Abstract
Keeping Warm in Stamford was an exhibition by Becky Shaw 14-25 January 2025.
It pulled together drawings, film and postcards made as part of the Justheat research project and used installation in the large community exhibition and cinema venue, Stamford Arts Centre.
The exhibition included eighty-plus drawings enlarged and mounted on hanging and free-standing ‘stage backdrops’. The original drawings are a ‘real time’ response to listening to oral history accounts. The drawings seek to capture to creative decisions involved when we tell stories- they are not chronological and they have different amounts of detail. While our home heating experiences are personal, they also include shared memories and familiar representations- such as children’s books, past home heating advertisements or Christmas cards. This wider social reference point is added to the work, also highlighting technological media changes in society during the twentieth and twenty first century via the different cultural resonance of video adverts, screenprint, litho and inkjet print qualities.
The installation uses the theatrical ‘backdrop’ of the large space, and invites the public to find their stories and move up and down the installation, creating stories and relationships between the drawings. The installation also includes a physical set of lenticular postcards that the audience is invited to pick up and find the point where the two or three different times embedded in the images meet.
The exhibition opening included a live, commissioned performance by Ink Contemporary Theatre company. The director was given a sample of short excerpts from the oral histories and chose actors to read them, including children and elderly adults. This performance drew attention to the emotional continuity and dissonance of home heating experiences.
It pulled together drawings, film and postcards made as part of the Justheat research project and used installation in the large community exhibition and cinema venue, Stamford Arts Centre.
The exhibition included eighty-plus drawings enlarged and mounted on hanging and free-standing ‘stage backdrops’. The original drawings are a ‘real time’ response to listening to oral history accounts. The drawings seek to capture to creative decisions involved when we tell stories- they are not chronological and they have different amounts of detail. While our home heating experiences are personal, they also include shared memories and familiar representations- such as children’s books, past home heating advertisements or Christmas cards. This wider social reference point is added to the work, also highlighting technological media changes in society during the twentieth and twenty first century via the different cultural resonance of video adverts, screenprint, litho and inkjet print qualities.
The installation uses the theatrical ‘backdrop’ of the large space, and invites the public to find their stories and move up and down the installation, creating stories and relationships between the drawings. The installation also includes a physical set of lenticular postcards that the audience is invited to pick up and find the point where the two or three different times embedded in the images meet.
The exhibition opening included a live, commissioned performance by Ink Contemporary Theatre company. The director was given a sample of short excerpts from the oral histories and chose actors to read them, including children and elderly adults. This performance drew attention to the emotional continuity and dissonance of home heating experiences.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Size | 16m x 7m |
| Publication status | Published (VoR) - 14 Jan 2025 |
Funding
| Funders |
|---|
| AHRC |
Keywords
- home heating
- oral history and art methods
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