we are all memory bodies proposes to be a new group exhibition exploring our relationships between felt experience and memory; tracing story, connection and humanity in caring, hopeful, encouraging ways. Made up of a collection of six participatory artworks by eight artists, it is full of things to touch, to sense, to feel, to rest in. The exhibition incorporates a variety of ways for audiences to engage with it; through hands-on invitations to work with crafts and tactile materials, conversation, listening, watching and resting.

Charlotte is hoping to allocate at least 3 of the 12 spaces to people with a visual impairment/blind.

Each artwork invites audiences to participate through conversation, hands-on craft activities, listening and resting. Here is a summary of the artworks that will be shared:

Memory Table: Charlotte Spencer with Shivaangee Agrawal, Petra Söör and Vicky Malin

Sitting around a table, two performers use a collection of everyday objects to evoke a series of tactile, sensory memories. Participants are transported to far flung corners of their mind, childhood recollections and recent experiences via fluffy jumpers, hot water bottles, matches and more.

6 Participants
Duration: 45 min

Do Not Wash: Becky Edmunds

Participants are invited to join Becky in a collective sewing experience, stitching together a shared line on fabric. Before threading the needle, Becky asks each participant to lick the thread, thereby leaving a trace of their DNA on it. As the thread passes through the fabric, these traces become a permanent part of the cloth, intertwining with those left by previous participants. This unwashed cloth will stand as a lasting record of everyone who took part in this intimate, one-on-one encounter.

1:1 Encounter Duration: 5-15 mins

Listening Furniture: Alberto Ruiz Soler

Alberto is experimenting with ways to embed audio material into furniture - like a rocking chair or day-bed. You sit down and lean into the rocking chair only to discover that it is vibrating with sound through your back. It is only audible when you place your body in contact with the furniture. Alberto is investigating a variety of ways to make use of this contact speaker technology to support relaxation and body regulation.

No Fixed Duration

Everyday Tactility: Charlotte Spencer and Zoe Manders

A silent film installation co-created with a wide variety of community groups in Brighton and Sussex. It explores the importance of touch in our lives, capturing and celebrating the beautiful, intimate, richly tactile relationships that exist between our bodies, each other and the world that we live in.

Duration: 7 mins looping

(Window exhibition space)