Projects Archive

The fourth Intersections commission saw Ian Nesbitt take as his starting point time-banking and sharing economy networks based in Nottingham. The Ek-uh-nom-iks project developed through a series of conversations and workshops exploring what we share in local communities, and culminated in ‘The Commoners Fair’: day of talks, conversation, performance, food and workshops exploring ideas of alternative economies and the sharing of knowledge within a community.

Emma Smith's Intersections commission in Nottingham responded to stories about working songs and whistles from local factories that have permeated the streets – looking at whistling, humming and song in relation to labour, agency and expression. Emma invited local residents to share experiences and practices of music making at work and in protest, working together to research the history of whistling, humming, clicking, singing and ditties from the local neighbourhood. The project resulted in the composition of a communal score that was performed by a Whistling Orchestra.

For the second Intersections commission, Primary invited the ‘...And Beyond Institute for Future Research’ to temporarily base its operations in the city of Nottingham. The ‘...And Beyond Institute for Future Research’ is a peripatetic, performative think tank led by artist Sonya Dyer, which positions women as progenitors of a future Space Programme. The ‘...And Beyond Institute for Future Research’ uses the model of the think tank as artistic proposition, engaged with the practice of research as a public act and creating visions of possible futures.

For the first Intersections commission, artists and hairdressers Richard Houguez and Rachael Young researched independent hairdressers in Radford and Lenton – finding out about the way these spaces function and exploring the qualities of relationships between hairdressers and their clients.