Fable Fiction

It was an honour to be commissioned to make an installation on Roman Road for Fable Fiction’s art walk. They pledged to make the event zero waste and this fit well with my new mission to only use found and donated materials.

Waste plastics and card were cut to mimic vines that creeped over and into an unused shop space. The light left shadows which spilled into the empty space and sparked discussion with visitors on what the shop had been and why it was being taken back by nature.

Cloud Vines, by Camilla Brendon, 2019.

The door looks small, ping open and into a new world you slip.

It’s humid in here and the buzzing lights of the city fade away.

Instead, dripping of condensation and the tweeting of some light and exotic bird is heard in the background. 

Through the threshold and there it is the tall glass structure with metal framework, painted green. The space is vast and awe capturing. 

Vines lean down and as you breath in the hot air fills your lungs and you are transported to the Amazon or some other world far, far away from here. There you spot your neighbour but he looks younger, all the worries of the city have left his face. Children and pets are playing in the undergrowth while families rejoice with members current and past.

Tiny Ocean Plants - Art x Science Workshop

After participating in the Sail Britain program, from Oban to Ardrossan, marine biologist Britt Alexander and myself had better ideas of how we could work together to communicate ocean issues. As part of ‘The Fragile Ocean’ exhibition we held a day of workshops exploring phytoplankton, or Tiny Ocean Plants.

Participants added to a communal drawing of phytoplankton. By leading engaging, mindful activities we drew attention to phytoplankton’s crucial role in mitigating climate change because it stores a huge amount of carbon.

We taught participants how to make natural house hold cleaners, this ensures that damaging chemicals found in some cleaning and cosmetic products don’t make it into the water ways end eventually the ocean.

The workshop concluded with participants having the opportunity to have their photo taken with giant tiny ocean plants!

Read more about T.O.P and The Fragile Ocean by Sail Britain, HERE.

River Weaving

It was a pleasure to be part of Totally Thames back in September. River Weaving saw the combination of river bed cleaning and the art of weaving. Over two days Rachna Garodia and I held the workshop at her studio in Re:centre, Hammersmith. Thanks to Thames 21 for supporting us with training and logistics.

Rachna demonstrating weaving techniques.

To see more of Totally Thames have a look at their photo blog post, including the above image!

Participants of River Weaving cleaning the Thames at Hammersmith while being mindful about what to use in their own weaving.

This is my first weaving that I made with Rachnas guidance.

EurOCEAN2019 Report

I had the honour of being commissioned to make new work form Coast to be awarded at EurOCEAN in June 2019. Please read, THIS post for more information.

A report has now been published from the conference and Coast - EurOCEAN2019 has been featured.

EurOCEAN2019

This art piece is one way that scientists can work with artists to help visualise ocean issues and improve ocean literacy with in the population. I am incredibly happy to have been involved in a collaboration of this sort and am continuing to work closely with scientists to develop Coast as a tool for accessibility to environmental issues.

Read the full report HERE.

Canal and River Trust Feature Article

I’d firstly like to say a massive thank you to The Canal & River Trust who have been incredibly supportive to me as an artist by advising me on the canal system, helping me to get materials for my art work, giving me opportunities to lead workshops and running a series of blogs on Coast. Here they have continued this support by writing a feature article about my reacent project Coast - Hertford Union Canal, a residency I did at Chisenhale Art Place, which overlooks the Hertford Union Canal. This feature comes during the trust’s Plastic Challenge.

To read the original article click HERE.

Camilla in Chisenhale Studio 4 at her work in progress show of Coast - Hertford Union Canal, August 2019

We introduced you to Camilla Brendon in October 2018. A passionate artist whose projects focus on the environment, materials and plant life. Creating works of art as she goes, Camilla shows us how the materials around us and particularly by water needn’t be tossed aside, or worse left to rot, but instead can be used, and reused.

Camilla Brendon in Chisenhale Studio 4

I always make art that I hope will spark thought and dialogue

Camilla Brendon

With many workshops and exhibitions under her belt Camilla seeks to inspire more people to stop and look around at their natural surroundings, and try their hand at making something.

An inspiration to us all

It’s no secret that the plastics and litter in our oceans is a massive problem. Our canals and rivers connect with the seas and we know that around 80% of the plastics found in our oceans can come from litter dropped inland. This causes problems for wildlife and it’s a big job to keep clearing it up. We can all do our bit and help pick up litter along our canals and rivers, and we can also follow in Camilla’s footsteps and create something from it.

