Changing Space/Critical Space: Commission and Residency for Stroud Valleys Artspace

Ongoing project with Stroud Valleys Artspace, Gloucestershire, a lottery-funded commission connected to a major building development for this studio-based community of artists
Layzell’s ongoing project with Stroud Valleys Artspace in Stroud, Gloucestershire is a Lottery-funded commission connected to a major building development for this studio-based community of artists. The studio complex has been very significantly redesigned by the award-winning architects Tony Fretton Associates. Layzell is the commissioned artist selected to follow the project through to completion, working closely with the architects, the leaders of the project and this community of 50 artists.

The outcomes of the project to date have been many and varied. They include:

1) A participatory performance event ‘Beddin’ where artist/members of the studio donated a piece of the work to be embedded in the sub floor of the excavated sculpture studio before being sealed in by concrete. A residue of soil, removed by each artist, was catalogued and is then to be encased in the foyer along with documentation of the event;

2) ‘The stumbling block’, a site-specific intervention in the floor of the building;

3) A series of public presentations/seminars and texts linked to the Site Festivals in the summers of 2005 and 2006, including a published text ‘Manage about it’;

4) Co-curation and participation in ‘Some Vacant Accommodation’ an exhibition throughout the Artspace building in January 2007;

5) ‘The Perfect Image’ a photographic project of images of the building, exhibited in the SVA project space in October 2007;

6) Leadership and co-design of ‘Re.Vision’ a developmental workshop for this community of artists in October 2006, with participation from other artist-led organisations such as Café Gallery Projects, London and Spike Island, Bristol.

The residency and the outcomes are documented on www.sva.org.uk.