Playground at Artcore UK

Take a look at our recent exhibition at Artcore in Derby, UK

Here are images and the exhibition text from our recent exhibition ‘Playground’ at Artcore, Derby UK. The exhibition was curated by Aisling Ward.

‘Playground’ is an exhibition by DARP artists, Ella Fleck, Ella Yolande, Fibi Cowley, Jo Ann Dodd, Maggie Campbell, Sean Roy Parker, Solomon Berrio-Allen, Samm Shackelton, Sean Savage Ferrari and Sonia Odedra.

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Dear friends and strangers, 

At the beginning of this year (January 2021), an interchanging group of people (we, or DARP) fumbled together into a form, or a space or - maybe it is better to say - a soft and porous shape under the roof of an old Steiner school in Derbyshire. Without setting too much intention, we fell into a tangle of one another’s rhythms: leaning in and leaning out of ourselves and each other, in swings, lines and a coiling of hearts and minds. We’ve watched and felt DARP grow from a lost group in an empty school, into a blossom of bodies and a daily practice held in tandem by the individual and by the group. 

Where possible, we work and live collectively, we operate communally, we try to value autonomy, practice ecologically and attempt to organize sociocratically. This means eating together, cleaning together, listening together, breathing together, working together, foraging, arguing, singing, crying, laughing, always celebrating. It also means remembering our bodies and how to take ourselves back into them, to our individual work and moods, swinging. 

This exhibition, Playground, is one iteration and a single side of a multilateral, ever changing DARP. It is held by and woven together from the myriad of practices that populate DARP today. 

With play and light, we invite you into our work, our home and our tempo. 

。ﾟ❃ུ۪ ❀ུ۪ ❁ུ۪ ❃ུ۪ ❀ུ۪ ﾟ。 。ﾟ❃ུ۪ ❀ུ۪ ❁ུ۪ ❃ུ۪ ❀ུ۪ ﾟ。 。ﾟ❃ུ۪ ❀ུ۪ ❁ུ۪ ❃ུ۪ ❀ུ۪ 

This text is written by just one voice  ~  please enjoy the abundance in this show. 

On behalf of DARP & Darpers, 

Love, Ella Fleck