Sous Le Pave Le Plage
Ad Hoch: More Than Water
Saturday 16th May 2026 | ‘The Corner’ Pocket Sculpture Park
Situation Leeds.
Finally, as darkness falls on ‘The Corner’ our screen comes to life, merging the watery landscape of St Aidans Nature Reserve with this scrubby little corner of grassland in South Leeds with its sycamore trees, buttercups and overgrown grass. Sitting back in the garden chairs to watch this short experimental collage by the newly formed Ad Hoch Film Collective, it is easy to get lost and forget where you are. This is the joy of art, its greatest strength; the ability to divert attention from reality and create a space in which people can place themselves elsewhere, a place that can be one of contemplation or relaxation. ‘More Than Water’ achieves both. Around us, the sounds of the rain pattering on the canopy of leaves above become one with the lapping of the water in the reservoir, actually several miles from here, but for these ten minutes is right before our eyes and all around us. A mixture of digital and analogue film techniques merging with the natural world. Alongside the gathered audience of people already in the know about Situation Leeds who are tripping around the numerous events across the city, we are joined by a passing couple intrigued by the illuminated square amongst the trees on Tunstall Road.
Community Canvas: This Is For You
It has been a long day, twelve hours in total, but worth every minute. It began at 10am with the return of Kate Jennings who, last week, stretched her 10m canvas between the trees and proceeded to spend two days painting. Having hung in the space for a full week it was now time to invite the public to join in. Over the course of the day, numerous hands have contributed to this massive splash of colour across ‘The Corner’. Small children and adults alike took up the challenge to add their distinct contributions. This is no easy task though. Sometimes asking people if they would like to take part in such events in a practical way is a step too far. It is a long time since true creativity has been a genuinely embedded part of education and for many at the other end of the age spectrum they have simply not been asked in far too long. When I try to encourage people I often get the responses
‘I can’t draw’
or
‘I’m not creative’
or
‘I don’t understand art’.
When I approach the adults they will say
‘I’ll leave that to the kids,’
Yet when I approach the kids they look at me like my lights have gone out. Basically, everyone, for one reason or another, is afraid to have a go.
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain one as we grow up.
Pablo Picasso
But the purpose of art is not about putting people down and making them feel small and uneducated, that is the machiavellian hand of the state as it tries to quell thought, cancel dissent and avoid the kind of introspection that could lead to people gaining an understanding of their own thoughts and feelings. Art is about self-expression and learning to work things out for ourselves. When this happens the veil slips and we start to see what is hidden behind it; see John Carpenter’s ‘They Live’. It is about interpreting the world in order to change it.
For this event we were also joined by Garry Barker, red eyed, wild and direct off a flight from Graz. Over the last couple of weeks leading up to Situation Leeds Garry had been visiting BasementArtsProject with his project ‘The Listening City’. Over time we have secreted a selection of ceramic ears all around ‘The Corner’ and in a nearby street, I will leave you to guess which one, with the exhortation to ‘go out and find them’. The city has become a graveyard. The gap-toothed grin of the high street as worthless businesses open and close and the eternally shifting centre distorts our perception of reality. There will come a time when the dust settles at the end of civilisation and nature starts to reclaim the cities in the absence of the human animal. Think Covid lockdowns writ large as wild animals roam the city centre overgrown with foliage, only this time we are not around to bear witness. BasementArtsProject takes the true spirit of Ferdinand Cheval and latterly the Situationist International, from which this festival takes its name, and invites the community to animate the public realm.
Throughout the day there are many different types of interactions with Garry’s ear portraiture project, some of the kind you would expect, others of a less predictable variety; one lady sitting for an ear portrait then starts ripping it up and throwing it in the grass with accusations of spying for the CID. In the same session though we also encountered a local social worker with a drawing practice of his own. Many people tend to stay away from South Leeds on the basis that they believe it to be entirely like the first interaction that I describe, whereas in reality all of life exists here, living cheek by jowl, worthy and desirous of support understanding and fellowship with the outside world; this is after all how we grow as a society.
The new exhibition by Lane Shipsey is due to open across the road at BasementArtsProject on Tuesday. Ahead of this Lane Shipsey roams amongst the participants with her camera documenting the goings on and getting involved herself with the canvas painting. The final and unofficial event of this day, saw the return of ‘Clinical Adoration’ by performance art duo Mags McCleary and Sophie, originally performed at the launch of ‘Tensile Strength’ BasementArtsProject’s first project of 2026.
It has been a cold day, constantly threatening rain, that has chilled me to the bone. The footfall on Tunstall Road has been extremely low so there has been less chance for engagement than on a warmer day, ironically the very next weekend was a heatwave, but of the fifty or more (by my estimate) people who did actually pass and witness what we were up to, we did still manage to engage with around thirty something of them, and that is what this is all about. As the Ad Hoch projection comes to an end, and our digital manipulation in which we collaged the natural environment of two locations, separated geographically, we are returned to ‘The Corner’ and darkness descends. it is testament to the will of the people of South Leeds, that all of the work that was placed out in the public arena, much of it not fixed down such as Garry’s ceramic ears or that could easily have been defaced -Kate’s canvas, nothing was damaged or removed and people treated it and enjoyed it for the game that it was intended as.
Tuesday 19th May 2026 | BasementArtsProject
Lane Shipsey | Hard Shoulder Motorway City
The philosophical construct that is Situationism brings with it numerous methods by which people can navigate the real-world. Through psychogeography we can deconstruct our environment in a way that allows us to abandon the rigidity of maps and plans, instead creating a more phenomenological idea of the world based based on how we experience and interact with it. As part of this idea there are numerous methods to achieve that, methods that abandon the pre-planned and instead allow a person to go with the flow. The derivé (to drift) is a concept defined by Guy Debord as “a mode of experimental behaviour linked to the conditions of urban society: a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiances.
In this selection of photographs by Lane Shipsey, the idea of an area based on a drift between the varied environs of South Leeds builds a picture that is less about the physical and more about the experiential. Amongst the images of the high street and a giant metal spider creature poised above the treetops and roofs like Shelob in his lair, are images of people going about their business, living the everyday, yet being part of an artistic universe; some aware, some unaware, some caring, others not. Once again I refer the reader to my most used refrain that BasementArtsProject is about Art as a part of daily life, yet it takes extraordinary art and places it in ordinary situations, allowing a deeper experience based on casual observance.
In amongst the images drawn from experience are images from bygone eras, slotted into a video -here one minute gone the next- in another instance a potted history of one particular building culled from internet archives. And this is the drift of living; in and out of days, weeks months, years and centuries. Time is cyclical not linear, often we find ourselves experiencing deja vu as our psychology tries to instruct us in relation to the future. By observing and listening, interacting and accepting we step forward into a new world of understanding.
By the time of writing this Situation Leeds is over, only Lane’s exhibition remains -open until 21st June. But BasementArtsProject continues its journey towards the future, a journey predicated on the idea that we can build a new society based on equity, openness and learning. See you in the future…
Bruce Davies | May 2026
First staged in 2005, Situation Leeds is known for its DIY approach and emphasis on participation. The 2026 edition builds on this legacy, supporting artists to make and share new work in ways that are collaborative, experimental and rooted in Leeds.
Rather than a centrally curated programme, Situation Leeds is shaped by the people involved, creating opportunities for connection, exchange and public engagement in unexpected places. Activity takes place across galleries, artist-led spaces and informal settings, reflecting a commitment to accessibility and art beyond traditional thresholds.
Situation Leeds 2026 is supported by Yorkshire Visual Arts Network and Hyde Park Book Club.