Annetta Pedretti
Who was Annetta Pedretti?
Annetta (1954-2018) was born in Celerina, Switzerland. She came to London to study Architecture at the Architectural Association, where she encountered cybernetics. She went on to write a PhD, The Cybernetics of Language (1981), at Brunel University under the supervision of Gordon Pask. Her work on language and reference informed her interdisciplinary, intermedia book, video and performance works.She bought 25 Princelet Street in 1980, which became her home and life-work until the end of her life. She established princelet editions, an experimental press in 1981. She undertook a decades-long process of dismantling and repair in the building, as well as philosophical learning and local activism. From around 2000 onwards her focus shifted to honey bees. She designed a new system of bee-stewarding, in Spitalfields as well as in Enfield, North London, distributing jars of honey locally.
✎ Learning How to Learn
Learning How to Learn is a phrase that Annetta used to describe her practical and philosophical relationship to practicing new skills: reflecting the conditions that are needed for learning to take place. As well as practical skills in building repair, Annetta’s relationship to making fostered reflections on urban regeneration, labour supply chains, the role of drawings, local decision-making.
✎ Annetta’s relationship to space
Annetta understood her legal and financial relationship to 25 Princelet Street as one that made possible other forms of action in the world beyond, such as political activism and creative practice. For example, in front of the Crossrail Select Committee, she described how she “was only allowed to discuss this public project as a private property owner”. She was an active part of the Khoodeelaar! No To Crossrail Hole! protest campaign, which successfully opposed the proposal for a construction hole and spoil heap at Hanbury Street. She was also part of other campaigns in the local area, such as against the closure of Whitechapel Baths.
✎ princelet editions
Annetta Pedretti founded the press in 1981 “to develop forms of writing and publication for including the observer as a writer and performer”. She printed books from the building, as well as taking printing equipment with her to American Society of Cybernetics and Systeemgroep Nederland Conferences, where she published experimental books based on live conversations, as well as a conference-opera “Youtopia”. Annetta performed princelet editions at the Frankfurt Bookfair, wearing books in “Anzug” and “Stand Gehend” (1989). Annetta had planned to set up a journal, Mind You. We would like to start an imprint of ‘living books’ continuing her process-led approach to cybernetic publishing.✎ Flag/Cuts and Video
In 1991, Annetta initiated a project asking “What would a Flag for A Multi-Cultural Society look like?”. She developed an interactive process, working with local residents in an installation at Spitalfields Market, to cut, divide, sew and rejoin fabric, creating a flag that was representative of the many hands who produced it.Annetta’s video works include “The Wars of the Observer” (20 min), “Writing” (40 hours), “Pointing” (3 hours), “Horizon/Horizon” (28 hours) and “Object-Constancy” (3 weeks sampled into 3 hours).