Urbanist and writer Joseph Zeal-Henry introduces the context for his platform Sound Advice, which he co-founded with architect and planner Pooja Agrawal to explore new forms of spatial practice through music. 

Zeal-Henry and Agrawal develop projects that foreground narratives and culture, which are critical to designing a more progressive and plural urban environment. This process allows them to advocate for and create alternative visions for equitable cities of the future, as a sort of “counter institution” that works as an institutional-type practice.

Zeal-Henry also spoke about the British Pavilion he co-curated at the recently opened Venice Architecture Biennale, which received a special mention from the event’s jury, and how the team decided that “rather than gathering architecture, let's gather people instead.”

“What we've been really interested in doing is dismantling this notion of ‘nation state’, and talking about diaspora more broadly. So out of the five artists we've commissioned, only one was born in the UK. It's always very interesting to have different perspectives, so we commissioned through the work, through their narratives, rather than through their identity, their origins, or where they happen to be born,” he said.