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Her project here, based at Hertford Union Canal focuses on materials and plant life found in and around the canal.

It’s brilliant here, I can stop and look at the movement of the duckweed on the water and goslings resting on the wall. By looking out over the canal I’m able to consider making large scale installations that flow out of my windows and down to the canal.

Camilla talking about Chisenhale Studios

Camilla’s interest in how man-made and natural things co-exist have led to many litter picks along the Hertford Union Canal with local artists and residents. 

Camilla says: "The litter picks were part of my workshops and came about when I became more involved with activism as part of my practice, and took the Thames21 'Cleaning a Waterway' course. I wanted to give people the chance to make art for free with what they found when keeping their neighbourhood clean.

"To finish the qualification I shadowed some events with The Lower Regents Coalition, a Thames21 badged group who look after the Regent's Canal near the Hertford Union Canal in E3.

"During the towpath cleans we mostly found drinks bottles and cans along with a lot of cigarette butts. It's so important that people realise that these aren't biodegradable."

Camilla is donating 20% of all profits on sales at her Coast-Hertford Union Canal Show to the Lower Regents Canal to continue maintaining the canal in this part of London.

Living Canal Mobile workshop participants on a clean of the Hertford Union Canal

Aspire to take part

Time are a-changing and with the news that sales of plastic bags have halved in our biggest supermarkets and shops, it’s encouraging to see people acting. This needs to continue, and more people need to get involved. 

twitter.com/CamillaBrendon
instagram.com/camillabrendon/
facebook.com/camillabrendonartist/
www.camillabrendon.com/

Roman Road London Interview

During my reacent residency at Chisenhale Studios I gave a Q&A interview to the local newspaper. Working in East London was a wonderful experience. Always having lived in the West of the city I found traveling daily and getting to know a different experience of my city very interesting, especially the fact that the canal system still links the two sides and it’s possible to cross the city in about eight hours.

To read the article on the Roman Road London webiste click HERE.

Arts & artists Local Society

Q&A with artist Camilla Brendon about her Hertford Union Canal residency

July 26, 2019 Frederick O'Brien 1369 Views 0 Comments Features 5 min read

Camilla Brendon is an artist currently in residence at Chisenhale Studios. Her project, which focuses on materials and plant life found in and around the Hertford Union Canal, will culminate in a summer residency show from 8-10 August. She will also be giving a free meet the artist talk on Thursday 1 August. The works Brendon makes are partly or wholly made out of found objects in the environment she’s studying. We caught up with her to hear how she’s found working beside East London canals.

To put your residency into context, can you share a little about your Coast series and how Hertford Union fits into it?

Coast is an ongoing series which I began a couple of years ago, after working with found objects for my whole career. Through Coast I explore coastlines and all water systems. I then use my work as a tool for dialogue, awareness, and activism in the area of conservation.  

The works are made partly or entirely with found objects and then altered, painted on, and shaped to resemble natural forms. Inspired by patterns found in nature I draw attention to sustainability by using stunning beauty found in water systems and coast lines. 

When I saw that Chisenhale was offering a summer residency and that Studio 4 looked out over the Hertford Union Canal I thought it was the perfect opportunity to get to know this corner of London and make work that directly interacts with the canal below. 

How have you found working in studio 4, overlooking the Hertford Union Canal and Victoria Park?

It’s very fitting to my current working practice. I’m interested in how man-made and natural things co-exist, or struggle to. By looking out over the canal I’m able to consider making a large scale installation that flows out of my windows and down to the canal below. It’s brilliant because I can stop and look at the movement of the duckweed on the water and goslings resting on the wall and water lilies opening and shutting below depending on the time of day. The evening sky is also very captivating and the colours this throws out also inform my work.

This is your first time incorporating plant life into your work, correct? How has that impacted the process for you?

Yes, it is the first time that I’ve incorporated plant life into my work. I’ve used forms based on nature, photos, photocopies, and everything else linkable to nature, so having the living plants was a natural progression and adds a new layer to the intertwining of man-made and natural that you see through out my work. I’m just at the beginning of this process and have ideas to go on to make natural, yet unnatural worlds and to make permanent fixed living installations.

What’s been your favourite aspect of the residency so far?

There have been so many! Let’s see…

Studio 4 is the most incredible space. It’s large with a high ceiling, an old factory in fact. I’ve been given the space to push myself and stretch the process to the next level size wise and so far I’ve been making the most of this. 

