As part of Ben Judd’s Stanley Picker Fellowship project The Origin, a series of workshops, performances, talks and tours took place at Stanley Picker Gallery, a boat moored in Kingston Upon Thames and online throughout June and July 2021.

On 18 June 2021, Aoife Donnelly gave a presentation and lead a short workshop involving collective making. She drew upon Munari, Montessori, Reggia Emilia, Dalisi and the Tecnica Povera methods and reference the self-build natural building techniques of various cultures and nomadic groups, including the act of weaving. The workshop concluded with an optional walk along the Hogsmill River to the Gallery. Aoife is Head of Department of Architecture & Landscape and Senior Lecturer, Kingston School of Art and will be drawing on her experiences working with the local community.

Aoife recently worked with the Stanley Picker Gallery to organise a competition and fundraiser for two new spaces for the Hogsmill Community Garden – a sheltered work area and a children’s hideaway.

Ben Judd’s Stanley Picker Fellowship project The Origin reflects on Britain’s island status, both literal and metaphorical, and how islands shape the communities that live there. The Origin brings together the communities surrounding the Stanley Picker Gallery – from Kingston University students and academics to local networks, charities and residents – and asks them to imagine a classless, stateless, humane society based on common ownership. A temporary community, an experiment in living, a fictional island group. This collaborative project culminates this summer with an installation at the Gallery, a boat on the River Thames and a series of performances, workshops and events – a rehearsal for an alternative future.