The Frontier Zone (2015)

Aid & Abet was invited by the Wisbech Arts Colony Vision Group to curate its first residency in September 2014.

The Frontier Zone was a themed residency interested in exploring notions of exchange, experimentation and encounter within the town of Wisbech.

The call-out for participants to take part in the residency was circulated widely and generated lots of applications from across the UK. Three artists, Paul Johnson, Anna Chrystal Stephens and Lois Williams, were selected for their high level of creative practice and for their thoughtful and sensitive approach to place and context as well as their individual need for a period of research and exploration to further their practice development.

The selected artists were encouraged to use the town as an expanded studio connecting with the context of the site and its community and to approach the residency with an open and ‘pioneering spirit’. The residency allowed the artists valuable time and space to test ideas, develop processes, and work in a new dynamic context in Wisbech.

The resdeincy culminated in a day-long Event which utilized many non-art spaces across the town in a cross-disciplinary process. Artworks were staged and performed in a camping shop, masonic lodge, church and at the Wisbech Social Club and Institute.