We are pleased to be leading on New Geographies, a three-year partnership between nine arts organisations in the East of England working within the ECVAN network, culminating in ten new artistic commissions.

The East Contemporary Visual Arts Network (ECVAN) launched an open call in Summer 2017, asking people living in the East of England to nominate overlooked or unexpected places in the region that they find meaningful and interesting. By asking ‘what is a forgotten place that you think is important to highlight?’ we wanted more people to share their stories, building upon an active discussion with the potential to connect us to each other and to reimagine our idea of ‘place’.

Through outreach projects and online, the public nominated over 265 overlooked or forgotten places which helped to create a new map of the East of England made by those who live here. 

In response to these nominations, ECVAN opened a call for artists to make new work inspired by the locations. With nearly 600 applicatons, we are pleased to announce that we have commissioned ten projects by artists from the UK and internationally to make new work in response to the stories that were shared. The artists are: Maria Anastassiou, David Blandy, Marcus Coates, Cooking Sections, Ian Giles, Krijn De Koning, susan pui san lok, Studio Morison, Stuart Whipps, and Laura Wilson.

The full press release can be found here and more details about the project, the commissions and biographies of the artists can be found on the dedicated website www.newgeographies.uk