on Cinema in collaboration with Open City Documentary Festival.
February 2020
‘Fortifying the City: Visualising London 2012’. The London Journal
March 2018
Contribution to chapter in Architecture and Control published by Brill.
December 2016
‘The Secret Security Guard’. Chapter in Engaged Urbanism: Cities and Methodologies published by I B Tauris.
April 2016
‘The Housing Crisis’. Visual essay published in collaboration with Anna Minton in City
October 2014
‘Fortress Britain.’ Urban Pamphleteer #3 Design and Trust.
May 2012
‘Ring of Steel’. Critical Cities Volume 3 published by Myrdle Court Press.
Lectures
May 2021
‘Artist talk’. Cork Centre for Architectural Education.
December 2020
‘Emergency Urbanism’. Urban Lab, UCL.
November 2020
‘Artist’s talk’. Oxford University.
November 2020
‘Artist’s talk’. Kingston School of Architecture.
March 2020
‘Artist’s talk’. Lecture and aerial surveillance workshop at UCA, Farnham.
February 2020
‘Artist/Researcher: film making practice as a tool to expand the possibilities of spatial research’. Part of the Constructing Realities lecture series, Here East.
September 2019
‘The Ring of Steel: A walking tour around the City of London’. Part of the Open City Docs Film Festival program.
June 2019
‘Artist’s talk’. Lecture as part of ‘London in the world: public/political practices in a global city’. Geography Department, UCL.
June 2019
‘Situated Practice: The essay-film as a tool to expand the possibilities of spatial research’. Lecture as part of ‘City, Essay, Film’ conference. Urban Lab, UCL.
April 2019
‘Situated Video’. London College of Communication.
February 2019
‘Situated Video’. Lecture as part of ‘Cinematic Urbanism’ conference. Leeds School of Architecture.
October 2017
‘The Essay Film’. Leeds School of Architecture.
February 2016
‘Aeronautica’. Lecture as part of Bartlett PhD Research Projects conference, UCL.
June 2015
‘Surveillance in the City.’ Lecture at Bauhaus, Weimar.
December 2013
Lecture on personal work as part of ‘Changing Cultures of (In)Visibility’ at the University of Cambridge.
September 2013
Lecture on the Ring of Steel, University of Bergen, (on a trip to London).
April 2013
Lecture on ‘The Secret Security Guard’, Cities Methodologies, Slade Research Centre, UCL.
February 2013
Lecture on the Ring of Steel, Art and Geography Conference, University of Lyon.
October 2011
Lecture on ‘Ring of Steel’, Cultures of Surveillance conference, UCL.
February 2011
Lecture on ‘Ring of Steel’ at the Royal College of Art, London
Media
April 2021
‘Decoding your city’, Guardian Masterclass.
June 2020
‘Lockdown London’, photos and essay for The Site Magazine
July 2017
Interview on ‘Ring of Steel’ for ‘Titel Thesen Temperamente’, NDR, German television.
June 2017
Photographs on the housing crisis for ‘’Big Capital”:https://www.annaminton.com/bigcapital by Anna Minton, published by Penguin.
July 2016
Harvard Design Magazine include ‘Ring of Steel’ project in issue on FEAR Issue No. 42.
June 2014
‘Ring of Steel’ published in MAS Context
January 2013
Fortress Britain, photos for report by Anna Minton and Jody Aked for the New Economic Foundation.
December 2012
Interview/feature on the Ring of Steel, ARCH 209
January – August 2012
Working undercover for the Guardian as The Secret Security Guard
September 2011
‘Ring of Steel’ featured on ‘Fear has a 1000 Eyes’, Container TV (aired in Germany and Switzerland)
May 2011
The Culture Show, BBC 2
Interviewed by Tom Dyckhoff about ‘Ring of Steel’.
October 2010
So can the Ring of Steel save the City of London from terrorism?
feature by Kieran Long on the ‘Ring of Steel’ published in the Evening Standard
+
Henrietta Williams (b. 1982) is an artist/researcher exploring urbanist theories. Her work takes the form of moving image and photographic installations, writing, walking and performance. These methods are often used as ways to ask questions about how our cities are formed through conflict and how the security and surveillance of the built environment change our lived experience.
