Art in Manufacturing

Discover a curated selection highlighting our artist residency programme, Art in Manufacturing.

Raisa Kabir with John Spencer and Queen Street Mill

Commissioned for Art in Manufacturing in 2019 in collaboration with British Textile Biennial, Raisa Kabir began working between John Spencer, a sixth-generation family weaving business and the last remaining traditional cotton weaver in Burnley, and Queen Street Mill, now a Grade 1 listed Museum with extensive archives and the last surviving 19th century steam powered weaving mill in the world.

  • Film by Wash
  • Film supported with funding from Creative Lancashire

Hannah Leighton-Boyce + Darwen Terracotta

Hannah Leighton-Boyce began her residency with Darwen Terracotta in 2019, working through 2020, 2021 and the beginning of 2022. The necessary extended nature of her placement allowed the artist to explore a range of ideas and reflect on working in a factory in that moment; considering what it means to work slowly and with care in this context, and to reflect on being ‘unproductive’ in a highly productive setting.

  • Film by Wash
  • Film supported with funding from Creative Lancashire

Liz Wilson + CNC Robotics

First in residence with manufacturer Spiroflow in 2019 where she created The Optical Mechanical, Wilson went on to undertake her second Art in Manufacturing residency with industry-leading technologists, CNC Robotics. Regular trips to the factory from the artist’s base in Kent allowed her to work within the factory’s making schedule, utilising the robotics to carve, extrude and mould sculptures. Forms of fossils, horses legs and the rudder of a canal boat became artefacts to experience alongside video work and new audio combining factory sounds and the artist’s voice.

  • Film by Wash
  • Film supported with funding from Creative Lancashire

Browse our full collection of films on YouTube.