London, acclaimed as the more creative place in the world, was the destination of the Long Study Tour (LST) for my Core Course, the Cognitive Neuroscience of Creativity. We spent about 5 days together as a class (Sunday to Friday), exploring as much as the city had to offer and connecting what we’ve learned so far through various workshops, activities, and guest lectures.
What I loved about the Long Study Tour is that its structure focused on activities and areas of the “smaller, local gems” genre over that of the typical touristy stuff. Though on some days, we’d have multiple class festivities, others, we were given more than enough time to explore the city ourselves.
And that I did – I amassed over 20,000 steps a day while making my way out and about London. Though I’d love to dish out all the details, I decided to focus on my favorite memories instead. Here I present to you my dearest London highlights!
WALKING TOUR OF SHOREDITCH & GRAFFITI WORKSHOP
Shoreditch of East London is famous for its eccentric street art scene, boasting works from Banksy to Fairey. But what I didn’t know was Shoreditch’s history and artistic ties with its strong Bangladeshi community.
Many Bangladeshis started migrating to London in the 1950s due to Britain’s call for help with post-war redevelopment. They were drawn to the Shoreditch’s proximity to the ports, eventually settling on Brick Lane, where many opened restaurants and businesses to cater to incoming and outgoing workers.
In the 1970s, the Bangladesh’s Declaration of Independence incited a violent 9-month conflict that started mass migration to London.
Because of this, London began to enforce strict migration policy, separating hundreds of families, friends, and memories. For many, London represented a place of opportunity and above all, safety.
As artists began to flock to the area in the 90s, the area became more attractive to young adults. As a result of this, prices jacked up quickly, causing many Bangladeshi families to be pushed out of the neighborhood they’ve called home.
These themes are prevalent in “The Land Is Calling” by Mohammed Ali. Standing between his roots of Bangladesh and his life in London, viewers of this piece are invited to see the city he’s come to love through his eyes. If you look to the left of the work, you’re able to see the exact view he had referred to while painting.
What moved me most about this piece was the layers of graffiti over it. Someone had asked our tour guide if this was considered to be “true” vandalism, or if artists of the work being painted over found this to be offensive.
She responded that this is the culture of graffiti. Your art is truly only protected when you’re physically standing there creating the work, but the second you run off, it’s back for anyone to paint over. In the case of this work, she sees it as a form of validation and agreement with the work from the community, rather than an offense.
Throughout the tour, we learned about various types of graffiti and street art. With the ultimate goal of keeping your art up for as long as possible and not getting caught by police, artists have come up creative ways past traditional spray paint.
Stickers, mini statues, and paste ups are easy to put up without getting caught. Some of my favorites are Adrian Boswell’s Golden Broccoli and Perspicere’s intricate string pieces.
Some artists take different forms of painting, with HELCH using a roller to paint his famous Hs; but with more time taken to paint, the riskier it is to get caught. Alex Arnell takes a completely different approach, using oil pastels in his portraits, making it completely impossible to ever remove due to the oil.
What do artists do to not get caught? Wear a disguise. Often, workwear or a painters set helps to blend in with the dark or make it look like they’re supposed to be there. So keep an eye out, and just maybe you’ll see an artist at work!
I had an incredible time taking my own stab at my spray painting skills during a short graffiti workshop at Alternative London’s studio. Here’s what I came up with, alongside other works I liked!
A WHOLE LOT OF IMPROV
I had the opportunity to do an Instagram takeover of the following activities (and more!) under the “Long Study Tour ’24” highlight on the DIS Copenhagen account if you’d like to have a more immersive look at a day in the LST life!
Theater Workshop at Queen Mary University with Pedro Perez Rothstein, PhD
For this activity, our class tried out some improv exercises – but with a twist. Instead of saying and coming up with something on the whim, we explored movement and intentionality.
With many of his students, Pedro has actors do image studies, embodied imagination exercises that explore the four sides of the body: front side (Future), back side (Past), right/dominant side (the World) and left/non-dominant side (the Self). With each side taking 10 minutes each, we were challenged to not repeat a movement after posing or moving within it for 3 breaths.
Although 10 minutes doesn’t sound like a lot, it was difficult to come up with something new within my pose or movement within that limited time frame. But, what I liked was how this challenged me to truly think about what I was doing. How would the placement of my leg change a pose? Or my facial expression? Or the outreach of my pinky? So imagine my shock when I learned that actors can do these image studies for hours on end.
This workshop changed my perspective on creativity in performance, especially in group settings. Before image studies, we played an interesting version of Freeze Dance where we had to individually make our way, moving, dancing, strutting around the room, attempting to “balance the room,” or ensure that the space between everyone was even.
Having that level of body spatial awareness, amongst performing with others is impressive – and it was really fun getting to bond with my classmates in the process of learning about all of this!
