Trellis: Public Art is a programme of knowledge exchange between researchers and artists, part of the wider vision for UCL Public Art and Community Engagement to create opportunities for collaboration between artists, researchers and communities based around the future UCL East campus.

Nine researcher/artist collaborations have been awarded funding to strengthen their relationships. Dana has been collaborating with Kirsty Badenoch, a Teaching Fellow in Architectural Design at The Bartlett School of Architecture on a proposal concerning participatory and inclusive approaches to city-making. Interested in ‘in-betweenness’ as a state of city transformation, and the effects of UCL East’s new campus on local residents, they found two disconnected communities: construction workers involved in the actual building of the site, and public onlookers who have little knowledge of the construction processes behind. Together, they interrogated how the public may be connected with the construction site, and allow the process of city-making to be more inclusive. They also wondered if exploration of the coexistence between the construction site and the public realm/built and natural environment could be engaged with through the construction waste. 

Over three months, they met site managers, construction and cleaning staff on the UCL East sites, as well as View Tube users, a non-profit community venue, adjacent to the site. Postcards were left for both groups to fill in, with numerous insightful responses returned. Strict physical distancing measures meant that conversations were held outside the construction site’s gate, and a community chalkboard game was staged, asking people to contribute their favourite foods to our ‘banquet’, starting conversations about cultural importance.

Postcard design: Kirsty Badenoch

Photo credits: Dana Olărescu, Kirsty Badenoch