Join us for The Public Lecture: Anatomy of Gatherings, a visual talk led by artist and architect Nanelle Jayawardene.

What actually turns a crowd into a gathering? And what makes people, across every culture and every era, keep finding new ways to come together? This lecture takes on both questions, looking closely at the small things that shape a gathering: a shared meal, a warm welcome, a familiar rhythm, the simple act of stepping through a threshold into a room full of other people.

Drawing on examples from theatre, hospitality, public space, and everyday life, alongside references from Homer and Shakespeare to Jacques Tati's Playtime and Coppola's The Godfather, the talk traces how gatherings take shape, what they ask of us while we're in them, and what they leave behind once everyone has gone home.

By the end of the lecture, you'll walk away seeing gatherings differently, whether it's a dinner with friends or a citywide festival, and with a few new ways to think and talk about why we come together at all.

The Public Lecture brings audiences into conversation with ideas, questions, and themes that intersect with contemporary art and the world around it. Through encounters with artists, researchers, academics, writers, practitioners, and other interlocutors, the program opens space for critical exchange, collective inquiry, and the sharing of knowledge—extending 421’s role as a site for learning and discovery beyond its campus walls.

Accessibility & Participation

No prior experience required.

Open to all

Language: English

About the Instructor

Nanelle Jayawardene is a British Sri Lankan artist and architect based in Abu Dhabi. Her work moves between painting and writing, drawing on her research into public life, ritual, folklore, social presence, spectatorship and mythology. She is interested in people, how they gather, observe, perform, be observed, tell stories and make meaning together. Her work explores the theatre of public life and the ways culture is continually translated through shared space.

Jayawardene studied Architecture at the University of Bath and holds an MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design from the University of Cambridge. Her practice extends into talks, workshops and collaborative projects that bring her research into conversation with others through drawing, storytelling and collective making.