Synapse has transformed! With a successful bid to Arts Council England, the expanded version of the work has been touring with Social Scaffolding Art Collective to six venues in the West of England during 2023. You can follow www.socialscaffolding.art to find out exactly where Synapse will be and when we are open. I will be at every venue inviting visitors to join me in stitching into the sculptures’ surfaces throughout the tour.

The first venue was Create@#8 in Shepton Mallet where we launched the tour and had nearly 600 visitors! The numbers went up at every venue engaging with over 8000 people in Weston super Mare, Gloucester, Bristol, Trowbridge & Swindon. The new pods have been stitched into transforming the blank canvas into a colourful, densely textured surface beyond my early imaginings.

Synapse began as a single human-scale, soft cocoon-like sculpture, which makes visible the imposed isolation of lockdown and the need to hold space and offer sanctuary for contemplation. The visceral, organic form, suspended within a scaffold hive, acts as both a stage set and a blank canvas for interactive social engagement. The surface of the installation undergoes a slow transformation through co-created stitch, bearing witness to participants’ conversations through a process of embodiment, investing the cumulative stories and emotions within the form.

Participants can climb into the pods, to be cradled in suspended animation, or physically explore the stretch and strain of the pod membranes in other ways. Visitors and community groups are invited to record experiences of isolation by stitching into the fabric of the sculptures and joining in conversations in sewing circle sessions.

Videos of the physical interactions and consequent animation of the sculpture, and of the transformation of the stitched surface, plus audio recordings of snatches of stories have been integrated within the space, allowing the different layers of human engagement to breathe life into the sculptures.

The pilot installation of Synapse in Taunton’s Orchard Shopping Centre happened during Somerset Artweeks 2022 from 24/9-9/10. Somerset Art Works awarded a development bursary to support the making of the first pod and the local council & shopping center management company facilitated the use of a vacant shop as the venue. Over 300 people visited the installation with many staying for more than an hour to stitch and chat with the artists.

The installation has also been exhibited at the Emerge residency showcase, Sion Hill Campus Bath Spa University 13-24/10 where it has been visited by several specific community groups for participatory sessions.

Videos are best experienced in full-screen format.