Showstopper! the Improvised Musical
Later that night, my class stepped down as newly world-class improv performers and sat as audience members of Showstopper! the Improvised Musical at the Cambridge Theatre in the West End.
The concept of the show is so much different from anything else in the Theater District. The show starts with a writer on a deadline to write the next great musical; so, the audience shouts out suggestions of a setting, musical styles and title of the show. From there, the cast and live band comes up a brand new musical, complete with new story lines, characters, dance routines, and ballads.
So what did the audience challenge the cast with? Can You Dig It?!!! set on an archaeological dig in the 1900s, using musical themes from the musical Six, songs of Stephen Sondheim, and a twist on AC/DC’s “We Will Rock You.”
It was really fun to see concepts of what we’d learned last night unravel before our eyes: balancing and placing yourself on stage amongst others while also knowing when to take space and make space.
Yes, there were times when maybe the lyrics didn’t rhyme, or details of the storyline fell through the cracks. But I enjoyed noticing the little details, like actors prompting another to follow them through a specific lyric or intense eye contact, and the support of the band in leading actors through a (might I add, completely unwritten) song.
Before this Monday full of improv, I wasn’t the biggest proponent for this face of performing arts. But honestly I’m quite the new admirer of the craft! Shoutout the entire Showstopper cast for making me and my class laugh the night away.
HOPPING ON THE TUBE
“Mind the gap,” said the man over the speakers, his British voice echoing through my head. Just one of the many things I’d missed about home: the overwhelming hustle and bustle of a overly crowded, human-controlled train (yes, you read that right: Copenhagen trains are self-driving! #GoAI)
The sudden lurch of the pressing of the brakes sent everyone forward, a stifled giggle coming out of a surprised passenger sat next to an unfazed local. Everyone is talking over another, and a plus, they’re talking in English!
Oh, the sweet joy of getting to overhear others conversations, a privilege I’ve lost since coming to Copenhagen.
The Tube was our best friend while my class hopped around London for our Long Study Tour. Though we were a little bit out of the city center out in Kensington, the Tube got us anywhere we needed to be within 30 minutes.
Another plus about the Long Study Tour? DIS covered all of transportation with a mighty daily pass that could bring us anywhere, at any time – except for past midnight, when it shuts down for the night.
(PRETENDING I GO TO) OXFORD
This excursion was my favorite day of the LST. On our fourth day, we went on a day trip to Oxford, about a 45 minute train ride out from Paddington Station. Home to the second-oldest university in the world, it’s a bustling college city filled with a rich history connected to many great minds, from Einstein, to Indira Gandhi, to T.S. Eliot.
We went on a guided tour of some of the public spaces on campus, which were pretty limited, as the university restricts tourists from entering any of its 49 colleges (as they should). My favorite part of the city? Christ Church Meadow, a beautiful park that’s a short walk from the city center. My friend Grace and I walked through the gardens and soccer fields, taking in the peace. It made me so excited for spring!
After a long afternoon of walking, we sat for late afternoon tea on the rooftop of the Ashmolean Museum. I somehow got my own stand because of my peanut allergy (shoutout them for that) and I’m not complaining. They served everything from avocado, chili-lime mousse, shallot tarts to homemade sultana scones. We all got to choose our own pot of tea, and I got the blood orange rooibos. Honestly? So good that I couldn’t walk for a bit after eating…thank you DIS!
(PLENTY OF) BITES
Speaking of bites, DIS provided us 2 meals a day – breakfast, and then either lunch or dinner depending on the schedule that day.
Sometimes, these meals would be with our class, such as with the aforementioned afternoon tea, while for others, you’ll get a set budget to spend for the meal and you can choose where ever you would like to go.
For lunch on our last day, we went to Borough Market. With a budget of 20 euro, I was able to get this sandwich from and the TikTok famous chocolate strawberries!
I truly believe food is the best way to connect with others, and really loved getting meals with my class and talking about all their associations and memories with their favorite meals. Here are some other delicious bites DIS provided on the trip that I can’t stop thinking about.
IN CONCLUSION,
This Long Study Tour is something I’ll hold with me for a long time. To be in London reminded me of home by surrounded by people on the streets who looked like me, and actually being able to read street signs and ads and all. It was a nice break from the past couple of months in CPH. Plus, while I start to ease into the traveling lifestyle, the LST is a great demonstration of what planning a trip should look like (without doing it myself, thank you DIS part ???).
Though a week is never enough time for anywhere, I’m so grateful to have gotten glimpses of the city’s diverse, multifaceted creativity. I’m looking forward for the next time I’ll get to walk through the Shoreditch streets or catch a cup of tea before an improv show – but for now, I’ll take the feelings of inspiration and community back to Denmark along with me.
scandinavian soundbites 
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