1 March — 31 August 2009

During her residency Helen Stratford used site-specific and audio-based interventions to make visible the practices that produce and maintain public space in the nearby settlement of Cambourne.

Gathered during her residency, which continued until August, these practices included the voices of local residents, teenagers, groundsmen, road sweepers, light scouts, planners, and people working on their allotments. A table in the centre of Wysing’s gallery worked as a meeting point for talking and discovering what Helen uncovered during her residency.

Her research revealed both the heavily maintained, and the overlooked and un-noticed public space in Cambourne, and proposed alternative uses for them. Through her residency Helen drew on the practices of performance, architecture and writing to explore how places and identities are produced and performed through everyday objects and activities.

Communities under Construction was funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Arts Council England East. With thanks to Maurice Gordon (Taylor Wimpey) Peter Wooten, Warren Bourne, Jenny Mckay, Margot Eagle, Maurice Buck, Roger Hume, Stewart (Tilbrooks), Claire Denard and Jackie (ESL), Bob Dean, Karen Bagshaw, Kate Wood, Pam Thornton, Barry (Goodwins sweepers), Pat, Alan and PJ (Brehenys), Laura Parkinson, Michelle Link, Lesley Scobell, Mole Architects, Nick Cheek, Sarah Evans and Polonca Lovsin.