I’ve long enjoyed altering public spaces with installation and here having the body of water that I’m investigating below is allowing me to let the work go back to the water from which it came. This also lets the work escape the white wall gallery or studio setting and be viewed by passers by on the towpath or in boats, sparking the question, what is that? I love the idea of art reaching those who aren’t looking for it. 

What do you hope visitors get out of coming to your residency show?

I always make art that I hope will spark thought and dialogue. I make work with simple forms taken from nature and bold, inviting colours that are pleasing to look at. In doing this I hope to make complex and sometimes overwhelming topics approachable and to give viewers ideas and even tools to act on the subject matter that I’m visualising.

I also work with materials that are found, donated, and cheap. I hope that this will encourage more budding artists to try their hand at it and not have to worry about funds or making something ‘good’. 

What will happen to the pieces you make? Are they available for purchase?

The work that I make is for sale and 20% of my profits from work made during the residency will go to The Lower Regents Coalition, who have supported me throughout this. I will also be donating a piece of art to the Lower Regents Coalition, to be put on a towpath wall near the Ragged School Museum.

 If you are interested in an existing or bespoke piece of living or non-living art please come and see me at studio 4 for my artist talk this Thursday 1 August, form 7-8pm, (doors 6.30pm) or to my work in progress Coast-Hertford Union Canal Show, August 8th 6-9pm and 10/11th August 12-8pm. Alternatively get in touch to arrange an appointment. Unsold works will be kept safe in a friendly garden before being toured at other art and science venues. 

Visit Camilla Brendon’s website for more information the upcoming open studio. You can also follow her progress on Instagram at @camillabrendon

If you enjoyed this piece you may like reading our interview with Bow’s canal heritage superwoman Carolyn Clark

Humans Make Plastic and Then What?...

I’d like to thank UCL Public Engagement for publishing my follow up blog on what I’ve been up to over the last year and where Coast has taken me. To read the original article please follow this LINK.

This Blog has been written by Camilla Brendon, a London based artist. Currently in residency at Chisenhale Studios in Tower Hamlets. Camilla worked with the Community Engagement team on a project, looking at plastics and sustainability in 2018. She tells us about what has happened since.

I started working with UCL in 2018 when I answered an open call from Bow Arts Trust, looking for artists working with plastics, activism and the Lower Lea valley to lead a series of workshops for residents local to the Lea, scientists, artists and other interested parties. I responded with a proposal to make mobiles out of plastics found in and around the Lea along with other plastics and sculptural materials.

I lead the workshop, later named by participants  as ‘Humans Make Plastic’ (HMP), at Bow Arts, Here East and the Bloomsbury Festival. The workshops were good because they were very relaxed and for mixed interests, ages and abilities. I like to use found and recycled objects and an open approach to making as a tool for wider dialogue into our consumption patterns and use of materials as a whole. Whilst working on the HMP project I had spent several days in my studio, combining individual works into a single sculpture. I chose to weave in large sections of bright plastics to make the work more unified and aesthetically pleasing. Working with UCL researchers lead me to learn a lot about how plastic decays and how much about its make up is still unknown. I now realise how much science and art can help each other and am looking for further collaborations with scientists in the fields of plastic research and marine biology.

The final workshop for Humans Make Plastic took place at the Bloomsbury Festival in October 2018. HMP was exhibited at Kindred Studios, Queens Park and also at the Lexi, Kensal Rise in a solo show of Coast that finished in January this year. Since I first worked with UCL I’ve become increasingly involved with art that highlights waterway and ocean issues. Inspired by this, I have completed a ‘Leading a Waterway Clean Up’ course with Thames 21 and have begun to incorporate canal cleans with art workshops that I lead.

The next one planned is on July 25th at Chisenhale Studios, where I am currently the artist in residence, making work for my project ‘Coast’ (which explores coastlines, rivers, canal systems and wetlands and looks at how the natural and man-made exist together) around the Hertford Union Canal. My residency finishes in mid August and I have a talk on the 1st August from 6.30-8pm and a show opening on the 8th from 6-9pm and then on the 9th and 10th from 12-8pm. All events are free and you can secure your place on my website.

I am also preparing for the opening of Regents Canal – unnatural river, which opened The Barge House, on the 23rd July, it’s part of London National Park City week and I gave a free talk on HMP and my wider artistic practice for the opening. The show runs during cafe opening hours until the 28th of July.

Later on in the year I’m going sailing with a marine biologist who now works in ocean publishing to research plastics and ocean acidification. We then will collaborate to put our findings into words and fine art. We are currently looking for practicing marine biologists to join in our collaboration.

