Featuring work by residents of The Field:

The Field is Forever! This show marks the end of the UK’s most esoteric, mythical free artist residency, another casualty of illegal landlordism and perpetual precarity. We made the improbable very real, and with gusto. The sober karaoke on a Tuesday night, the night-time walks with hot chocolate, the attempted break-ins and legitimate intruders, the birthday banquets in the playground, the curious attraction to spooky rooms, the weekly meetings never starting on time, the will the will the will to make it happen. 

The Field (formerly DARP) was an artist-led housing project and residency space based in a former Steiner School in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, which ran from December 2020 until its closure in July 2024. Across its lifespan the project hosted over 150 creatives of all disciplines, both local and from around the world, for free residencies, parties, rehearsals and crit days. 

Those of us who were there until the bittersweet end decided that this group show would be an open invite to all former housemates and residents since the project’s inception. The Field was the space between the people. Friends, researchers, neighbours and all other visitors have also been encouraged to post in their reflections. The Field is Forever is a chance to remember what a truly weird and spectacular place it was and to share an essence of it – part love letter, part eulogy, part reunion, part excuse for more bizarre happenings.

Instagram @thefieldthefieldthefield