Presented as part of the Southbank Centre's fortnightly, public Creative Encounters series, this activation invited attendees to step away from algorithms and reconnect with their own curiosity, conversation and discovery.
The Southbank Centre reached out to us in 2025 with a brief to host an event exploring our relationships with the algorithms that increasingly influence what we watch, listen to, read, buy & believe.
We saw this as a fun opportunity to create an engaging and accessible experience that encouraged participants to critically examine these influences while also fostering genuine interaction between strangers.
As per Nourishment's unique approach we designed a balance between education, creativity and entertainment to attract a diverse audience of young creatives, cultural enthusiasts and local communities.
The result was Beyond The Algorithm - an evening of collage, conversation, poetry and performance attended by up to 200 people.
We kicked off with a collaging demonstration from artist, Davinia Clarke.
At the heart of the experience was our bespoke Curiosity Notebook, created exclusively for the event by Nourishment & designer Fatimah Mujtaba. Guests filled the pages with reflections, collaging, recommendations, drawings and ideas in response to thought-starters & challenges such as:
If the algorithm didn't choose your next watch, what would?
Find visual inspiration from this room and the people around you!
What spaces, people or platforms would introduce you to new music beyond algorithms?
If dating apps vanished, how would you find connection?
They also heard from a lineup of Black British poets & speakers whose work explored technology, culture and modern capitalism including Roni Ajai-Thomas, Kiya Khads and Edward Adonteng.
Beyond the Algorithm showcased what Nourishment does best: creating cultural experiences that bring people together through conversation, creativity and community through novel means & partnerships.
Some words from our partners at the Southbank Centre:
"A huge well done for such a successful event. It was fab. Thank you for all the collaboration and creativity." - Katherine
"A superb event with very important things said from that stage. A real pleasure working with you and the Nourishment crew." - Alexander
