Residencies made possible by the Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm for seven creative practitioners: / Annette Fernando (Sri Lanka) / Elyssa Sykes Smith (Australia) / Frank Creber (UK) / Jimmy C (Australia) & Zabou (France) / Studio Futurall (Netherlands/UK partnership) These residences produced a wide range of work encapsulated in out first publication Unearthing Poplar within a scheme that ran for 18 months until November 2023. Two further grants from Power To Change and the National Lottery Heritage Fund have expanded our reach towards a national ambition with connections to overseas, aiming to create reciprocal projects in other countries.
Support from the Greater London Authority’s Untold Stories programme allowed us to facilitate a wide range of creative practitioners to work out of a long-empty post office on Aberfeldy High Street in Poplar, east London. Located on the very next street to where Tommy Flowers was born – and later went onto lead the Post Office Research Station team – Making Space became a site responsive development hub for more artists, architects, engineers, film-makers, performers and social scientists from Canada, China, Denmark, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Lebanon, Nigeria, Scotland, the USA and Venezuela, building relationships with Brighton University, London College of Fashion, New City College Poplar, Roskilde University, and The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park.
