The Precursor Residency at the Firstsite Gallery, Colchester took on a site-specific approach to art making. Based around the idea of archive and the idea of participation, the project explored responses to the situation of the newly to open gallery. As part of the project people were asked to send in images relating to their contact with Colchester, and the resulting archive was used as the source of reference for much of the resulting work which was exhibited for the opening.
Central to the project was the Berryfield Mosaic which was re-sited in the original position from where it had previously been excavated. Most of the work related directly to that, though some ideas adopted similar approaches, that still represented the presence of people in Colchester. Many of the artists produced work based on completing the most prominent missing piece from the mosaic. My work consisted of alternative pieces potentially to fill the space in the mosaic created from four images from the archive looking down on places, spaces and objects others had offered as their connection to Colchester, both confirming and contradicting the association.
All the collaborators were studying on the MA Contemporary Practice and Professional Development at Colchester Institute.