About Assemble
Assemble are a collective based in London who work across the fields of art, architecture and design.
They began working together in 2010 and are comprised of 18 members. Assemble seek to actively involve the public as both participant and collaborator in their work. In 2015 they won Europe’s most prestigious contemporary visual art award, the Turner Prize, for their regeneration project in Granby, Liverpool.
Granby Four Streets
Assemble’s Granby Four Streets was the result of a 20-year battle by local residents to save a series of terrace housing from demolition. The project presented a vision for the area that built on the hard work already done by local residents: refurbishing housing and public space, and providing new opportunities for the area’s residents. Their Turner Prize win sent shockwaves through the international art world – this was the first time a group or collective had ever taken home the award.
Formed in 2010, Assemble has developed a reputation for collaborating closely with the communities that inhabit their projects. Granby Street was once a lively high street at the centre of Liverpool’s most racially and ethnically diverse community. Following many attempted regeneration projects, all but four of Granby’s streets were demolished, and the community was scattered across the city and beyond. Following the resourceful actions of a group of local residents, a campaign was launched to ‘reclaim their streets’. “Over two decades they cleared, planted, painted, and campaigned,” explains Assemble. Eventually forming the Granby Four Streets Community Land Trust, the residents hired Assemble to devise a vision for the area, which could bring the empty homes back into use as affordable housing.