Working with UCL has taught me the scope that artists have and how there are many ways to make art outside the traditional white wall setting. I’ve also become more confident with trying new concepts and leading workshops. I’d recommend that researchers meet artists to check that their ideas and personalities are compatible before beginning a collaboration. Having an informal workshop like HMP facilitated by UCL and an arts foundation like Bow Arts is ideal for networking.

Find out more about Camilla and her work on her website: https://www.camillabrendon.com/.

Book your free place at the next workshop or artists talks:https://www.camillabrendon.com/new-events .

EurOCEAN2019 →

It was an honour to be commissioned by The European Marine Board to make a a new Coast work to be awarded to the EurOCEAN poster competition winner.

From left to right: Camilla Brendon (commissioned artist), Maria Kazour (poster winner),
Jan Mees (European Marine Board Chair) and Ricardo Serrão Santos (Member of European Parliament)

The conference took place at UNESCO in Paris and was a brilliant opportunity to meet experts in the field of Marine Biology and explore how artists can help to visualise science and make the complex issues that are being addressed more accessible to the wider public.

Coast looks to foster relationships between arts, politics and science and attending EurOCEAN reenforced this. Look out for more collaborations later on this year!

Coast-EurOCEAN2019, Mixed Media and Thames Plastic on Italian Drift Wood, 20x3x2cm (approx).

Coast - Hertford Union Canal - Chisenhale Studio's Newsletter

With just under a month before my residency at Chisenhale Studios begins I’m happy to have been featured in the studio’s June news letter. If you would like to keep up to date with Chisenhale join their mailing list HERE.

To reserve your place on the Coast - Hertford Union Canal program follow this LINK.

Union Canal Paper I - Recycled paper and canal plastic, 21x18cm approx, 2018.

Events Programme
More information about all of the events below and links to reserve your free places on the workshops can be found on Camilla’s website.

Living Canal Mobiles
Sunday 14 July, 1-4pm

This workshop will explore the local environment around Chisenhale Studios and help to maintain the Hertford Union Canal and Regents Canal, by doing a litter pick along the canal-towpath. As we litter pick, we will become familiar with the diverse urban environment where nature and man made meet around the water. After spending about an hour litter picking we will move into the education space at Chisenhale Studios where, with guidance from Camilla we make canal mobile art that reflects the unique local area, with the option to include living plants. This workshop is suitable for all ages, although under 18s must be accompanied by a guardian.

Artist Talk
Thursday 18 July, 6.30-8pm

Camilla will open Studio 4 for a talk and showing of her work in progress, followed by a Q&A. Visitors will be invited to relax in the natural and manmade environment that she is creating as part of her work Coast – Hertford Union Canal.

Living Canal Mobiles
Thursday 25 July, 1-4pm

This workshop will explore the local environment around Chisenhale Studios and help to maintain the Hertford Union Canal and Regents Canal, by doing a litter pick along the canal-towpath. As we litter pick, we will become familiar with the diverse urban environment where nature and man made meet around the water. After spending about an hour litter picking we will move into the education space at Chisenhale Studios where, with guidance from Camilla we make canal mobile art that reflects the unique local area, with the option to include living plants. This workshop is suitable for all ages, although under 18s must be accompanied by a guardian.

Coast – Hertford Union Canal Residency Show
Friday 2 August, 6pm-8pm
Saturday 3-Saturday 10 August, 2-8pm daily

To conclude her Studio 4 Summer Residency Camilla will show her new work Coast – Hertford Union Canal. She will open the doors of Studio 4 on Friday the 2nd of August from 18:00 – 20:00 and invite visitors to see the work she has made, along with workshop participants, in response to the local area, with a focus on the Hertford Union Canal.

Expect to see a living, moving installation that spills out of the gallery space to the canal below. As the week progress she will continue to add to the work and will open Studio 4 form 2 – 8pm daily.

There will also be new work displayed on the canal wall opposite the Ragged School Museum. The artwork is located just over a mile from Chisenhale and is best accessed by walking along the canal towpath.

GMT- Published in Zona Imaginaria's Book

In 2013 I was resident in Zona Imaginaria, Argentina. I was there as part of my major work 34South|61North and continued three projects that existed it. GMT- a collaboration with Gerald Curtis was given a special feature in the book which show’s nine years of resident artists at Zona Imaginaria’s Who Can Live in this House residency programme. I was also listed as a participating artist for 2013.

Camila installing the Zona Imaginaria part of Take Spaces and Make Them New.

Camilla Brendon and Gerald Curtis preform GMT-

2012 and 2013 artists who participated in Quien Puede Vivir en Este Casa?