Henri is a Lecturer (teaching) at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. She is a core tutor on the MA Situated Practice and tutors across a number of programs with a particular focus on critical film making methodologies. She is currently completing an LAHP funded PhD by Design, also at the Bartlett, making short films and moving image installations alongside a written thesis.
Henri has exhibited work internationally including at the Het Nieuwe Instituut, the Golden Thread Gallery Belfast, the Mies van der Rohe Institute, the V&A, and the Architectural Association. She has presented her research through Open City Documentary Festival, Modern Art Oxford, the Royal College of Art, and the Bauhaus. Her project ‘The Secret Security Guard’ was featured on the front page of the Guardian newspaper and she has presented the ‘Ring of Steel’ project on a number of international television programs and the BBC Culture Show.
She lives in South London with her partner and 3 young children.
Exhibitions and screenings
Forthcoming – November 2023
‘Walking the Ring of Steel’, on site as part of ‘Traces and trajectories of surveillance’, London School of Economics, London.
June 2023
‘Testing Ground’ exhibition in collaboration with Merijn Royaards at the Urban Room Gallery, UCL East, London.
May 2023
Installation of ‘Notes on Aerial Photography’ as part of ‘Weaving Worlds’ exhibition, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
May 2021
Screening of ‘Walking the Elephant’, in collaboration with Anna Minton for the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast.
February 2021
Screening of ‘2020: State of Exception’, Royal College of Art, London.
November 2020
Screening of ‘2020: State of Exception’, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford.
September 2020
Screening of ‘2020: State of Exception’, Open City Documentary Festival, London.
February 2020
Screening of ‘Aeronautica’, Bartlett School of Architecture, London.
October 2017
Part of Logbook with Common Ground and Assemble, Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln.
June 2017
Screening of ‘Aeronautica’, The Architectural Film Festival London, Bargehouse, Oxo Tower, London
May 2017
Screening of ‘The Model School’, European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award 2017, The Palau Victòria Eugènia, Barcelona
March 2017
Screening of ‘Austerlitz, London’, The Essay Film Festival, Birkbeck, London
February 2017
Screening of ‘The Mac’, Film Making Space, Royal Academy, London
May 2016
Screening of ‘As Above, So Below’, Clerkenwell Design Week, London
September 2015
Screening of ‘As Above, So Below’, Publica, Savoy Steps, London
April – July 2015
Exhibition of ‘Ring of Steel’, All of This Belongs to You, V&A Museum, London
October – November 2014
Exhibition of ‘Interface’, Describing Architecture, Powerscourt Centre, Dublin, Ireland.
September 2014
Screening at ‘Still Moving Festival’, Brixton, London.
June – July 2014
Screening of ‘Big Shed’, Architectural Association, London
May – June 2014
Screening of ‘The Mac’ at Irish Architectural Archives, Dublin.
June 2013
Exhibition of ‘Safwat+ Williams’, Architectural Association, London.
April 2013
Exhibition of ‘The Secret Security Guard’, Cities Methodologies, Slade Research Centre, UCL, London.
January 2013
Exhibition of ‘The Secret Security Guard’, This is Not a Gateway, Bishopsgate Institute, London.
Feburary 2011
Exhibition of ‘Ring of Steel’, Architecture of War, Open Democracy at the Drawers Gallery, Kingsland Road, London
October 2010
Exhibition of ‘Ring of Steel’, This is Not a Gateway festival, Hanbury St, London
July 2010
Exhibition of ‘Holding the Line’, Whistable Biennale, Whitstable.
October 2009
Exhibition of ‘Interface’, New Documentaries, Christ Church Spitalfields, London.
September 2009
Exhibition of ‘Interface’, Territories, The Otter Gallery, Chichester.
Published work – academic context – articles & chapters
Forthcoming
December 2023
Inscriptions – edition of Non-Fiction Journal
September 2023
‘Disrupting the Archive’, essay in Open City Documentary texts
July 2023
‘On Meta Incognita: Missive II’, essay in ‘Alia Syed: Imprints, Documents, Fictions’. Courtisane Notes on Cinema in collaboration with Open City Documentary Festival.
