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The Salon Toynbee St

The Haircut Before the Party (THBTP)

The Salon Toynbee St
2011

The Haircut Before the Party have set up a radical hair salon in Whitechapel offering people a convivial space where different discourses can meet through the act of cutting hair for free.

People come to the salon because of the need for a haircut. These are offered for free, to explore other potential values within exchange when financial transactions are removed. In the salon, hair is cut as a gesture of friendship, in a similar way to how people have their hair cut by friends or family in a domestic environment.

The haircuts function as an invitation into the salon as a social space, a space to meet, to talk and exchange ideas. It attempts to create a space that supports relationships based on commitment and trust, and in this belonging find methods that allow people to challenge the demands made on us by dominant powers.

The Hair Cut Before The Party also offers a pop up shop in which they create temporary interventions into both public and private spaces. In the past they have popped up in schools, galleries, theatres and bars.  

The Hair Cut Before The Party (THBTP) are a collective of friends who formed strong relationships while living in squatted communal housing. In this environment, themes of power, property and collectivity are lived through and continually challenged. Through the salon, the collective are attempting to open up these themes and questions by providing a space in which to bring together wider groups of people.

The Haircut Before the Party on this is tomorrow
Follow @HaircutsBTP on Twitter

Date Title Venue City
11 February 2012 The Haircut Before the Party: The Cut Tensta Stockholm
19 November 2011 The Haircut Before the Party: THE PARTY: A celebration of six months on Toynbee Street The Salon London
16 November 2011 The Haircut Before the Party: Parataxis: An expositional experiment The Salon London
6 November 2011 The Haircut Before the Party: The dinner before the haircut: a community dinner The Salon London
3 November 2011 The Haircut Before the Party: Lunchtime Life Lecture: An experiment in sharing stories The Salon London
27 October 2011 The Haircut Before the Party: Call to Action: General Assembly for the student demonstration The Salon London
25 October – 22 November 2011 The Haircut Before the Party: Possibility of the impossible - Exploring the idea of Communism The Salon London
21 October 2011 Open Barbers At The Party The Salon London
23 September 2011 The Haircut Before the Party: David Rosenberg book launch The Salon London
10 September 2011 The Haircut Before the Party at Feast on the Bridge Southwark Bridge London
19 August 2011 The Haircut Before the Party: Reading Room Launch The Salon London
12 June – 20 November 2011 The Haircut Before the Party Salon The Salon London
The Salon Toynbee St

thehaircutbeforetheparty.net

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