Thanks again to Lucrecia and the whole team at Zona Imaginaria. My experience there was important to the development of my work in the areas of installation, recycling and community arts. I also made lasting friendships and will always look back at ZI as a home away form home.

Summer Residency at Chisenhale Studios Announced

I’m very pleased to announce that I’ve been selected for a summer residency at Chisenhale Studios, starting this July. I’ll be developing Coast with a focus on the Hertford Union Canal. Expect family workshops looking at maintaining the canal and making recycled art work, hand made canal paper and a living installation.

Canal and River Trust Blog III

Below is a copy of the latest blog feature on my work from The Canal and River Trust. It’s been an absolute honour to have worked with them as a volunteer, workshop leader and activist. I’m very happy to announce that we have decided to continue working together to highlight the importance of maintaining our canals and keeping them clean during 2019. Keep an eye on both our websites for the next post!

News article created on 9 January 2019

Trash tree decorations

A few weeks ago I held Trash Tree Decorations, a family drop-in workshop at Kindred Studios where participants worked with canal plastic, donated plastic and streamers made from widely non recycled plastic sheets.

Trash Tree Decorations workshop

I really enjoy leading workshops like this as they are left with few rules so that participants can explore their creativity. Children work with their families and guardians to make eye catching decorations. While doing this they realise how much plastic waste exists and I hope that this will lead them on, to use less. This is a great activity and can be done at home, following a towpath clean, to begin the school holidays.

Wrapped in plastic

Since my last blog I’ve been busy as an invited artist at Wrapped In Plastic an awareness and solutions event to talk about eliminating plastics in our environment at WWF HQ in Woking. It was wonderful to meet different experts and talk about solutions. Refusing straws, bags and always taking litter home or ensuring that it goes securely into a bin are small steps that we can all take today.

Camilla (left) at Wrapped in Plastic

I’ve also been featured, alongside volunteers from the Canal and River Trust, in a video made at UCL called, Life on London’s Canals, which promotes the canal system and how to keep it clean. This video gives a lovely insight into the issues facing the canal in London today and what can be done to ensure that it can be enjoyed in the years to come.

Coming up

2019 will see me continuing to work with Plastics and my project Coast. I’ll be learning how to lead a river clean up and also participating on a voyage in Scotland exploring microplastics in our oceans.

Life on London's Canals

I’m very proud to be interviewed as part of LIFE ON LONDON’S CANALS a video that highlights how important it is to maintain waterways and green spaces in the city and beyond.

The film crew came on a studio visit and learned about my practice and why environmental issues are so important to me.

A detail form an installation in progress using found material and non-recycled plastics.

Dark Yellow Dot | December Featured Artist

I’m really happy to have been featured as a cover artist for the month of December on Dark Yellow Dot a site promoting artists and opportunities for artists. Have a look at my profile too.

MIXED MEDIA ARTIST

About the Art

Mixed media on hand made paper and driftwood. 

I use mixed media and experiment with combining the manmade and natural to build on to found objects and surfaces. This is done from my Queens Park studio. 

Brendon explores pattern and repeated forms found in nature along with seascapes, the sun, light and the sky. She then re-works them and abstracts them to create mixed media pieces on man made objects which are gathered from the British coastline and canal system. 

COAST at the Lexi | Art Rabbit Feature

I’m really looking froward to COAST. Opening at the Lexi on the 29th November, from 19:00- 20:30 The show then runs until January 7th during cinema opening times. I’m very pleased to have been featured in the Lexi’s news letter and on Art Rabbit.

Canal and River Trust Blog II

Humans make plastic

I began making plastic mobiles out of waste plastic bags, back in 2013 in Bolivia - I then exhibited them in public spaces so they could be viewed alongside the natural environment they were threatening.

This blog starts in Bolivia. Whilst I was based there as a resident artist for NGO Sustainable Bolivia, I investigated how plastic was used in the South American nation. This led me to not only make mobiles out of plastic bags, but it fired up my desire to draw attention to the litter issue in Cochabamba, the city I was staying in. In time, it has led me to want to spread the message in the UK and highlight the problem we have with plastic waste. 

Today in London I continue to make mobiles out of plastic from the canals, and plastics that are currently not widely recycled. I look at nature, natural forms and pattern, especially flowers and the alges that cover the canal during the summer months. Instead of exhibiting them along the canals, I hold workshops to help teach mobile creation, but also it's a way of sharing my passion for plastic waste. 

