Six east London artist, researcher and community collaborations announced

Congratulations to the artists: Alistair Gentry, Gal Leshem, Maxi Himpe, Nate Agbetu, Olha Pryymak & Rechonski who are collaborating with the researchers: Anna Landre, Chetna Sharma, Claire Lindsay, Jane Wilcock, Louise Archer & Sophie Page. 

Trellis, now in its fourth iteration, is a knowledge exchange programme that brings together artists, UCL researchers and east London communities to co-create work together. Earlier this year, 11 groups were awarded £2,000 to explore their ideas and their new relationship. Now, six of the groups have been awarded an additional £15,000 and will continue to work together over the next few months to produce an art commission for an exhibition in March 2024. You can read more about the Trellis programme and view the past commissions on the Trellis website. 

Sam Wilkinson, Head of Public Art and Cultural Engagement, UCL said:
"We are thrilled to see such a diversity of artistic practice across this year’s Trellis cohort. The partnerships are at a part of their journey where their ideas, connections and creativity are flourishing. We are already excited about seeing the work that will emerge from these partnerships and are looking forward to the exhibition in 2024". 

Rosie Murdoch, Curator of Trellis, said:  
"With the UCL East campus now open, this will be a landmark edition of Trellis, our 4th since 2018. The selected artists promise to deliver a knockout exhibition with glimpses into the diverse academic realms of UCL. We'll see explorations of Ukrainian folklore, east London cultural histories and interrogations of public space and who it is designed for." 

The Trellis 4 commissions are explored below 
 

Artist: Alistair Gentry & Researcher: Anna Landre - (Un)Built Environments

Image: featured above.

Anna & Alistair are using Unreal Engine 5, a 3D computer graphics software, to build a series of digital spaces that act as areas for expression, protest, and prototyping by disabled people. They aim to use real-world scenarios, satire, and hyperbole to explore archetypes of utopian/crip-topian versus dystopian/crip-ocalyptic futures for the disability community. In doing so, they will showcase “(Un)Built Environments” designed by disabled people unconstrained by factors such as money, physics, or the sensibilities of nondisabled people. Their work will result in an exhibition of screen-based presentations and interactive scenarios, augmented with 3D printed models and other tactile features. This project uses co-design to draw upon the creativity and expertise of disabled people based in London, and is made possible by the UCL Global Disability Innovation (GDI) Hub. 

Artist: Gal Leshem & Researcher: Claire Lindsay - Women Walk East

Women Walk East is about women’s actions and art as walkers. It inquires into women’s orientations in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and considers how and where they map their own place(s) and routes in this distinctive, regenerated urban terrain. In doing so it will spotlight the ways in which geography is gendered, in visible and invisible ways. Using walking as a methodology Gal & Claire will co-produce with women living and working in park communities a piece of work that will articulate their experience and navigations of ‘East’, itself an historically gendered, sexualised and racialized location, in all its present complexity.

Artist: Olha Pryymak & Researcher: Sophie Page 

Olha & Sophie will bring together local volunteers at Cordwainers Grow with newly arrived refugees on the Home for Ukraine scheme in Hackney over workshops marking the passage of nature’s cycles. Through the workshops they will engage and inspire participants to make embodied memories and meanings specifically through their connection to the land, plants and animals. Their participation will contribute content to sound sculptures made by Olha. Over tea and storytelling, these workshops will strengthen the connections to the local borough and people by layering historical, ecological and horticultural knowledge from mediaeval times to today.  

 
 
Artist: Maxi Himpe & Researcher: Louise Archer 

Trellis has commissioned a devised verbatim performance, directed by Maxi Himpe and performed by young people in an immersive setting in east London. The piece will be created from contributions of youth in east London schools and the research of Professor Louise Archer's ASPIRES project, which includes interviews with young people across ten years from childhood to adulthood. The final piece will be a testament to the complex experiences of east London youth, the state of our education system, and the many paths a life can take.  

Artist: Rechonski & Researcher: Jane Wilcock - Along the Lane

Rechonski & Jane’s project explores the flow of memory, culture and social histories within the East End of London. The project will capture a comprehensive and nuanced portrayal of the area's history by involving the community in the co-creation process to make the exhibition inclusive, meaningful and engaging for all who experience it. 
By engaging with the diverse population and those who have lived there in the past, such as the Jewish and Bangladeshi communities, a series of accessible, activity-based, creative workshops will provide the opportunity for people to share their own stories and learn about the lived experience of others. The participatory workshops will culminate in the co-creation of a sculptural piece that represents the collective memories of the East End. 

Artist: Nate Agbetu & Researcher: Chetna Sharma - Public Powers

Nate & Chetna’s project will be built to spark consciousness around the spaces we move through: unearthing who they're made for and all the ways we can shape their future. They will be democratising knowledge, dialogue and planting seeds of inspiration for the formation of a new world. The commission will see the pair develop deep listening experiences that will be used as stimulus to co-create installations with communities from the Olympic Legacy boroughs.