February 2020
‘Fortifying the City: Visualising London 2012’. The London Journal
March 2018
Contribution to chapter in Architecture and Control published by Brill.
December 2016
‘The Secret Security Guard’. Chapter in Engaged Urbanism: Cities and Methodologies published by I B Tauris.
April 2016
‘The Housing Crisis’. Visual essay published in collaboration with Anna Minton in City
October 2014
‘Fortress Britain.’ Urban Pamphleteer #3 Design and Trust.
May 2012
‘Ring of Steel’. Critical Cities Volume 3 published by Myrdle Court Press.
Lectures
May 2021
‘Artist talk’. Cork Centre for Architectural Education.
December 2020
‘Emergency Urbanism’. Urban Lab, UCL.
November 2020
‘Artist’s talk’. Oxford University.
November 2020
‘Artist’s talk’. Kingston School of Architecture.
March 2020
‘Artist’s talk’. Lecture and aerial surveillance workshop at UCA, Farnham.
February 2020
‘Artist/Researcher: film making practice as a tool to expand the possibilities of spatial research’. Part of the Constructing Realities lecture series, Here East.
September 2019
‘The Ring of Steel: A walking tour around the City of London’. Part of the Open City Docs Film Festival program.
June 2019
‘Artist’s talk’. Lecture as part of ‘London in the world: public/political practices in a global city’. Geography Department, UCL.
June 2019
‘Situated Practice: The essay-film as a tool to expand the possibilities of spatial research’. Lecture as part of ‘City, Essay, Film’ conference. Urban Lab, UCL.
April 2019
‘Situated Video’. London College of Communication.
February 2019
‘Situated Video’. Lecture as part of ‘Cinematic Urbanism’ conference. Leeds School of Architecture.
October 2017
‘The Essay Film’. Leeds School of Architecture.
February 2016
‘Aeronautica’. Lecture as part of Bartlett PhD Research Projects conference, UCL.
June 2015
‘Surveillance in the City.’ Lecture at Bauhaus, Weimar.
December 2013
Lecture on personal work as part of ‘Changing Cultures of (In)Visibility’ at the University of Cambridge.
September 2013
Lecture on the Ring of Steel, University of Bergen, (on a trip to London).
April 2013
Lecture on ‘The Secret Security Guard’, Cities Methodologies, Slade Research Centre, UCL.
February 2013
Lecture on the Ring of Steel, Art and Geography Conference, University of Lyon.
October 2011
Lecture on ‘Ring of Steel’, Cultures of Surveillance conference, UCL.
February 2011
Lecture on ‘Ring of Steel’ at the Royal College of Art, London
Media
April 2021
‘Decoding your city’, Guardian Masterclass.
June 2020
‘Lockdown London’, photos and essay for The Site Magazine
July 2017
Interview on ‘Ring of Steel’ for ‘Titel Thesen Temperamente’, NDR, German television.
June 2017
Photographs on the housing crisis for ‘’Big Capital”:https://www.annaminton.com/bigcapital by Anna Minton, published by Penguin.
July 2016
Harvard Design Magazine include ‘Ring of Steel’ project in issue on FEAR Issue No. 42.
June 2014
‘Ring of Steel’ published in MAS Context
January 2013
Fortress Britain, photos for report by Anna Minton and Jody Aked for the New Economic Foundation.
December 2012
Interview/feature on the Ring of Steel, ARCH 209
January – August 2012
Working undercover for the Guardian as The Secret Security Guard
September 2011
‘Ring of Steel’ featured on ‘Fear has a 1000 Eyes’, Container TV (aired in Germany and Switzerland)
May 2011
The Culture Show, BBC 2
Interviewed by Tom Dyckhoff about ‘Ring of Steel’.
October 2010
So can the Ring of Steel save the City of London from terrorism?
feature by Kieran Long on the ‘Ring of Steel’ published in the Evening Standard
+