The Outposted Project is a participatory multidisciplinary arts project and platform for creativity and connection in a time of crisis.
Designer/ artist Susie Hetherington and poet Juliet Morton have gathered together over twenty five writers, artists, performers and makers from across Stroud’s Five Valleys to work in collective solitude and create art that aims to be compelling, relevant and high quality in content and execution.
The Outposted Project is sending an Ordnance Survey map around the Five Valleys and inviting artists to create a piece of work, paste it onto the map and send it on to another artist. This creative chain will speak to the impact of crisis on our individual lives. The map will become a collective artwork and palimpsest, a kind of psychic space where we belong as artists.
Social media is playing a part in the project at each stage of the map’s journey from artist to artist. They are also intending to exhibit the map, along with others if this initial pilot is a success, in a gallery space.
The map started its journey on 20th April 2020 and they are working towards finalising the map before the rescheduled Site Festival.
Stages:
1. Susie lino printed the map cover to elevate the map from an unremarkable object. She added the map to a custom made envelope sturdy enough to re-tape and re-use by all contributors along the line. She posted this to Juliette..
2. Juliette started on the first square of the map and inserted a poem. Meanwhile, Joff Elphick and Oonagh Davies are working on music / field recordings for an audiogram to accompany the poem online.
3. Juliette sent the map on its journey to the next artist. As there’s a random element to this, they’ve asked artists to let them know when they receive the map so they know where it is (!). The journey will be posted on social media to share the project as widely as possible.
4. Each artist will choose at random who to send the map/envelope to next. There will be a time limit of 5 days to complete the contribution and keep the map moving.
5. The end artwork: the map(s), will be displayed hanging and unfolded, as part of an exhibition. This could include multiple maps if the project is extended and form a touring exhibition if possible.
Participant artists, makers, performers, writers…
Uta Baldauf (artist/poet/performer), Chris Bingle (artist/painter), Jenny Bowers (artist/illustrator/animation), Oonagh Davies (musician), Joff Elphick (field recordist), Felicity Everett (writer/novelist), Jonny Fluffypunk (writer/stand-up poet), Emma Giacolne (textile designer), Giffords Circus, Melanie Golding (author/novelist), Nick Grellier (artists/drawing/collage), Emily Hall (composer/musician), Zoe Heath (multidisciplinary artist), Susie Hetherington (artist/designer), Eunju Hitchcock-Yoo (artist), John Holland (writer/short stories), Adam Horovitz (writer/poet), Jeff Josephine (printmaker), Emma Kernahan (writer/flash poetry), Lucia Leyfield (artist/illustrative lettering), Hannah Linfoot (artist/painter), JLM Morton (writer/poet) , Daisy Murdoch (artist), Rod Nelson (printmaker), Philip Rush (writer/poet), Jacqui Stearn (writer), Alison Vickery (artist/painter), Britt Willoughby Dyer (photographer).
For further information, updates and news in regards to the maps journey follow the Outposted Project on instagram facebook and twitter