This week, a new exhibition opened in the lower gallery at the Old Fire Station. Salvages is the latest project from the Hidden Spire Collective, marking 15 years of creative projects bringing together the Old Fire Station and Crisis. The exhibition combines sculpture, sound and performance, exploring the relationship between hope and despair through found objects, reused materials and the collective imagination of the people who made it.

What is the Hidden Spire Collective?

Run by the Old Fire Station and Crisis, the Hidden Spire Collective brings together adults from different walks of life to create ambitious artwork that is shared with the public. This year marks 15 years of Hidden Spire projects, and Salvages is the sixth project by the Collective.

At the heart of the group is co-creation. Rather than starting with a fixed idea of what the artwork should be, members decide together what they want to explore, which stories they want to tell and how they want to tell them. The result is work shaped by different experiences, perspectives and imaginations.

From the makers: idea to exhibition

We wanted to create a new collaborative project, this time in the gallery. Through discussion and deliberation, we explored different themes before settling on ‘hope and despair’, developing an exhibition accompanied by a performance.

We began by exploring the theme more deeply. Sessions with artists and academics introduced different perspectives and helped us develop our ideas into an artist brief. We then interviewed three artists before choosing sculptor Ismael Rodriguez to work with us.

Over six weeks, we brought our ideas to life, including making a boat from willow, found objects and reused materials. Working with Ismael, sound artist Daniel Patiño and performance maker Lizzy McBain, we experimented with materials, created a soundscape and explored how to bring the sculpture to life through performance.

The process was shaped by shared decisions, unexpected discoveries and ideas that shifted along the way. The finished work brings together our different perspectives and imaginations in a collective act of creation.

Salvages is now open in the lower gallery at the Old Fire Station, 10am-4pm, Wed-Sun.

Hidden Spire Collective artists 

Claire F.

Dayna Betote

Dilman Khasro Nori

Eunice

Gill

Isabel Taylor

Laura Walton

Luce Lace

Mr. Musa

Search

Simon Garrood

Anonymous

Anonymous

Creative collaborators

Ismael Rodriguez – Visual artist

Lizzy McBain – Performance

Daniel Patiño – sound artist

Old Fire Station & Crisis team

Jak Bennett-Eves

Sarah Cassidy

Dan Knight

Jodie Lamb