During workshops I provide visual aids with a strong emphasis on the natural and architectural environment through which the canal passes. I then hand the creativity over to the participants, all the while standing by offering practical advice. I want those attending to make something meaningful to them, something that will make them feel good. 

How's it done?

Humans Make Plastic is a huge mobile that I've constructed with the work made by participants of three workshops in conjunction with UCL. To connect the many smaller mobiles I used strands of plastic bags and wire, and wove sections of striking colour through the piece to give it some uniformity and make it visually stimulating. When hung the mobile moves and flows in the air.

It’s delicate nature is a direct reflection of the fragilities of our environment.

Camilla Brendon

What's upcoming?

I’m getting ready to give my next workshop, this time it will be at my studio, Kindred in Maida Hill a ten minute walk from the Regent's Canal. The workshop is called Trash Tree Decorations and will enable participants to make decorations out of plastic bottles. It will run from 2pm - 6pm on Saturday 17 of November. The open studio is 17/18 November 12 noon - 6pm, and there is a full program of events both days.

If you come along feel free to bring old plastic bottles from home and any you've picked up from canal tow paths, we can use them all.

The open studios are free and fun for all ages, dogs on leads are welcome.

Humans Make Plastic will be exhibited at Kindred during the open studio.

I’ll be showing works from my series of paintings and collages COAST at the Lexi Cinema in Kensal Rise, a ten minute walk form the Ladbroke Grove Canal. This showing will incorporate a site specific installation. November 27 - January 7 with an opening reception on the 27 November from 6:30 - 8:00.

Trash Tree Decorations at Kindred Open Studios

I’m happy to announce that I’ll be encouraging visitors to Kindred Studio’s upcoming open studio to make use of unwanted plastic bottles by turning them into tree decorations!

Fun for all the family on Saturday 17th November 14:00-18:00.

I’ll be in my studio for the rest of the weekend, so come on up to 205 to have a look at how COAST. is coming along!

Humans Make Plastic

I’m really happy to have been mentioned in the UCL Public Engagement Blog:

A very engaging summer: public engagement in east London

By Briony M Fleming, on 31 July 2018

Humans Make Plastic



Ahead of Open Doors: Vote 100 (a partnership showcase event between East Bank organisations) UCL’s Engagement Team, together with Bow Arts Trust, brought together UCL researchers, local artists and zero waste activists in an event to discuss plastics, sustainability and women-led activism. The 20th June event, later named Humans Make Plastics by participants, was led and designed by London artist Camilla Brendon. It used plastic pollution (much of it sourced from the River Lea with the support of the Canal and River Trust) to design and build a collaborative sculpture which acted as a tool to talk about the research being undertaken into plastics at UCL. Catherine Conway of Unpackagedalso gave a talk about her role in trying to remove plastic from the food and retail supply chain. The final sculpture from the workshop, will also be shown at the Bloomsbury Festival in October.

Open Doors: Vote 100

Open Doors: Vote 100 was the first time all East Bank partners (Sadler’s Wells, Smithsonian Institute, London College of Fashion, UCL and V&A) came together to deliver a collaborative event. The event, on the 22nd July, included dance, music and poetry, displays, debates, workshops and screenings, and was suitable for all ages. Highlights included excerpts from Suffraggedon, an in-production hip-hop feminist musical written by Guilty Feminist contributors, an exhibition showing the works of 20 artists inspired by an image embroidered by incarcerated suffragettes in 1912, and dance performances & workshops from Company Wayne Macgregor and Myself UK Company.

In addition to re-delivering both its Textile 100 and Humans Make Plastics workshops, UCL was also represented by a number of academics who took part in an item called the long conversation. This format brought together artists, film makers, scientists and activist to discuss the question ‘What makes you optimistic about the future’. The conversation acted as a relay with each person being first interviewed and then becoming the interviewer. You can read the full programme on the Olympic Park website.

It has been a great summer so far and we are looking ahead to our autumn term activities. First up is Harvest Stomp, an event on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park with live music, dancing, food stalls, arts and craft stalls as well as a programme of workshops, demonstrations and entertainment. We will be hosting a stall in partnership with Biochemical Engineering and their micro-brewery (yes, UCL has a micro brewery!). If you are interested in taking part in this event or finding out what more UCL is doing in east London please send us an email at: engagement-east@ucl.ac.uk 

COAST. I

I’m really happy to share some of the installation shots for my current show COAST. I which is exhibited at The Anglesea Arms, 35 Wingate Rd, W6 0UR and is up until October 31st.

The Art Wall - COAST.